Written by Martin Hodgson
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb joins the Isle of Man TT as the two most prestigious and legendary time trials in all of motorsport. The ‘Race to the Clouds’ pits man and machine against 156 unique turns on the way to climbing nearly 5000ft in altitude before reaching the summit, high in the Rocky Mountains, some 14000ft above sea level. The demands on the motorcycle are only exceeded by those on the body and tragically some won’t make it home. But for Thomas Kendall the call of the mountain was strong and he re-built his 2008 Yamaha YZ450F in preparation for his first attack on the lightweight class.

For most of its near hundred-year history, the climb up Pikes Peak was a mixture of gravel and paved roads. But by the end of 2011 the road up the mountain had been given a coat of asphalt all the way to the top. But the brutal climb, rising altitude and sheer diversity of the corners mean the versatility of Naked and Supermoto bikes has them selected over the typical road race machines. In the lightweight class, motorcycles with either two or four-stroke engines that do not exceed two cylinders, with a displacement of up to 500cc can be entered.
But while most select a factory Supermoto bike and modify it to suit, Tom was already road racing his YZ back in California. So sticking with what he knows he underwent the enormous task of re-purposing the Yamaha to not only meet the rule book but to be capable of doing the job, ...