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n a racing discipline measured by seconds, 31 years is an eternity. For more than three decades, hillclimbers have dashed up Midwestern hills in hopes of shaving off seconds and tallying titles to eclipse AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Earl Bowlby’s then-record 10 AMA Pro Hillclimb titles. While many tried, it wouldn’t be until four years after Bowlby’s 1990 retirement that the rider equipped 50
to topple the record would even be born. John Koester, a 27-year-old hillclimber from Hornell, N.Y., reached legendary status in October when he claimed his record-setting 11th AMA Pro Hillclimb national title — placing him on hillclimb’s summit. To accomplish the feat, Koester stared up at Devil’s Staircase in Oregonia, Ohio — about a two-hour drive from where Bowlby was born — with an opportunity no other rider in the history of AMA Pro Hillclimb
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST • APRIL 2022
had seen before: a chance to win an 11th title. Koester understood the magnitude of what he could accomplish, but he remained calm and seized the opportunity. “At the top of the hill I didn’t know it was the winning ride,” Koester said. “When I got back down, the first person I saw was my dad, and he just gave me a big hug and said, ‘You did it!’ and we both kind of broke down. All these years just came crashing into a 7-second ride, and everything
