The 2009 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was a crazy one. Coming off of a first place finish in 2008 for Ducati on the Hypermotard, I was bummed that Ducati did not come back in 2009. As we all know, the economy was tough and it was a difficult year for many of us.

All I knew is that I still wanted to go race Pikes Peak. Luckily, Paul and Becca Livingston, Spider Grips, also wanted to go to the mountain.  They called Rod Falkner, Dumonde Tech, and he too wanted to be back in Colorado for July.  We called my buddy Irv Seaver, BMW, and he had a HP2 that I could ride.  So it became a friends and family time that year.

I had raced the BMW HP2 in 2007, a factory effort, but had some gearing problems and my brother Gary ended up winning that year.  I was excited to once again ride on a BMW – this year I would win.

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