2007 AMA World Bike building Championship Winners (left to right): 2nd Chicara Nagata, 1st Stellan Egland and 3rd Keiji Kawakita.

Sweden's Stellan Egeland Wins 2007 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building
Sturgis, South Dakota, August 7th 2007 - This year saw the American Motorcycle Dealer World Championship of Custom Bike Building move to Champions Hall, their own purpose-built facility on Lazelle Street at Sturgis Bike Week, and attracted 77 entries from 71 competitors, again from 11 countries, with a record 25 international entries. Continuing the trend of a raised standard of entries at each subsequent show, this year's competition was agreed by the competitors to be the toughest yet.

Top honors in the 2007 World Championship was taken by Stellan Egeland, of SE Service, out of SkogÂs, Sweden. Stellan, who last year placed third with only the second bike he'd ever built, this year wowed the crowds with a speedway inspired board tracker, featuring hand made cylinders and heads on a Knucklehead bottom end. His bike - Hulster 8-valve - takes engineering excellence to a new level. The one-off, four-valve cylinder heads had the cooling fins filed by hand and the ports manually cut, drilled and then filed to shape. With the intricate engine work completed Stellan then reworked a Norton gearbox to handle transmission duties, before adding a generator to the frame which is driven by a second chain, driven off the rear wheel.

In one of the closest results in the event's history, returning World Champion Chicara Nagata of Japan's Chicara Motorcycles, polled enough votes to take second place with Chicara Art Two. Building on the design cues of his winning bike of last year, Chicara rose to the challenge of the World Championship once again by building a bike around a Flathead motor.

The brazing showing through a fine layer of chrome, and the unique front suspension remaining from last year, but this time the frame was suspended with a single shock on the rear. As with Stellan, Chicara looked to British motorcycles for his choice of transmission; his solution was a four-speed box from a Triumph. Continuing the Old School feel of the bike is a set of 28in spoked wheels.

Chicara's countryman Keiji Kawakita, of Hot-Dock Custom Cycles, Tokyo, lifted the third place trophy thanks to his Red Gladiator bike. It takes elements of traditional Bobber and mixes in European Streetfighter styling for a truly unique machine.At the heart of the bike is a Hot-Dock engineered HR4V engine, which takes a H-D motor and adds four-valve heads and custom fuel injection.

For additional information on the AMD World Championship visit www.amdchampionship.com

1st Place
"Hulster 8-Valve"
Stellan Egeland / SE Service SkogÂs, Sweden
www.chicara.com
8-Valve Knucklehead

2nd Place
"Chicara Art Two "
Chicara Nagata / Chicarta Motorcycles, Saga Japan
www.chicara.com
Harley Flathead

3rd Place
"Red Gladiator"
Keiji Kawakita
Hot-Dock Custom Cycles
Tokyo, Japan

4th Place

Dave cooks
Cook Customs
Milwaukee, Wisconson, USA
Hidden Suspension
Perimeter Brakes
5th Place
"Time Machine"
Sapka Muvek
Hungary
6th Place
"Epic"
Paul Stewart
Dynamic Choppers
Las Vegas, USA
34' wheels
7th Place
"Rock-n-Roll"
Cyril Gautier
France
Sportster
8th Place
"Jolly Roger"
Mario Audia and Darrion Tefft
USA
196in Hawaya billet motor.
9th Place
Supercharged Norton
Roger Gildammer
Goldammer Custom Cycles
British Columbia, Canada
www.goldammercycle.com
10th Place
"America's Most Beautiful Motorcycle"
Christian Dotson
USA

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The Other Top Ten
Dave Cook of Cook Customs, out of Milwaukee, flies the flag for the USA in fourth place with his softail bike with hidden suspension and perimeter brakes. With the exception of the motor and trans, the entire bike was fabricated by Dave in his workshop.

Sapka Muvek, the Hungarian shop who took first place in the 2007 European Championship of Custom Bike Building, claimed fifth place with Time Machine, a build based on HG Wells' story of the same name. The bike redefines the term Old School with features such as handmade wooden wheels.

Furthering the international flavor of the event, in sixth place is Paul Stewart of Dynamic Choppers, an Englishman based in Las Vegas. The stainless steel framed Epic gathered a crowd as soon as it rolled into the show hall on its 34.5in wheels.

Taking inspiration from racing bikes, Frenchman Cyril Gautier uses a Sportster engine as a stressed member in the frame of his seventh placed bike - Rock 'n' Bike.

The ultra low, completely rigid bike mixes in hot rod styling, even using a complete set of Panhard PL17 hubcaps as wheel covers.

Bucking the trend for traditional styling is Jolly Roger Customs with the Jolly Roger. Built by Mario Audia and Darrion Tefft, the futuristically and organically styled machine runs a 196in Hawaya billet motor.

The top ten is rounded out by former two times World Champion of Custom Bike Building Roger Goldammer. His build Nortorious takes the idea of British cafÈ racers and in particular bikes like Norton's Manx and gives it his unique touch. Known for ignoring conventions, Roger once again took a v-twin motor and removed the rear cylinder, putting a super charger in its place. He then reworked the redundant rear head to fit the front cylinder before adding fuel injection.

Christian Dotson took tenth place with his first-ever bike, which also won "America's Most Beautiful Motorcycle" award at the Oakland Grand National Roadster Show in January.

World Championship of Custom Bike Building
Tel: +44 1892 511516 (toll free from USA/Canada: 866 849 5704)
Email: neil@amdchampionship.com
Website: www.amdchampionship.com