| June 19, 2024
The inaugural Nitro Cup World Championship took place at the Nitro National Pro Hillclimb in Columbus, Montana, June 15-16. The two days of racing had nearly $60,000 of purse money on the line. This event hosted the fourth round of the Rockwell Pro Hillclimb Series and the third round of the AMA CFMoto Motoclimb Super Series, presented by Hi-Tech Motorsports.
Josh Hill was the big moneymaker at the inaugural Nitro Cup World Championship Hillclimb in Montana.
Story and Photos by Matt Musgrove
The Nitro National has been one of the sport’s biggest events since 2008. Octane Addictions attracts thousands of spectators, many competitors, dozens of vendors, a professional livestream, and a giant fireworks show to cap off the weekend. This was the first year for the Nitro Cup, and was part of the Rockwell Pro Hillclimb Series and the AMA Motoclimb Super Series.
The Nitro Cup World Championship invited the top 25 motorcycle hillclimb athletes from around the world, spanning several disciplines and all of the Pro series across the USA. Seven remaining riders would then be able to qualify into the Cup, which consisted of 450 Exhibition races on Friday night with a $10,000 purse, Open class on Saturday night with a $10,000 purse, and a Verticross race on Saturday night with a $5000 purse. This Nitro Cup purse, combined with the two series involved, totaled the purse to nearly $60,000 for the two days, which is currently the sport’s largest payback of any hillclimb in the world.
Monster Energy’s Josh Hill walked away from both Nitro Cup evenings as the victor, earning a sizable $5000 each evening for winning and beating the world’s best on a technical and high-risk hill. About half of the course was similar to a motocross rhythm section, where Hill used his Supercross experience to make up times on the bottom and carried his momentum over the cliff at the top. He won the 450 Exhibition class on his 2024 Yamaha YZ450F and the Open class on his custom-built Yamaha MT-09.
Saturday was round four of the AMA CFMoto Motoclimb Super Series, presented by Hi-Tech Motorsports. The weather cooperated for most of the weekend until Saturday afternoon, when over 50-mile-per-hour winds blew for several hours, creating difficulties for the organizers and the racers themselves. In the Pro Mod class, Jake Anstett bumped times back and forth with Hill, but ended up winning the class with an incredibly quick 16.670-second ride aboard his KTM 550, which was over 1.3 seconds faster than Hill’s second-place run. Four-time MSS Champion Logan Cipala ended up in third.
Logan Cipala was the overall Motoclimb Super Series winner.
In the Pro Open class, several nitromethane machines took to the line, some pushing over 200 horsepower and using steel chains on the rear wheels to hook up on the hard-packed hill. Out of the 36 competitors in this class, only 13 went over, receiving a time rather than footage. Nick Beer kicked off the class with a clean 22-second pass, riding his Suzuki GSX-R750 on nitromethane. It wasn’t long before Anstett bumped that time on his KTM 1190 with a 19.285-second pass. Hill responded with an 18.882-second pass for the lead on his Yamaha MT-09, but two riders later, Cipala put together a 17.446-second pass on his Buell 1190HCR to hold onto the lead going into the second round. In the second round, Anstett improved his last time but was still behind Cipala by a tenth of a second. Jon Wolfson (Livermore, CA) threw down a 17.43-second heater on his Suzuki GSX-R750 to beat Cipala and the rest of the field for the class win.
In the Pro Stock class, a shorter hill was used to speed up the day’s program. Hill won this class on his 2024 Yamaha YZ450F with a 10.925-second ride, with Cipala and Logan Mead finishing within a few tenths behind on their KTM 450SX-F. The top 32 of the Pro Stock class went on to the Verticross bracket.
Bobbie Hilson launches his bike spectacularly over the top of the mountain.
Metal starting pads and motocross gates were at the start of some of the most exciting racing of the weekend, where racers went head-to-head up a rhythm section and up the face of the hill. Tight head-to-head battles got the crowd cheering, as Hill was the only one to jump the top on his stock-length bike as he moved ahead in the bracket. Hill and Cipala met in the finals, but Hill took the win in this class. Sixteen-year-old Max Geisler was the 27th seeded rider, but worked his way into the third-place runoff against Jon Wolfson, beating him to secure the final spot on the podium. The overall score was tied between Cipala and Hill, with 37 points each, but Cipala had the better finish in the Pro Open class, earning him the overall victory at the Nitro National Pro Hillclimb.
- Jake Anstett (KTM)
- Josh Hill (Yam)
- Logan Cipala (KTM)
- Payton Reimers (KTM)
- Logan Mead (KTM)
- Jon Wolfson (KTM)
- Ryan Gallegos (Hon)
- Dexter Hoenhause (KTM)
- Tyler Cardwell (Hus)
- Bronson Foianini (KTM)
