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2

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR - TIM HAILEY,

timhailey@earthlink.net Contributing Writer(S) - Debbie Knebel Publisher - Scott Cochran

PHOTOGRAPHY Photo Editor - Tim Hailey Field Photography - Tim Hailey, Matt Polito Terrence Belton, www.teesphotoshop.com Tim Hailey www.eatmyink.com Matt Polito www.dragbikephotos.com Chris Simmons James Hansen All Photos seen in Straightliner are available for sale.

PRODUCTION Production Manager - Henry Wheeler Advertising Production - Henry Wheeler ADVERTISING National Sales - Sylvia Cochran Insert Sales - Tim Hailey, Tiffany Giles DIRECT ALL EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING MATTERS TO P.O. Box 726 324 South Green St. Swainsboro Georgia 30401

TELEPHONES: EDITORIAL: 718-554-3866 ADVERTISING: 888-374-3371 / 718-554-3866 USRN and AMA Dragbike make every effort to present accurate and

reliable information but do not endorse, approve or certify such information nor guarantee its accuracy. References to specific commercial products, processes or services do not imply endorsement, recommendation or favoring by USRN / PROSTAR / Thunderwind Publishing or Straightliner, including employees and agents, and are not responsible for consequences arising from the use of such information.

ON THE COVER

Clockwise from the banner: Curtis McDougald, Bud Yoder, Keith Lynn, and Paul Gast

4-5 6 7 8 9 10-11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

MiRock Maryland Pro Street MiRock Maryland Pro Sportbike MiRock Maryland Quick 32 MiRock Maryland Street ET MiRock Maryland Pro ET MiRock Maryland Real Street MiRock Maryland Crazy 8’s AMA Dragbike Norwalk Top Fuel AMA Dragbike Norwalk Funnybike AMA Dragbike Norwalk Pro Mod AMA Dragbike Norwalk Super Street AMA Dragbike Norwalk Supersport AMA Dragbike Norwalk Real Street AMA Dragbike Norwalk Pro Street AMA Dragbike Norwalk Street Fighter AMA Dragbike Norwalk Top Gas AMA Dragbike Norwalk Super Eliminator AMA Dragbike Norwalk Super Comp AMA Dragbike Norwalk Pro ET AMA Dragbike Norwalk Street ET

3

RACE LADDERS

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

Orient Express PRO STREET

Orient Express PRO STREET QUALIFYING Pos

Bike #

Rider

Location

ET

MPH

1

1

Mike Slowe

Croydon PA

7.151

200.41

2

455

Bud Yoder

Flint MI

7.230

199.64

3

910

Steve Jester

Salisbury MD

7.296

196.27

4

332

Mike Kovacevich

Minooka IL

7.325

203.19

5

1996

Nicholas Mazeika

West Deptford NJ

7.345

196.16

6

71

Curtis Mcdougald

Lillington NC

7.359

199.76

7

53

Rodney Williford

Rougemont NC

7.408

197.48

8

30

Vincent Demito

Plymouth Meeting PA

7.425

196.99

9

193

Taylor Wood

Elizabethtown KY

7.453

195.14

10

31

Jason Miller

Mechanicsville MD

7.456

195.79

11

513

Ricky Wood

Sims NC

7.559

191.65

12

519

Ehren Litten

Louisburg NC

7.675

191.35

13

800

John O Connor

Pottstown PA

7.701

191.76

14

716

Ed Zeigler

Middletown NY

8.414

179.78

7.115 203.92 B. Yoder (.095) 8.164 190.16 J. O’Connor (.062) 7.343 198.79 V. Demito (.097) 16.765 47.88 R. Williford (-.008) 7.214 198.67 S. Jester (.079) 7.900 178.73 E. Litten (.082) 7.334 197.97 T. Wood (.166)

Bud Yoder

7.251 189.84 B. Yoder (.160)

7.403 192.63 N. Mazeika (.247)

7.209 199.61 B. Yoder (.185)

7.390 194.27 N. Mazeika (.175)

7.880 144.01 V. Demito (.113)

M. Kovacevich 7.118 202.09 B. Yoder (.111)

7.276 193.46 S. Jester (.093) S. Jester

H

igh horsepower weather and a fastidiously prepared Maryland International Raceway made for an all-out assault on both ends of the Orient Express Pro Street record at the Fast By Gast Superbike Finals. Bike counts swelled, spectators rolled in and— yes—the bikini contest thumped as the sun shone and fall temps moderated.

Saturday’s Pro Street qualifying gave a heads-up as to what would come on Sunday, as multi-time, multi-sanction champ Mike Slowe ran a quickest ever 7.151 to take the number 1 spot. Bud Yoder was second, Steve Jester third, and Mike Kovacevich pushed the Orient Express/ Rush Deal Suzuki Hayabusa to fourth with a trap speed of 201.34 mph.

Sunday’s weather was even better. “I wasn’t here yesterday, but the conditions were great and anyone with half a brain stepped up,” said Mike Hubsher of Lazer Porting. “Today is unbelievable. This is what we live for—the Church of Low ET and High Mile Per Hour. I’m just glad I made it here.” True enough. Yoder ran 7.115 at 203.92 on Ronnie Mitchell’s ‘Busa in round 1 to set the knowledgeable crowd on fire. “Outstanding performance,” continued Lazer Mike. “Great tuning as well as unbelievable riding. Can’t say enough about it, man. Awesome. Great

4

8.047 166.64 J. Miller (.138) 7.280 202.36 M. Kovacevich (.114) 7.874 149.27 R. Wood (.160)

7.340 193.63 N. Mazeika (.157) 2.367 M. Slowe (.728) 7.487 196.13 M. Slowe (.147)

7.208 181.98 M. Slowe (.289) E. Zeigler Bye

T. Wood

Bye

8.575 126.01 C. McDougald (.175)

Bye

Yoder/Mitchell Shatter Pro Street Records Bud Yoder

7.387 195.70 N. Mazeika (.169)

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

people to be around, great people to race with.”

On a round 1 broke bye, Slowe was even better to the eighth mile than Yoder but top end tirespin wasted the 550+ horsepower motor in his turbocharged Hayabusa. He ran 7.20 at a way-slow 181. Indeed, the weather had bracket racers breaking out and pro racers breaking. Slowe was lucky. A wild thrash got his motor changed in time for round 2, where a scheduled bye meant he only had to break the beam under power.

Fresh off his Atco win, Kovacevich ran a .28 in round 1 and was looking to go quicker in 2. “There’s a little bit of room for improvement, so, maybe,” said Mike. “Not as quick as Bud, but we’ll definitely do what we can. We kinda left it alone.”

A little too much alone. When the Orient team started the bike up for round 2, something wasn’t right. “I think we broke a piston,” said builder/tuner Joe Hahn. “I don’t think it’s a rod bearing, I think it’s a piston. We’re gonna find that out tomorrow.”

So neither Kovacevich nor teenage phenom Taylor Wood could make the round 2 call, and Jester broke on his round 2 solo pass and couldn’t make the semi. He’s been breaking a lot lately. “I tell you what, this thing is driving me insane,” said Jester, a house powerwasher who better be finding a lot of dirty homes to pay for all that broken aluminum. “I got the best there is helping me. NLR is doing everything he (Sebastian Domingo) can. Shane Tecklinburg, who tuned my ECU, has been hands on the whole time. We found small problems with fueling, fixed them and made the bike better.

We think we got it, then it does it again. My Motec data doesn’t

Nick Mazeika

even show it melting when it does.

“We’ve changed a lot. I’m putting a Carpenter head on there for this race. Bob (Carpenter) says he thinks when I destroyed the other one in March and started running a stock one my compression went up. So I’m gonna try. I will not give up. At the last race we built the motor Friday in the parking lot.

It was Eddie Who, Anthony Navarro and myself. I can’t say enough about my friends who help me like those guys. Mark my words, though, that .21 I went (in round 1 against Ehren Litten) was only the beginning. I have so much more, it’s just gotta stay in one piece for a race.”

Jester’s misfortune gave Yoder an unscheduled bye to the final. Bud had slowed to a .25 in round 2, still good enough to beat title contender Vinnie Demito. “I got put on the trailer, what are you gonna do?” said Vinnie. “We were pretty much next to each other ‘til the 330. He got problems, he was wheeliein’ and all. I wheelied in second gear, shifted to third, and when I did it unloaded the chassis, spun the tire and it never stopped spinning. Cost me the race.”

“Oh, I think it had a little too much power,” Bud said about his bike. “Maybe the air got a little better, we didn’t touch it. It’s right on the verge. Now we took a little bit out. We’re gonna go out there and back it up.”

“We just wanna back it up,” agreed Mitchell.

“That’s all we wanna do is back it up. It wheelied a bit on the last pass, so I just calmed it down a little bit to make a nice, smooth pass and get ready for Mikey in the final . . . or Nick.”

“You just need to calm Bud down,” offered Slowe, who faced Nick Mazeika in the other semi—his first pass after the engine swap. You got this thing all buttoned up and ready to go, Mike? “Ready to rock and roll.” You probably woulda made it without the oildown, but the oildown (round 2 Quick 32 oildown) helped, huh? “We were ready, but we just went back and plugged up a couple more things to make it that much more ready for the next round, but it was ready to run.” OK, so everything should be the same, what you’ve got in here now? “I have no idea. All’s I can say is ‘Oh God!’” Lil’ Nick’s team has been struggling with their oneof-a-kind GSXR1000 all year, but a recent change in the rules taking weight off the 1000s was just the adjustment builder/tuner Anthony Navarro needed. “They appended the weight limit on the 1000s, 550 from the previous 580,” said Navarro. “The ballast that we had was all the way in the back of the tail. Apparently, it was compressing the shock already, so it limited our travel. That’s why we had such a traction problem. You know it always ran, it just never hooked up. So we took it off, now it has more travel and it hooks every pass—knock on wood.

So yeah, that was pretty much it. Our rider came around, too.”

Feel good to be going rounds on raceday, Nick? “Yeah, it’s nice.” Nick lagged leaving the line against Slowe, but Mikey’s front wheel shot skyward.

As Slowe fought wheelies the whole way, Mazeika drove around to gain his first Pro Street final.

Yoder ran a .20 in the semi, failing to back up the .11, so Mitchell decided to change the clutches for the final.

It was the right move. Mazeika again gave up the tree and had to follow Yoder the whole way, as Bud posted another 7.11 on the board at over 202 mph.

“We were just drivin’ through the clutch in first gear and over-runnin’ the turbo in the middle rounds.

Once we put a new clutch in it to pull the motor back down, it went out there and ran the exact same ET again—7.11. It was great to back up a 7.11 with a 7.11. No body can have a doubt that it can go that fast. Even on the other passes when it wheelied, it still flew. I think it’ll go faster, to tell you the truth. It still has more power in it. Bud says that he ain’t doin’ nothin’ out there. He says that once it goes, he ain’t doin’ nothing. So I truly believe it could go 7.09. I know it’s not that far away, but it truly is when you think about the numbers, and it takes so much to do that. But we’ll see in Norwalk now.”

Mitchell finally replaced the Michelin Power One tire he’s been running on the bike for most of the summer, a whopping 74 passes. “We didn’t wanna take no chances,” said Ronnie. “The guy in Canada who bought the bike wanted a new tire on there.

“Crazy, unbelievable. We came to three MiRock races this year, won three. This weekend is the first time we’ve really turned it up. We’ve been havin’ the fastest front half of just about anybody for the whole year. We just never turned it up, tryin’ to get through the year. Now the bike’s sold and we wanna show everybody what it can really run now.”

“We been racin’ all year to try and be conservative, go rounds, not overdo it, you know—wheelie, spin, give the race away,” said Yoder. “But that was kinda our whole purpose to come here. We had the record, Mikey took it, and then he reset it to 7.15. But that was the whole reason to come here was to try and get the record back. So we came without worryin’ about hurtin’ parts. We came here to put power in the bike, go fast, race, and go home. You know, the beautiful thing is, we came here, we went fast and we can still run again. You couldn’t ask for anything more. I don’t think there was a round that was really close. We just had a good bike all weekend. We struggled a little bit there after we went the first 7.11.

It kinda fell off, but we found out what it was. Ronnie does a good job.”

“I’d like to thank Joe Hahn and Orient Express for lettin’ us pit with ‘em,” said Yoder, who brought the

Mike Slowe record setting bike from Michigan to Maryland in the back of his pick-up truck.

“We made it here in 9 hours on $68 of fuel,” laughed Mitchell, who makes a habit of barnstorming his bikes around the country. “We got rained out Friday in Milan, so we’re gonna race there on Friday and head straight over to Norwalk on Saturday and Sunday.”

“Also thanks to Richie’s Tires for helpin’ out, you know, makin’ sure we do a great burnout,” added Bud, who also thanked Ronnie Mitchell Racing, McIntosh Fabrication, Worldwide Bearings, Catalyst, Ward Performance, and his turbo system manufacturer.

At the end of the day, race promoter Jason Miller’s thoughts turned towards preparing for the inevitable—the Pro Street 6 second club. Sponsors, anyone? Miller himself qualified tenth on Dimey Eddinger’s DME ‘Busa and lost to Mazeika in round 1.

5

RACE LADDERS

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

PRO SPORTBIKE

PRO SPORTBIKE QUALIFYING Pos Bike # Rider

Location

ET

64

Anthony Navarro Royersford PA

7.673 193.16

2

106

Sean Walsh

Patchogue NY

7.736 195.90

3

51

John Kulcycki

Phoenixville PA 7.907 195.53

4

24

Mike Sweeney

Wolcott CT

7.970 191.62

5

39

Joe Cratten

Langhorn PA

8.184 186.82

6

615

Ben Bozarth

Millville NJ

8.493 183.94

7.655 199.23 S. Walsh (.170)

7.692 199.40 A. Navarro (.167)

MPH

1

7.613 197.16 A. Navarro (.145)

7.706 195.68 S. Walsh (.077) 8.208 178.21 J. Cratten (.198)

8.347 171.82 B. Bozarth (.044) 7.629 196.19 A. Navarro (.102)

7.673 191.43 S. Walsh (.100) 7.883 193.24 J. Kulcycki (.122)

Bye Bye Bye

7.912 193.35 J. Kulcycki (.121) 18.665 60.09 M. Sweeney (.097)

Anthony Navarro

Navarro Aims for Records Anthony Navarro

F

amed builder/tuner Anthony Navarro rides his own turbo ‘Busa in Pro Sportbike and has won all but one race this season. There was little variation in that pattern in Maryland, as Navarro qualified number 1 with a 7.67 at 193 before beating trailermate and season rival Sean “Skinny” Walsh in the final.

Pro Sportbike has one more round left at Rockingham before the class

retires and many of its competitors move up to Pro Street. Navarro, already the season champ, ran 199 at Maryland and seeks to close out the books with record runs at The Rock. “I’m gonna go for 200,” Anthony said in the thick of Maryland competition. “I don’t care about the win. My streak is already broken, they’re retirin’ the class, what’s the difference? Go out with a bang.”

Ironically, the already dead class had its best turnout of the year at Maryland with 6 bikes qualifying for the field—still not enough by a longshot. Navarro beat Jersey boy Ben Bozarth in round 1 and nailed the 199 on a bye in the semi before vanquishing Walsh in the final. “Always some tight racing between me and Sean, which makes it that much more fun,” said Anthony.

“It went OK for me,” said Walsh. “Still had a few shifting and clutch issues. Got that fixed and starting running well again. I went 199mph and so did Anthtony, so that was awesome. Had Ant in finals and I was on a 7.50 something pass but I must have hurt the bike on the pass before and, about half track, it nosed over and Ant got me again! It’s all good. I’m having fun and I know the next race is mine!”

“It was an overall good weekend for myself with the win and number 1 qualifier,” said Ant. “I went 199.40 mph, which is the fastest I’ve been but I didn’t back it up, so it gives me something to shoot for in November. We made a lot of progress on the Pro Street 1000, with Nick taking out Mikey and going to the finals. ‘Til then he hasn’t made it past the first round, so it looks very promising.”

Navarro is looking forward to Pro Street next year his own self. “There’s gonna be a lot of bikes in the class, so it should be a very interesting year.

I’ve already started on a new bike and can’t wait ‘til after the last race to start tearing it down.

“As usual, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me get this far— Barry Henson at Velocity, Timbo Uhlman at Playthings, Mikey Slowe and all my team. And of course, my family for supporting me.”

Sean Walsh

6

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

Clontz Clobbers Quick 32 Chris Clontz

Clontz rides an old Shawn Gann Pro Stock bike from the Oakley days. “The guy that owns the bike, Mark Cooksey, lets me ride it,” said Chris. “I ride it, he maintains the maintenance and stuff on it. I wanna thank Mark for everything, and givin’ me the opportunity to spend three years on a dragbike like that, goin’ 8.0s. Also John Escherman, that builds the motors. I wanna thank MiRock, Psychobike, whoever’s involved in puttin’ on a show for us—thank you very much.”

Chris and his wife Kelly make up part of a formidable family team. “Kelly’s been racin’ since 2003. We’re a very competitive family.

My older brother Gary, we all stick together, it’s a great time.”

James Farmer won Fast By Gast Pro ET Sunday and beat Clontz, who redlit, in the Big Money runoff.

L

ocal hero Chris Clontz won FBR Shop Quick 32. “Everyday I go to work, but racin’s where it’s at, you know?” said the steamfitter from Local 602, Washington, DC. “Slick and a wheelie bar.

“I had some tough competitors this weekend, including Boo Brown in the finals.”

“That’s my homeboy!” shouted Boo. “He told me he’d meet me in the finals,” continued Clontz. “We were on two different brackets, so it worked out that way, you know, and the round before that I had Jay Windsor. Andy Baumbach first round, he’s a tough racer, and the Crusher bike, which blew up on me second round.

“It was just a great weekend. My bike was consistent. I was there, the bike was there. When it’s your weekend, it’s your weekend.”

RACE LADDERS

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

FBR Shop QUICK 32 QUALIFYING Pos

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

MPH

Pos

730

Terry Schweigert

Abbotsford BC

6.958

195.34

2209

Thomas Haskell

District Hghts MD

7.483

169.96

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Bike #

86

Rider

Location

ET

Tyler Cammock

Middleton DE

7.528

185.43

1955

Kevin Clarke

Va Beach VA

7.537

173.32

1049

John Cintarese

Norwood MA

7.725

174.17

Rob Kenney

Salisbury MD

7.923

162.61

1603

22

George Shriver

Glen Burnie MD

8.046

166.56

1215

Bobby Holland

Owings MD

8.054

161.42

2223

Joe Erickson Jr

Glen Burnie MD

8.057

158.78

357

Wilson Burkhead

Highland Springs VA

8.065

160.21

4179

Ron Reagan

Jackson NJ

8.091

165.97

13X

James Mclain

Edgewater MD

8.129

157.72

1086

Mike Ostrowski

West Islip NY

8.136

166.11

1101

Brian Rich

Brandywine MD

8.143

160.18

1022

Chris Clontz

Mechanicsville MD

8.153

160.33

Prince Frederick MD

8.160

163.73

1819X Durwood Rawlings

Boo Brown

Bike #

Rider

G172

Ken George

2100

Andy Baumbach

Location

ET

MPH

Landing NJ

8.163

162.86

Fairfax VA

8.180

163.28

118

Jim Shifflett

Waynesboro VA

3727

Boo Brown

Potomac Falls VA

8.265

159.72

1121

Mac Mcadams

Edgewater MD

8.283

156.19

1052

Jay Windsor

Felton DE

8.342

158.87

1540

Melvin Armel

Bunkerhill WV

8.381

157.39

2199

Glenn Giannetti

R3592 Schubert Claytor 535

Michael Rankin

136

John Evans

8.215

FBR Shop QUICK 32

162.72

Nutley NJ

8.383

156.83

Roanoke VA

8.384

161.73

Staunton VA

8.415

161.73

Ossining NY

8.417

149.30

R3591 Jon Burckhead

Richmond VA

8.441

156.03

1540

Melvin Armel

Bunkerhill WV

8.452

156.66

1984

Kenny Batson

Forestville MD

8.455

307.65

888

Dion Kennedy

Waldorf MD

8.484

146.77

551

Shayne Proctor

Randallstown MD

8.554

159.36

8.12 8.214 C. Clontz (.055) 7.40 9.568 T. Haskell (.208) 8.01 7.990 G. Shriver (.032) 8.03 7.960 W. Burkhead (.086) 8.33 8.302 J. Windsor (.028) 8.46 8.356 J. Evans (.023) 7.48 7.447 T. Cammock (.045)

Chris Clontz

8.13 8.071 J. Shifflett (-.008)

8.10 8.159 C. Clontz (.038)

8.12 8.131 B. Brown (.073)

8.08 8.118 C. Clontz (.025)

8.12 8.171 B. Brown (.045)

7.97 8.088 G. Shriver (.072)

8.26 8.301 M. McAdams (.052) 8.08 8.116 C. Clontz (.114)

8.28 8.350 J. Windsor (.056)

8.12 8.264 B. Brown (.055) 8.03 8.024 J. Erickson Jr (-.098)

8.30 8.364 J. Windsor (.034) 7.41 7.464 T. Cammock (.203)

8.02 8.095 J. Erickson Jr (.265) 6.80 6.873 *T. Schweigert (.034)

8.20 8.132 B. Brown (.078) 8.20 K. Clarke 8.28 8.339 M. McAdams (.095) 7.68 7.733 J. Cintarese (.163) 8.05 8.046 J. Erickson Jr (.067) 8.53 8.479 D. Robinson (.163) 6.80 6.808 T. Schweigert (.006) 8.16 8.204 K. George (.032)

*Terry Schweigart crossed the center line and was disqualified

7

RACE LADDERS 9.43 9.480 R. Mazzola (.002) 9.24 9.187 J. Blakenship (.088) 9.26 9.333 S. Proctor (.088) 9.55 9.744 K. Grimes (.192) 8.91 8.910 J. Teasley (.100) 9.20 9.184 J. Wallace (.138) 9.05 12.637 B. Teasley (.015) 9.20 9.254 E. Decker (-.036)

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

Schnitz Racing STREET ET 9.43 9.463 R. Mazzola (.020)

10.35 10.406 D. Hamilton (.046) 10.35 10.392 D. Hamilton (.056)

9.43 9.467 R. Mazzola (.050) 9.26 9.214 S. Proctor (.113)

9.65 9.715 D. Williams (-.002)

Rick Mazzola

9.42 9.477 R. Mazzola (.037)

10.36 10.391 D. Hamilton (.082) 8.62 8.625 M. Rankin (.102)

8.91 8.971 J. Teasley (.017) 8.91 9.038 J. Teasley (.036) 9.05 9.080 B. Teasley (.099)

8.60 8.700 M. Rankin (.024)

Saturday Race

8.99 8.952 D. Young (.172)

10.35 10.426 D. Hamilton (.005)

9.40 9.427 R. Reagan (.048)

9.32 9.322 J. Chapman (.118)

8.57 8.597 M. Rankin (.078)

9.57 9.695 D. Williams (.156)

9.15 9.345 R. Smith (.067)

9.79 9.874 P. Butler (-.021)

11.24 11.525 A. Buckson (.060)

8.62 8.641 M. Rankin (.105)

8.90 9.002 G. Williams (.070)

9.44 9.486 R. Veronie (.092)

9.62 9.589 J. White (.090)

8.99 9.190 D. Young (.080)

Bye

9.55 9.544 UN. Known (.245)

Bye

Schnitz Racing STREET ET 9.00 9.048 S. Proctor (.035)

9.40 9.349 R. Reagan (.077)

9.00 9.033 S. Proctor (.007)

9.39 9.764 R. Reagan (.125) 9.15 9.652 R. Smith (-.048)

Ron Reagan

9.39 9.397 R. Reagan (.028)

9.00 9.038 S. Proctor (.059) 10.40 10.409 D. Hamilton (.066)

9.00 6.539 G. Williams (1.692) 9.00 9.247 G. Williams (.254) Bye

9.45 9.610 F. Clanagan (-.022)

10.37 10.366 D. Hamilton (.028)

Sunday Race

9.84 10.119 K. Garnett (.131)

never know, you can’t estimate what you’re gonna do.”

M

E

nglishtown regulars swept Schnitz Racing Street ET, with Rick Mazzola taking the prize on Saturday and Ron “Quicker than any President” Reagan on Sunday.

“The beginning of the day, my clutches broke as usual,” Mazzola said while watching Sunday night’s action at the starting line. “Same thing happened tonight. That’s a ZX12, they break clutches. I’m used to it and make the best of it.

“Raced Dale Hamilton in the final last night. He always runs his number. I cut a little better light and I ran him down at the end. It was a little foggy out, our shields were foggin’ up. We made the best of it.”

“With these big streetbike fields, it really sucks going all the way and coming up short,” said Hamilton. “Sometimes worse than others. In the later rounds we had to hit the pits and put in a new clutch pack really fast, and to do that in between rounds always puts you in a bit of a guessing game—dial down a couple and hope for a redlight to get you back on track—no luck with that. I had a tough field to get through, which always makes going far feel better. Also, losing in the final is always a bitch, but in past situations it has hurt worse when I made mistakes or the other guy wasn’t on his game.

Not this time. Rick Mazzola is a good racer and brought his game to the final, which believe it or not actually makes it easier to stomach runner-up!

“Thanks to the FBR shop as always, also to Bonnie Pelphrey, and thanks Dale Hamilton to Tim Hailey and Straightliner mag for giving us a great magazine to look forward to!”

“Thanks to Jason Miller Streetbike Seminars, Dragbike.com, Orient Express, all the Kawasaki guys at Englishtown, MIR and the MiRock series,” said Mazzola. “It’s a great series, I love racin’ it. I come every chance I can. It’s pretty much the best of the best, it’s always tough. You

8

9.25 9.182 B. Brown (.080) 9.45 9.534 F. Clanagan (.055) 9.50 9.583 K. Jones Jr (.164) 10.42 10.424 D. Hamilton (.095) 9.35 9.384 B. Teasley (.156) 9.80 9.880 K. Garnett (.096) 8.75 8.782 E. McDougald (-.063)

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

E-town in Maryland Rick Mazzola

9.00 8.998 S. Proctor (.044)

Shayne Proctor

azzola didn’t have to race Englishtown rival Reagan at MIR, they’ll save their beefs for the home track. “I haven’t ran Street ET much in a couple of years, but it’s all coming back to me!” said Reagan. “I found myself in the later rounds meeting all the heavy hitters, and I must be in that group today! The Ronzo takes the final against MIR’s top guy Shayne Procter!”

Shayne does seem to at least be the top Proctor, a vast array of cousins that seem to be everywhere. “It seems like we’re 20-30% of the people that be at the track,” said Shayne, who was riding his cousin Keanan’s ‘Busa on Sunday. “Including cars and bikes, I’d say at there’s at least 30 of us out there.

“That was my first time racing Keanan’s bike. It’s stock wheelbase, stock motor, pipe and airshifter goin’ 9.0s. That’s real good for that bike. I always have good luck riding somebody else’s bike for the first time. I was just learning how to ride it.”

“It was a great race, a good day,” said Reagan. “The race weather was mint, the accommodations in RV Ronzo were sweet and comfy. I have to say when my chief crew guy brother Don sees The Ronzo in the mode, he steps it up when needed. This is yours! Tonight we exit the MIR finals Streetbike winner! It’s an awesome win for Don and I. Donnie said to me after a lucky round win, ’Ronzo, that’s your gimme. Now show the big dogs The Ronzo loves taking out the best racers on the way to the final!’ Those street guys are good, fast and a great bunch of friends and associates. Thanks Donnie, Maciuta, Michelle, Genie and Joe Franco The Man. Thanks MIR for a well running bike schedule, see ya next year!”

Ron Reagan

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

Smith and Farmer in Pro ET Shawn Smith

Ken George

James Farmer

Jay Windsor

RACE LADDERS 9.22 9.222 S. Smith (.044) 9.22 9.202 J. Farmer (.021) 9.89 9.987 L. Greene (.074) 9.48 9.504 J. Stanley (.151) 10.00 10.232 A. Jones (.148) 10.73 10.995 A. Briscoe (.160) 8.67 8.869 S. Claytor (.149) 8.52 25.433 J. Burkhead (.025)

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

PRO ET 9.22 9.215 S. Smith (.138)

8.29 8.296 J. Windsor (.028) 8.29 8.327 J. Windsor (.017)

9.22 9.233 S. Smith (.086) 9.89 9.880 L. Greene (-.007)

8.20 13.126 S. Proctor (.950)

Shawn Smith 9.22 9.231 S. Smith (.034)

8.27 8.297 J. Windsor (.067) 8.31 8.438 J. Stanley (.097)

9.04 9.044 A. Jones (.047) 9.03 9.098 A. Jones (.116) 8.67 8.681 S. Claytor (.071)

8.31 8.833 J. Stanley (.208)

Saturday Race

9.09 9.393 O. Johnson (.040)

8.29 8.325 J. Windsor (.080)

9.22 9.206 J. Farmer (.006)

8.58 8.506 D. Robinson (.206)

9.18 9.145 S. Proctor (.030)

8.85 32.560 S. Proctor (.104)

8.04 8.077 A. Baumbach (.094)

8.42 12.923 M. McAdams (-.099)

9.39 9.827 D. Hookway (-.050)

8.31 8.366 J. Stanley (.012)

Bye

8.05 8.174 B. Holland (.024)

Bye

9.09 25.388 O. Johnson (.948)

Bye

Bye

Bye

PRO ET 9.19 9.248 J. Farmer (.016)

8.24 8.289 K. George (.052) 8.24 8.303 K. George (.031)

9.19 35.979 J. Farmer (.909) 8.08 8.112 A. Baumbach (.079)

9.41 9.482 R. Mazolla (.039)

James Farmer 9.19 9.194 J. Farmer (.049)

8.29 8.284 K. George (.054) 8.12 8.231 J. Shifflett (.065)

Bye

8.14 8.133 J. Shifflett (.154)

Bye Bye

Sunday Race

8.70 8.767 C. Nock (.209)

8.24 8.314 K. George (.068) 8.47 8.481 D. Robinson (.151) 9.40 9.454 R. Mazolla (.115) 8.83 8.896 M. Ostrowsla (-.234) 8.12 8.166 J. Shifflett (.010) 9.02 8.987 R. Dombrosky (.127) 8.70 8.857 C. Nock (.121) 9.13 12.550 W. Burkhead (-.040)

9

RACE LADDERS

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

HTP Performance REAL STREET QUALIFYING Pos

Bike #

Rider

Location

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

2949 1066 1034 51 1199 1 17 62 3727 911 57 123 3816 13 19 123X

Jeremy Teasley Rickey Grayson Ashon Dickerson Curtis Mcdouglad Mark Billiter Keith Thompson Richard Gadson Rickey Gadson Boo Brown Cody Lowe Anibal Merced Robert Johnson Caleb Mcdougald Mike Mace Michael Glace Demarious Boulware

Orient OH Stafford VA Newark NJ Lillington NC South Carolina Upper Marlboro MD Philadelphia PA Hammonton NJ Potomac Falls VA Minerl VA Manassas VA Sandston VA Lillingon NC Baltimore MD Pottstown PA Great Falls SC

ET

MPH

8.031 8.103 8.127 8.170 8.174 8.187 8.211 8.234 8.294 8.299 8.337 8.388 8.393 8.421 8.470 8.488

188.57 174.12 181.84 176.42 176.67 174.55 175.43 177.91 169.04 173.87 169.06 170.11 172.10 175.71 179.35 163.22

HTP Performance REAL STREET

8.079 176.77 K. Thompson (-.240)

8.156 177.21 K. Thompson (.061)

A. Merced 8.058 170.67 K. Thompson (.128)

8.241 179.11 A. Dickerson (.215) 8.757 172.85 M. Mace (.175)

8.037 170.21 K. Thompson (.123)

8.103 174.57 R. Grayson (.170)

7.999 176.01 R. Grayson (.099)

8.323 180.36 M. Glace (.061) 8.269 175.96 Rich. Gadson (.103)

Keith Thompson

8.646 173.41 C. Lowe (.167)

8.190 167.86 R. Grayson (.103) 8.347 173.61 Rich. Gadson (.118)

Keith Thompson

TP Performance Real Street contenders Keith Thompson and Jeremy Teasley both entered the Maryland weekend seriously handicapped. Thompson’s builder/tuner, Cecil Towner III of HTP, was badly burned in a dyno accident the week before the race. He made the best tuning calls he could from his Richmond, Virginia hospital bed, but Thompson remained unqualified until the final round. He solidly made the field on his

Rickey Grayson

10

8.064 175.62 Cur. McDougald (.102)

8.172 183.64 A. Dickerson (.094)

Winning One for Cecil

H

7.992 177.88 Cur. McDougald (.117)

8.458 173.07 M. Billiter (-.017) 8.158 175.46 Cur. McDougald (.095) 8.195 179.25 R. Gadson (.083) 8.244 173.83 R. Gadson (.087) 8.771 128.16 J. Teasley (.133)

7.982 178.68 Cur. McDougald (.153) 8.208 173.90 Cal. McDougald (.083) 8.089 178.83 M. Billiter (.161) 8.625 153.98 R. Johnson (.113) 8.195 179.44 R. Gadson (.150) B. Brown 8.160 177.18 J. Teasley (.169) 8.420 163.37 D. Boulware (.147)

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

last shot, then spent Saturday night relentlessly testing.

For the second straight race, Teasley was again without the dominating Kawasaki ZX14 prepared and tuned by Coby Adams, and without the tuning of Adams himself.

Teasley still qualified number 1 with an 8.031 at a whopping 188.57 mph, but while everyone else was moving forward on raceday (including two new members of the 7 second club, Lil’ Curtis McDougald and Rickey Grayson), Jeremy’s bike starting slowing. He lost to Rickey Gadson in round 2, a tough blow to his MiRock title hopes.

Thompson and Towner’s dad Big Cecil gained confidence in their ability to work without Cecil III in the house and found consistency. Keith ran 8.0 first round, .15 on a wheeliein’ second round, and faced points challenger Grayson in the semi. “We gonna do what we can do, you know?” said Keith. “We been struggling, but this right here gonna be a good race. We both gotta try to be smooth, and may the best man win.

I’m glad he finally made it to the 7s, I knew he could do it.”

“We’ve got Keith next round, and we’ve got to put it to him,” Grayson said before the semi. “If we put it to him, we

Danny Cox Sr

REAL STREET B Class

Farlie Hall

8.445 166.29 D. Cox Sr (.220)

Curtis McDougald

8.444 168.37 D. Leath (.235)

Danny Cox Sr 8.341 168.91 D. Cox Sr (.183)

HTP Performance REAL STREET B Class

L. Delee

8.716 168.35 D. Leath (.212)

8.664 168.11 W. Grant (.129)

* Mario Harris Crossed center line, ne, Stephon Stepho St h nR Reyn Reynolds olds ld iis s de decl declared ared red rround oun winner

should be alright.” He didn’t, and his championship hopes are not alright.

Gadson had McDougald and his DME/G-Force GSXR had in the other semi. How do you like bein’ in the semis today, Rickey? “I love it! From where I started at? Eighth on the grid? Can’t find my ass from a hole in the ground?

It’s good. All’s I gotta do is put together one full pass without a wheelie and I’d upset some people. It might be comin’ right now.”

Do you like runnin’ your own show, doing everything? “I do, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. They can’t get on Psychobike and say ‘Yeah, if I had a million dollar budget and all.’ This is all me. No tunin’ decisions but mine. If I mess up, it’s my fault.”

“You said you was gonna do it,” said Rickey’s nephew Richard.

“One more to do,” said Rickey.

But it was Lil’ Curtis that did all the doing, and he took the win to advance to his first Real Street final against Thompson. “I didn’t think Curtis could run a 7, that was a surprise right there,” said Keith. “The class is definitely gettin’ fast.”

“I’m just tryin’ to be consistent and go rounds,” said Curtis. What’s come around on this bike, Curtis, the tune-up or you? “A little of both. It’s me tryin’ to ride the bike the same so he can tune it right. You gotta be consistent on the bike so you can get a tune-up to go by. We’re getting’ it figured out. I ain’t been on it but two races, so we’re getting’ it dialed in. It’s a little late in the season, but we’re workin’ with it. The bike is for sale right now. We’re tryin’ to build a nitrous Pro Street bike.”

“I am glad to see Curtis doing good in Real Street,” said Curtis’ wife Christy. “I knew once Landon (Ingram) got the bike right, Curtis would do his thing. Curtis is an awesome rider and has an unbelievable clutch hand. He can 60 with or better than those running the Gen II clutch.”

Curtis took the tree in the final but slowed slightly, while Thompson stepped up with his quickest pass of the weekend and an increased grasp on his second straight Real Street championship. Someone in the winner’s circle shouted “There goes your Eddie Krawiec championship!”

“Yeah, I can’t be like Eddie. I finally got one,” said Keith.

Big Cec was close to tears after the huge achievement without his boy. “I’m real pleased, glad we got a MiRock win.

Cecil made all the calls on the tune-up, had him on the phone every round. And I wanna give a shout-out to all the people that’s helped us get through this, and the support Cecil had.

A lotta support, a lotta support. We’re real pleased. Thank

everybody.”

“It was a rough one, you know, but we pulled it out,” said Thompson. “I had to do it for my man Cecil in the hospital. I couldn’t let him down. We just got into a good rhythm today. The bike was workin’ pretty good today, the best it ran all weekend. It ran consistent. Probably its most consistent day since we had the Wizard. We still learnin’ this thing.” And you weren’t tryin’ to run 7.80s today. “No, Sunday is ‘gettin’ down the track’ time. There ain’t no 7.80s.”

We need to get Cecil a Nomex suit. “There you go,” said Big Cec. “He’s gonna have one before he gets on the dyno again, I promise you that.”

Thompson and Towner thanked Brock’s Performance, Bazzaz Performance, Carolina Cycles, CP Pistons, Carillo Rods, Carpenter Race Heads, Marine Crankshaft, R&D Motorsports, OPP Racing, Vortex, Motec East, Adams Performance, Litz Race Suspension, CT Services Richmond, Michelin/Richie’s Tires, DME, VP Racing Fuels, NOS Wizard, Bates Leathers, Fulmer Helmets, Memphis Car Audio, and Shawn Freeman Custom Paint.

Diashaun Leath

11

Chapman the First Crazy 8

Hahn from Orient Express put it together for me. After that the bike ran pretty decent. I only had one shakedown pass and qualified last with an 8.86.

“Second round I went an 8.95 to another guy’s 8.92, but I had him at the tree. That was a real close finish. After that, we both spun at the starting line and it was a race to the finish. This is my first MiRock win. I’ll be running both classes at Rockingham if I don’t break my motors.

I think it’s because I’m parking next to Steve!” Jester’s been known to trash a motor or two.

“I love the class. I think it’s a real entrylevel class. I came out running 8.30s in Real Street, and now everybody’s stepped it up and that’s gone be the wayside. I thank Jason for giving the class a chance.

“Thanks also to L&D Suzuki in Dover, Delaware, Orient Express, Steve Jester, Josh Blank, Clark Adams, and last but not least my wife Shannon for putting up with all this drag racing.”

Eddie Chapman

T

he MiRock series debuted the new Crazy 8s index (8.88) class as an exhibition and a very promising 36 bikes qualified for the show. “I had six companies approach me this weekend about sponsoring the class,” said race promoter Jason Miller. Salisbury, Maryland’s Eddie Chapman took the first Crazy 8s win over Jermaine “Not Michael, Not Tito” Jackson, who redlit in the final.

“The weekend was a little rough on me,” said Chapman, an auto mechanic on weekdays. “The turbo broke on my 2008 ‘Busa that I run in Real Street on the dyno before I ever left the house. So I threw my 2006 GSXR streetbike in the trailer to run Crazy 8s. I blew that up Friday running Jason Miller’s seminar. So I borrowed Josh Blank’s ’06 Busa and I broke a cam in that Friday night. So we snatched the motor off that in the pits. Steve Jester had a cam that he loaned us, and Joe

RACE LADDERS

Crazy 8’s

Pos

Bike #

Rider

Location

ET

Over/Under

Pos

Bike #

Rider

Location

1

1096

Paul Anderson

Falmouth MA

8.889

0.009

19

1X

Lee Shierts

Charlotte NC

9.026

0.146

2

669

Jimmy Murphy

Chesapeake Bch MD

8.889

0.009

20

8

Shelby Barnes

Upper Marlboro MD

9.033

0.153

ET

R3735 Shayne Proctor

Indian Head MD

8.894

0.014

21

R3703 Chuck Victor

Snow Hill MD

9.035

0.155

4

2949

Jeremy Teasley

Orient OH

8.902

0.022

22

1450

Brandon Teasley

Grave City OH

9.056

0.176

5

6911

Barry Pryer

Va Beach Va

8.902

0.022

23

59

Cl Kenney

Richmond VA

9.079

0.199

68

Doug Witt

Woodbine MD

0.023

24

137

Deltez Davis

Salisbury MD

8.920

0.040

25

1134

Blain Dickerson

Newark NJ

9.082

0.202

Richmond VA

8.923

0.043

26

1684

Kelly Clontz

Mechanicsville MD

9.124

0.244

Laurel MD

8.929

0.049

27

1526

Kevin White

Newport News VA

9.167

0.287

Westminster MD

8.931

0.051

28

5550

Steve Moyer

Clinton MD

9.170

0.290

3727

Boo Brown

Potomac Falls VA

334

Dj Lockwood

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

R1494 Jermaine Jackson 22

Rodney Rice

R4588 Nate Haines

33

Louis Green

Baltimore MD

9.082

Hammontown NJ

8.961

0.073

29

9.201

0.321

Rosedale MD

8.969

0.089

30

Berlin MD

9.206

0.326

Middletown DE

8.972

0.092

31

R3755 Jeremy Lasica

Woodbridge VA

9.240

0.360

R3717 Marquise Blake

Bishopville MD

8.975

0.095

32

2034

Tony Razor Sr

Bridgeport CT

9.283

0.403

Chester VA

8.991

0.111

33

920

Ben Helland

Bryan MD

9.296

Prince George VA

8.997

0.117

34

R2556 Ashon Dickerson

Newark NJ

13.570

4.690

R3595 Buck Mcphatter

Hampton VA

8.875

-0.005

R3705 Eddie Chapman

Salisbury MD

8.862

-0.018

88

Rickey Gadson

808

Anthony Consortz

R3704 Lamont Moore 2260

18

R3594 Cameron Teasley

Sherman Savoy Jr

Waldorf MD

8.998

0.118

35

Harrisburg OH

9.021

0.141

36

8.88 9.068 C. Kenney (.099) 8.88 9.312 M. Blake (.098)

0.202

Tyler Cammock

62

R3728 Josh Lowe

17

12

8.903

8.88 8.958 E. Chapman (.035) 8.88 8.921 J. Murphy (.093)

Over/Under

3

7

Jermaine Jackson

MIROCK Fast by Gast Superbike Finals, Maryland International Raceway, October 3-4, Mechanicsville MD

Crazy 8’s QUALIFYING

6

story and photos

by Tim Hailey, eatmyink.com

8.88 1.831 J. Jackson (1.552)

8.88 8.932 E. Chapman (.013) 8.88 5.810 E. Chapman (.507)

Bye 8.88 13.732 E. Chapman (.004)

Bye Bye

Bye

Eddie Chapman

Bye

Bye 8.88 8.914 J. Jackson (-.035) 8.88 8.972 B. Pryer (.032)

Bye

Bye

8.88 9.113 P. Anderson (.059) Bye

8.88 9.018 C. Kenney (.017)

Bye

0.416

8.88 9.404 J. Jackson (.028)

8.88 8.927 J. Jackson (.090)

8.88 10.500 B. Pryer (-.009) 8.88 9.087 A. Dickerson (.048)

8.88 5.284 B. Pryer (2.017) Bye 8.88 9.059 A. Dickerson (.053) 8.88 10.159 R. Rice (-.108)

RACE LADDERS Rider RUN 1 Larry Mcbride Geoff Pollard RUN 2 Larry Mcbride Geoff Pollard RUN 3 Larry Mcbride Geoff Pollard RUN 4 Larry Mcbride Geoff Pollard

Hometown

ET

Poquoson VA Dorchester ONT

6.066 215.44 6.725 157.19

Poquoson VA Dorchester ONT

7.007 226.39 6.146 228.85

Poquoson VA Dorchester ONT

6.016 234.33 6.193 226.28

Poquoson VA Dorchester ONT

9.586 98.77 7.039 149.50

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

MPH

Geoff Pollard

Do the Math: Pollard Wins Geoff Pollard

“T

he Norwalk race was a bit confusing,” said Greg Pollard, chief mechanic of the Top Fuel bike his brother Geoff rides.

Ya think? After Geoff took the stripe in the second pairing between himself and Larry McBride, the photographers along the wall looked at each other and asked “What does this mean? Did the first ‘round’ count or the second?” No help came from golden tonsils of AMA Dragbike announcer Radical Rich.

A quick stop by the McBride trailer found a team that was sure it had won. “The first one counted, I hope,” laughed Larry. The results sheets that night backed up Larry’s claim.

So it was with some surprise that I received McBride’s team report some days later that talked about his runner-up finish. “No, I didn’t win,” Larry said when I called him. “I was aware of the rules, I just forgot about it. It’s an average ET deal.” Average? Or Aggregate? “Uh…..”

“Top Fuel is now set up like match racing, so it is best average performance that determines the winner,” said AMA Dragbike’s Brandi Neithamer. It actually gets more complicated than that, and in a class that struggles to field bikes, not just anyone can show up at any race they want.

“They still have some details to work out on the new format,” said Greg. “We have been busy lately and haven’t checked the (AMA Dragbike) website enough.” That’s OK Greg, don’t beat yourself up. On a recent scan of the site I found no mention of the class’s midseason change to an exhibition format, so there’s no help even there for racers, fans, and media types to have any clue what’s going on.

“Number 1 qualifier is determined by the fasted guy on Saturday,” said Brandi. She means quickest, I’m guessing, and at least that tried and true method still works, at least for now. And that guy this time around was McBride. I’m guessing here, because Pollard was actually fastest, and my results sheets say—wait, I can’t go by those.

So McBride “wins” “round” 1 on Sunday, but is on and off the throttle umpteen times in “round” 2 and loses the stripe to Pollard. But wait, it’s (apparently) not just Sunday’s ETs that go into figuring the average, but Saturday’s as well. Buy a 2 day pass, keep good records, and bring a calculator, fan in the stands, if you want any idea who’s “declared” the winner of this exhibition. But I guess that’s the point. It’s an exhibition and there is no winner. Really?

“Usually when you do an average, you throw the worst round out,” said McBride. “My suggestion is to run it Chicago style, double eliminations.”

“Our first choice would be to have 6+ competitive bikes at an AMA race and race to win each round,” said Greg. “That is what we have always

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

done at AMA/Prostar. Winning in the match race format is not as exciting.

We do understand why Scott and Brandi have decided to go in this direction.

They don’t know how many TF bikes will show at any given event and having one bike (Atco) isn’t the best.”

Truly, but it seems like somewhere along the line someone told me this format started after Indy. But again, it’s not posted anywhere that I could find.

“We will support AMA as much as we can and hopefully there will be more bikes wanting to come in the future,” said Greg, “Top Fuel can go back to an elimination format.”

And by the way, it was cold at Norwalk and I went straight to the Pollard pits to bum a cup of coffee. Geoff immediately pointed out an error I made in the October issue about his team’s no-show at Atco. “Who told you our motors broke?” Geoff asked disgustedly. “Our stuff doesn’t break!”

Shamelessly, I still begged a cup of java to ward off the chill.

“We’ve never raced in temperatures this cold,” said Greg.

“It’s 48 degree weather and the track temp is only 65 degrees. We aren’t used to that,” agreed McBride. “The freezing weather caught up to us and I smoked the tire about 80 feet out (in round 2). It looked like one of Elmer Trett’s old burnouts. I was in and out of the throttle 12 times but I couldn’t get it to hook back up.” And that gave the “win” to Pollard. McBride indicated he probably should have dialed the bike down to 6.20 to get the average he needed to “win” the event. I guess we’ve got that kind of action to look forward to.

Although not in Valdosta, where AMA Dragbike’s Scott Valetti says the exhibition format will be dropped for that event. “This will be an open field,” said Valetti. “But not open to un-blown bikes.” Don’t look for that distinction in the rulebook, ‘cause it ain’t there. Not that I could find.

“I don’t know,” said McBride. “I’m just gonna go down there (Valdosta) and see what happens.”

The Pollards thanked the McBrides, Brad Penn Oil, CGS Automotive and Refinishing, Plating Master, Sparky’s Performance, East Penn Battery and Vanhoucke Siding Contractors.

Larry McBride

13

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

FUNNYBIKE Qualifying

FUNNYBIKE CHAMPION

POS Bike# Rider Hometown ET MPH 1 1 Keith Lynn Wabash IN 6.772 194.30 2 191 Perry Hollie Farmington Hills MI 7.085 194.30 3 2123 Charles Theiss Malvern OH 7.685 176.14 4 233 Yves Giard Saint-Hyacinthe Quebec CA 8.410 203.37 5 247 Robert Giard Ware MA 8.620 180.72 6 151 Ronald Maddozx Oaktown IN 18.335 63.88 7 86 Tom Housteau Canfield OH 19.000 0.00

6.370 204.63 K. Lynn (.199)

7.105 179.61 P. Hollie (.067)

7.237 206.45 K. Lynn (.079)

7.314 179.88 P. Hollie (.306) 15.376 47.47 T. Housteau (.028)

Bye 6.553 204.70 K. Lynn (.114) 6.902 197.51 Y. Giard (.060) 33.298 39.73 Y. Giard (-.169) 6.902 197.51 R. Giard (.060)

7.233 163.31 P. Hollie (.029) 12.496 92.15 C. Theiss (.918) 20.262 34.10 C. Theiss (.464) R. Maddox

Keith Lynn

Rain Delayed

6.37 All Sweet for Lynn/Gordon Keith Lynn

“W

hat started out as a crappy weekend with the rain Friday and the cool weather turned out better than we could’ve expected,” said Roger Gordon, builder/ tuner of the Barry Van Hook-owned gas/nitrous/turbo Kawasaki Funnybike ridden by Keith Lynn. And that was a major understatement. When the team broke Gary Clark’s 9 year-old record at Indy in August, it was a bittersweet event because they lost the actual race by a wide margin. There were no such complicating factors at Norwalk, where Lynn rode the bike to a stunning 6.37 lap in round 1 of eliminations and took the win at the end of the day.

“As near as I can tell, that’s the quickest inline 4 on gasoline in a quarter mile,” said Van Hook. “That’s pretty neat, and you couldn’t find a better bunch of guys to be associated with.”

True enough, but no one would have guessed they’d make that leap from their number 1 qualifying 6.77. “We had an issue the first round of qualifying with it bucking and snorting out of the hole, which we found out later was a switch out of adjustment,” said Gordon.

“Then the first round of eliminations was outstanding. Tony (AMA Dragbike

14

starter Tony Williams) had the track hooking after switching from the track’s compound to his after qualifying. The motor pulled down to 5500 out of the hole, shook a little and it was gone.”

“It pulled the motor way down, so I guess it was hooked up,” agreed Lynn.

“Then it felt really good, it was just on it. Everything musta been about perfect on that run.” When the board lit up 6.37, a roar swept across the starting line.

“Wow!” said Gordon. “For the final we didn’t change a thing. We figured it could repeat but fell a little short.”

That was against steady Perry Hollie, always looking to maintain that 6.90 pace on his little bike Sybil. And by my calculations, there were three people with six first names between them involved with the final: Perry, Hollie, Keith, Lynn, Roger, Gordon.

“We qualified number 2 and got on the opposite side of the ladder from Keith,” said Perry. “It’s been a while since I made a final round appearance.

I have lost some close races this year or been inhaling nitro fumes in the turbo going down the track. My lights weren’t very good in the first and second round, but in the finals I knew I needed a Top Gas light against Keith and got one

(.029). When Roger brought the timeslip to the top end, I told Keith all I needed was a 6.60 to take him out.

“But it was a great weekend. With Norwalk so close to home (Farmington Hills, just outside of Detroit), the team had a lot of family and friends at the race. It was great to have the wives— Gail Dermanelian, Scarlet Kohler, and Cheryl Hollie—and also my 6 year-old granddaughter Rian at the track on Saturday. I need to thank my crew chief Kenny Dermanelian for putting together a motor so I could make the race.”

When it was all said and done, Lynn, Gordon and veteran crewman Leonard “Iceman” Drook had more to smile about than the win and the .37. “That locked the championship up, so we’re pretty happy,” said Lynn.

“Our fourth championship in a row and being the first to run in the .30s, what more could we ask for?” Gordon asked rhetorically. Add those four on to their two IDBA championships to get a real sense of this quiet team’s accomplishments.

“Holy cow, they’re definitely dedicated to what they’re doing,” said Van Hook.

Perry Hollie

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito, dragbikephotos.com

“Roger’s always had the ‘bring ‘em on’ attitude. He’s not afraid to try things.

Those guys have been together so long they’ve created a legend about themselves. And they’ll help anybody.

I couldn’t have done better than to get involved with them.”

“I can’t wait ‘til Valdosta,” said Gordon. “Conditions should be about the same, but hopefully warmer.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to do good there,” agreed Lynn. “We can deal with it whatever we’ve gotta do. Maybe we’ll get Roger to twist the screws a little more and go faster! It’s the end of the year.”

Even Hollie plans on going quicker in Valdosta. “I’ve been at Kenny D.’s house putting a new cylinder head on the bike. We need to get the bike back into the 6s.”

“Thanks to Barry, William and Nancy Van Hook at VHR, Dave at Schnitz Racing, PMFR and Robinson Industries for sponsoring the class, Leonard, Sheryl Honeycutt, and finally, Jim Hall of Iron Customs in Urbana, Indiana for the header, welding and other fab work,” finished Gordon.

McKinney Wins, Everybody Loses Eric McKinney

N

eedless to say, what went down after round 1 of Mickey Thompson Pro Mod eliminations in Norwalk was not particularly good for anybody. And apparently, it started off innocently enough with a random comment from Johnny Bond, who’d just lost to Paul Gast.

“Johnny asked me, ‘I have the same combination as Paul and I’m 665 pounds. I don’t understand why he’s 595,’” reported then-Tech Director Joey Willhite, manning the scales. That sent Willhite to the rulebook, where he followed the rules as written as he understood them.

Without getting into technical details, it appears that Bond’s former Pro Stock bike was set-up according to how the rules were written, while Gast’s former Pro Stock bike was set-up to how the rules were supposed to be written. This combination was basically set-up for and with consultation with Gast and AMA Dragbike’s Scott Valetti and Willhite. So Gast has run all year up to that fateful round in Norwalk without any questions involving his legality. He’s gotten quicker and was contending for the championship.

But when actually sent to consult the rulebook, Willhite found a gray area and sided with Bond’s assessment.

Needless to say, Gast was beside himself and was packed up and gone before the Pro round was over.

Ironically, Bond apparently was too, unaware of the DQ he initiated. And although no one with any history in the sport questioned Paul’s integrity, he wasn’t so sure of that.

He was concerned his reputation was tarnished, and his championship hopes that he had worked so hard for and invested so much in were in flames. And, he was sure there was no gray area in the rules and he never should have been DQ’d to begin with. A historic figure and major investor in the sport was out through no fault of his own and there was no way this was going to be good for anybody.

Except, perhaps, for Eric McKinney. Eric and his DTM Performance/Timblin Chassis Suzuki have been the performance leader all year, but have been held back in the points by ADRL conflicts, an occasional lapse in concentration, and Gast’s consistency. “We come in here 50 points behind Paul, and Paul had some problems I think,”

RACE LADDERS

Mickey Thompson

Hometown Hamersville OH Hamilton NY Grand Island NY Abbotsford CAN Bryans RD St Peters MO Columbis Station OH Peoria IL Cleveland OH Mt Morris MI

would have done things differently if they had the chance to do it over again. Willhite, now resigned, believes he did the right thing. “I went by the rulebook, and that combination is in a gray area,” said Joey. “Every other combination says you can have nitrous but that one. If it doesn’t say you can have it, then you can’t. The rulebook says if there’s a gray area, the tech director rules as he sees fit. The rule should be amended to be clear and concise for everybody. What we talked about over the winter was not what was in the rulebook.”

And that’s the key point. In this rare case it was the rulebook that was in fact wrong and someone should have made that decision in the heat of the moment. “Paul Gast was erroneously disqualified,” AMA Dragbike said later in their public statement, plain and simple, along with a string of regrets.

“I still support AMA Dragbike,” said Willhite. “I think it’s the best racing organization out there. I told Brandi if she ever needed my help I’ll be there. I was tech director for a long time and still liked it. I’ll be at Valdosta. I won’t be working but I will be racing.”

Gast’s statement shows the range of emotions he went through. “These past days have been very difficult for me. I have felt bitterness unlike anything I have previously experienced. I was hating friends and hating the very organization I love and support. This was completely out of character for me. A mistake was made. An apology has been made. I accept this apology. Just writing this I feel a burden lifted. I will not carry any grudge against the principles in this matter. I/We have to move on and learn from this. I thank all my friends, customers and peers for their overwhelming support. I truly appreciate the many nice things everyone had to say. I have, and will continue to conduct myself in a manner which deserves your support and respect. In regard to the Pro Mod championship, it is likely either Eric McKinney or Dave Vantine will be champ. They both are worthy champions. Eric and Dave’s accomplishments should not be diminished or tarnished by past events. I will be in Valdosta with my best package ready to race.”

Vantine echoed the feelings of the entire racing community. “I believe Paul to be a stand up guy who loves and supports this sport, and in my opinion would never put himself in a position tarnish his good name.”

‘Nuff said.

David Vantine

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

PRO MOD Qualifying

POS Bike# Rider 1 4685 Eric Mckinney 2 3 David Vantine 3 133 Paul Gast 4 730 Terry Schweigert 5 109 David Norris 6 3112 Eric Sanzoterra 7 208 Ron Clark 8 364 Johnny Bond 9 1930 Norman Leshon 10 9 Les Stimac

said McKinney. “I hate that, ‘cause I wanted to run Paul in the semifinals if it worked out that way, you know. I wanna win fair and square.

“We won Rockingham (ADRL). It’s a bad deal ‘cause that was the same weekend as the Atco race. We’re third in the points there and I think we’re gonna leave here first in the points. Over there we’ve got Jeff Prock of Applied Nitrous Technology helpin’ us. They’re great. Between him, dad (Scott McKinney) and Dan Wagner, we went 4.19 in the eighth mile over there. So if we can do that over here and it lives through the quarter, it should run a 6.57, hopefully. I mean I’d like to do that.”

Eric qualified number 1 at Norwalk with a 6.65—ahead of David Vantine’s 6.70 and Gast’s 6.79—then ran a .74 to take out Les Stimac in round 1 of eliminations. “We luckily had a bye the second round,” said McKinney. “We tried to detune it a little bit but it spun the tire really, really bad and didn’t make it down the track. But we went back to the same tune-up we had Friday for the semi.”

McKinney’s semifinal pairing was with Ron Clark on the Fish’s Customs ‘Busa. “Ronnie knocked me out with his lights in Indy,” said Eric, who learned his lesson and didn’t let the same thing happen to him here while setting a new ET record. “There’s nobody here that’s easy. If they’ve got a clean runnin’ motorcycle, you’ve got your hands full.

Anything can happen in Pro Mod. It’s something new every pass.”

And for his last pass, that would be Vantine on the Orient Express/PCW Kawasaki. David ran a .73 on a round 1 broke bye, then raced past Dave Norris in round 2 when Norris’ no-bar bike launched skyward at about 100 feet.

That gave Vantine the bye to the final. “Eric got out of the hole better, and as my bike drifted right I messed up and looked at him, furthering the issue,” said Vantine. “That was a lack of concentration on the finishline. I peddled it to get the front wheel on the ground to correct, but by them he was 3 bikes ahead and, it was all but over. I just left the throttle shut, thus the booming 142 mph.

“We mounted weights to the front cross section of the chassis and they may not be in the right location yet. That and the wheelie bars are probably a turn too high.”

“If it wasn’t for Dad and Mom, I couldn’t ride this thing,” said McKinney. “And Steve Drake was here this weekend, he took care of the clutch. And Jill and Hazel and my girlfriend Amanda. And Dan Wagner, he builds these motors, and Timblin Chassis. They’ve given me a killer motorcycle to ride. This is awesome. I’m enjoyin’ it, this is a blast.”

Whether that blast continues to a championship remains to be seen. McKinney carries a 32 point advantage into Valdosta—tough to lose when you’re the performance leader. But then again, that race is known to draw a bigger field of southern contenders, so early round upsets are not out of the question and Paul Gast is a wily competitor to be sure.

What Paul had to say privately and the statement he released publicly a day or two later are different things.

There is no doubt that hindsight is 20/20 and AMA Dragbike

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito, dragbikephotos.com

ET MPH 6.655 192.55 6.703 200.98 6.794 196.30 6.903 191.54 6.911 203.31 7.207 183.64 7.320 143.86 7.643 143.02 9.467 100.37 30.000 483.35

Mickey Thompson PRO MOD CHAMPION

6.742 198.17 E. McKinney (.148)

6.813 193.27 D. Vantine (.099)

E. McKinney (.105) L. Stimac (.200)

N. Leshon 6.641 198.82 E. McKinney (.072)

D. Vantine (.613)

Bye

18.031 33.46 D. Norris (.062)

Bye Bye 7.210 172.04 R. Clark (.116) 11.803 69.46 T. Schweigert (.259)

TT Jones Eric McKinney

7.379 179.18 J. Bond (1.061) 6.924 180.12 P. Gast (.109)

6.736 181.84 D. Vantine (.144)

6.692 202.45 E. McKinney (.042)

7.185 147.42 D. Vantine (.075)

7.130 173.96 E. Sanzoterra (-.002) Bye

7.746 133.01 R. Clark (.065) 9.824 102.42 R. Clark (.084)

7.024 196.36 D. Norris (.125)

Bye Bye Bye Bye

J. Bond

Bye Bye

15

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

HMR Powersports Financing SUPER STREET Qualifying

HMR Powersports Financing SUPER STREET CHAMPION

POS Bike# Rider Hometown ET MPH 1 2263 John Fernandez Tampa FL 7.963 182.16 2 3989 Joe Franco Thornwood NY 7.996 171.08 3 186 Edward Murphy Bridgeport CT 8.089 184.17 4 3411 John Dobrin Sarasota FL 8.107 191.70 5 4269 Stacy Smith Rowlett TX 8.115 184.04 6 3112 Eric Sanzotera St Peters MO 8.144 186.51 7 2711 Brian Dunham Hou TX 8.322 172.14 8 2727 John Flood Oakdale NY 8.505 172.39 9 1482 Jason Broski Ypsilanti MI 8.524 163.99

8.029 179.71 S. Smith (.125) 7.924 177.30 E. Sanzoterra (.112) 7.924 177.30 J. Fernandez (.112)

8.029 179.71 S. Smith (.125) 7.899 181.98 S. Smith (.127)

7.877 182.45 J. Broski (.115)

8.146 165.36 E. Murphy (.108) 7.861 184.83 B. Dunham (.182)

9.120 114.91 J. Fernandez (.125)

Bye 7.877 182.45 J. Franco (.115)

8.146 165.36 E. Murphy (.108)

7.877 182.45 S. Smith (.115)

8.222 166.05 E. Murphy (.185)

Bye Bye Bye

Bye

Bye

Super Stacy Takes Super Street Stacy Smith

S

tacy Smith started the season right, qualifying number 1 in Help Me Ride Super Street at Valdosta and going to the final in Atlanta. Of course, the Texas rider was starting with a good piece—the Johnny “Turbo” Dobrin-built Suzuki GSXR1000 that set the class on fire with Nick Mazeika in the saddle.

The rules have changed since then, and Smith’s team has struggled to find the consistency that’s put John Fernandez and his Chris Jones-built Kawasaki ZX14 on top. “It’s been really hard this season,” said Smith. “We have changed a lot up on the bike, and we were having motor problems the last two races so we missed them.”

But Smith and owner/tuner Nick Morale did make the trip to Norwalk. “I hadn’t rode the bike in two months,” said Smith. “We put the motor back in Wednesday night and loaded the bike up hoping for Friday testing, which we didn’t get because of the rain. So we went straight into qualifying hoping it stayed together.”

ridden by Ed Murphy raced past the hot Honda of Brian Dunham to reach a scheduled bye in the semi, where Murphy ran 8.24. Smith caught a bye when Franco broke and posted a 7.99 for lane choice in the final, where Murphy took the tree but Smith ran him down. “I was glad to see the winlight on, as was Nick,” said Smith.

“It was a long time coming, that’s for sure!” said Morale. “Stacy and I have spent a lot of time and effort to get it. I have to give thanks to Bryan Snyder of Quantum Motorsports. Bryan and I were up past 1 am on the Monday night before the race assembling the motor and I did not get the motor heat cycled until Wednesday night.

I also want to give thanks to John Dobrin of Exoticycle for helping us make some adjustments with the bike while at the race, and also Brock Davidson of Brock’s Performance for helping us out as well, and Tucker Rocky. I cannot forget my rider, for without him the bike would not be doing what it is.”

“We had a good weekend overall,” said Jones. “Murphy made it to the finals, Smith’s weekend started less than promising, qualifying 5th behind number 1 Fernandez, Atco winner Joe Franco Jr., Ed Murphy, and Dobrin. “We weren’t has fast as we wanted to be, but we just done what we could and by the grace of God and the help from Bryan Snyder, Brock’s and Johnny Turbo, we made the race.”

Fernandez was the performance leader in round 1of eliminations with 7.88 on a bye, while Smith was second with an 8.02 against Eric Sanzottera. The top two were paired in round 2, and Smith stepped up with a 7.93 while Fernandez faltered. “We went in and the temperature dropped a little bit,” said Fernandez’s tuner Jones. “I just made the assumption that things would be good and just left it as it is. No changes to the bike.” But the changed weather meant too much power from the ’14. “Checked the numbers in the bike and made a little more boost on that pass and simply just couldn’t contain it.

That was that.”

The other Jones Cycle Center bike

9.032 161.67 J. Dobrin (.055)

Bye Bye

Smith

7.861 184.83 B. Dunham (.182)

Bye

Bye

Rain Delayed Stacy

11.858 99.30 J. Flood (.234)

Bye

7.877 182.45 J. Franco (.115) 7.877 182.45 J. Franco (.115)

8.146 165.36 E. Murphy (.108)

Edward Murphy

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito, dragbikephotos.com

so we’re happy for that. We struggled a little bit with our tune-up, I’m not gonna lie.

That’s 100% on me. We’re happy to see Murph into the finals, to be honest with you, because we had chassis problems with that bike that we have yet to figure out. Every time we’ve taken it down the track it’s pullin’ left. Tried to make some changes to it and didn’t accomplish what we really want it to be. But he made a runner-up for the first time with that bike, and overall I’m happy.” Indeed, in the final Murphy had his right leg outriggered out while the bike still drifted steadily towards center.

“This has been a real productive year for us and I’m happy just to be here,” continued Jones. “I think we pretty much got a championship locked up with John, so I guess our consistency and hard work has paid off, and that’s really what means a lot to me to be honest with you.”

“One last thing,” finished Morale. “We cannot win the championship but it will be a good last race, that’s for sure. We are aiming to reset the record for the class!”

Did Rickey Lose That Number?

Joey Gladstone

T

h combination he bi ti off N Norwalk’s lk’ cold l weather and good surface probably worked better for the Dragbike.com Supersport bikes than any other class. And as he did at Atco, Joey Gladstone and his Suzuki GSXR1000 worked better than anyone else when the chips were down.

But not in qualifying, where Gladstone’s mentor Rickey Gadson ruled the day on his Brock’s Performance Kawasaki ZX14. Rickey qualified number 1 in the slim 6 bike field with a record-breaking 8.915, while Gladstone was second with an 8.978. “Expectations were high going into Norwalk because it was October and everybody knows with good weather and Norwalk’s great traction, that’s a perfect formula for a record setting weekend,” said Gadson. “This track, this time of year could produce below sea level conditions.

“But after running an 8.95 at my home track Atco on a nearly perfect run, I didn’t believe going any quicker was possible. But when you have a determined, business-minded individual like Brock Davidson behind you, breaking records and winning is a must! Between Atco and Norwalk, Brock’s Performance developed yet another top notch titanium exhaust pipe that produced even more horsepower throughout the powerband. And, it’s the most attractive on the market. When qualifying was over, we ran an 8.92, the quickest official pass ever on a Supersport bike and unbelievable for a big bore Supersport bike that has to weigh 130 pounds more than the 1000s.”

Jeremy Teasley broke into the 8s on raceday with a win over D.J. Payton. Gladstone ran an 8.98 to take out Dustin Clark, but Gadson slowed to 9.18 in a win over Franco. “If Franco ran his normal numbers, we would have been on the trailer early,” said Gadson. “My ZX14 got hung up in second gear, a problem that keeps recurring with the ‘14s from time to time, but luckily we still won.”

Gladstone stayed in the 8s to take out a slowing Teasley in round 2, while Gadson ran an 8.90 on a bye. “If I didn’t know better, I would think someone was cheating to go that fast,” Gadson said. “But when you pay attention to detail and have the horsepower we have, combined with the numbers we run do to the eighth in 5.70s, their is no way you won’t be flying.”

Gladstone then ran a sizzling 8.86 in Street ET, just before his final round match-up with Gadson. What was his dial-in? “8.98,” said Joey’s dad Skip. “And I’m jumpin’ up and down ‘Yes!’ And people are lookin’ at me like ‘Are you sick? Your kid just ran out.’ Yeah, but he REALLY ran out!

“That was really instrumental in Joey getting’ just a little spurt of confidence going into the final with Rickey. It gave him a little bit of confidence and it may have . . .”

Rattled Rickey a little bit?

RACE LADDERS

“I didn’t say that. I think Rickey’s probably unflappable, but it may have given him something to think about.”

Maybe. Gladstone took the tree by a scant .006 and ran another 8 second pass at 163+ mph, while Gadsons slowed to 9.03. “Yet another rematch of Atco with my student Joey representing the 1000s and me the big bore bikes,” said Gadson. “Off the line we both cut lights in the 0s and I out 60-footed him. But at the top of first I felt the bike pushing the front wheel, which made me get off the gas momentarily and that was all it took cause at the 1200 foot mark he stormed by me like Hurricane Andrew!”

This is two finals in a row. Has Joey got Rickey’s number? “Joey is one of Rickey’s students,” continued Skip. “If there’s anyone to blame, Rickey has himself to blame, because he’s created his own assassin. But again, every time Joey wins, it’s a win for Rickey.”

“The kid is really focused and not making mistakes, which makes me proud on one hand ‘cause he is a repeat student of my drag racing school,” said Gadson. “But on the other hand, THIS SUCKS! Great job Joey and Skip, I am happy for you! One thing is for sure, if you don’t run better numbers than the 1000s on the front half of the track, you can be sure to get run over on the back half!”

“I don’t know if I’ve told you this story,” said Skip. “When we took Joey to the DMV to get his learner’s permit two years ago(!), we asked him ‘Where do you want to drive?’ And he said ‘I want to drive to Rickey’s shop in New Jersey.’ So he drove all the way across the Delaware Memorial Bridge—Joey, his mom, and myself. He drove all the way there so he could go to Rickey’s shop and meet Rickey. He’d never met Rickey before. And this big-eyed little kid met his hero.

“So again, Rickey has quite a bit to do with Joey’s success, as do Brock Davidson, and Joe Hahn and Skip Dowling at Orient. They’ve all kinda taken Joey under their wing and nurtured him. It’s awesome. Joey humbles me.”

We’ve been hearing from Skip because Joey had to rush off to beat his Pennsylvania school’s curfew. But we did catch up with Joey later. “My dad probably covered a ton, but I just wanna make sure that I give thanks to my mom and dad for giving me the support they do. They go above and beyond what I thought parents would do for their son. Also Brock for the support and guidance, and Dylan for being my biggest fan. Also Orient Express for their support, Terry Handy from Peer Pressure Racing for the Speed Cell battery that is awsome, L and D Suzuki in Dover, Delaware for their continued support of our racing program, Nick Mazeika for always being on my side of the track no matter who’s in the other lane, and of course, Tim Hailey for writing the Straightliner mag!” See how you get press?

Did he make it to school on time? “Yes, he barely made it,” continued Skip. “I mean, we didn’t even eat today, runnin’ both Street ET and Supersport. I feel badly for Joey, ‘cause at this race he had to go off to the airport and he didn’t get to join in any of the celebration. He might even be home by now. It’s only a 45 minute flight. It’s kinda unfair. He gets to hop on a plane to get home and Dad’s still gotta load up . . .”

With your little claw hand? (see the Oct. Straightliner) “The hand is better. It goes from the little claw hand to the mighty hammer!

“Joey picked up a lot of ground on the Street ET championship at this race, I don’t know exactly how much. With a runner-up on Saturday, and today he went three rounds.

“He really doesn’t race his bike, he goes out there and runs his bike.

He tells me ‘I try to run every time like I’m doing time trials.’ And he just goes out there and goes from point A to point B. He doesn’t look over on the other side.

“He’s tryin’ to massage the bike and get the most out of it. We’re second in Supersport points, and I don’t think it’s unattainable, but it’s gonna be very, very difficult to catch Rickey. He might have to stumble at

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

Valdosta. I think if he’s runner-up and we win Valdosta, and don’t set any kind of a record or anything, he’ll still beat us.

“This track (Norwalk) is a big speed track. The surface is nice and smooth, and even for the cold temperature, the surface was fantastic. We did make a gearing change. Even though the temperature was kinda close to what it was yesterday, the humidity went down and then bike made a lot more power, so we had to drop a tooth to control the bike. Sometimes, more isn’t always better. Sometimes, you have to back it off a little bit to go quicker.

“Joey set a mile an hour record,” reminded tech director Joey Willhite (now ex-tech director. See Pro Mod article this issue). Gladstone’s 128.48 mph eighth eclipsed the mark set by Chip Hunter at Indy way back in ’05.

You did check his sleeves, right Joey? Everybody laughed.

“Startin’ at the first race of the year, there were mumblings about what Joey and I were doing and what we weren’t doing with the bike,” said Skip.

“And Brock is very, very strict about what you do and don’t do.” Hmm, yes, Brock’s been there before….

“Brock’s taken a big part in directing Joey. It’s been his advice that the last thing we want to do is anything questionable. So there’s nothing strange there. A person that hits his shift points and crawls under the paint will do well.” Echoes of Gadson.

Same class next year? Or what are you guys thinking about? “I would love to take his bike and run it in Real Street with a turbo. I don’t think anybody’s doing it right now, with a 1000 with a turbo. Being that the bike is light and Joey’s small, and I think he’s proved that he can ride a short bike.”

“Really short,” chimed in Willhite.

“What? About 60 inches?” Skip asked the tech director about next year’s Real Street rules.

“Potentially, we’re looking at 58,” said Willlhite.

“58? Please! Oh my goodness! Well, if anybody could ride it, it’d be Joey.”

“He went 8.86 on a stock wheelbase bike with no power adder,” noted Willhite. “He won’t have any trouble.”

“I don’t think we’d have to throw a whole lot of boost to the turbo,” continued Skip. “Again, sometimes less is more. Another thing we’ve talked about is running a Hayabusa in Supersport.”

“You’d have to work on making weight with a Hayabusa,” noted Willhite.

A discussion ensued about Gladstone’s weight vs. Teasley’s. Photodog Matt Polito—tired and cold—starting honking the horn of his rented Kia. It was finally time to eat.

Rickey Gadson

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

DRAGBIKE.Com

SUPERSPORT Qualifying

DRAGBIKE.Com SUPERSPORT CHAMPION

POS Bike# Rider Hometown ET MPH 1 62 Rickey Gadson Hammonton NJ 8.915 155.52 2 1550 Joey Gladstone Townsend DE 8.978 157.96 3 2949 Jeremy Teasley Orient OH 9.008 154.65 4 1826 Danny Payton Elizabeth Town KY 9.029 155.26 5 2201 Dustin Clark Indianapolis IN 9.253 156.52 6 3989 Joe Franco Thornwood NY 9.376 153.72

8.988 157.83 J. Gladstone (.119) 8.989 163.47 J. Gladstone (.068)

9.183 151.17 R. Gadson (.180) 8.907 155.83 R. Gadson (.184)

9.450 156.48 D. Clark (.124)

9.368 154.02 J. Franco (.210) 8.994 163.24 J. Gladstone (.098)

9.030 154.92 R. Gadson (.104)

8.965 159.36 J. Teasley (.209) 9.030 155.76 J. Teasley (.136)

TT Jones Joey Gladstone

9.178 156.68 D. Payton (.066)

Bye Bye Bye

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

REAL STREET Qualifying POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Bike# 218 1221 1034 1 6 62 1199 1628 2535 1337 1095 1615 2997 4086 2090 1077

Rider Chip Ellis Keith Thompson Ashon Dickerson Jeremy Teasley Del Flores Rickey Gadson Mark Billiter John Hall Daniel Cox Dustin Bassi Ryan Hable Corey Ballard Robbie Guimond Karey Mcgee Tom Whytas Wes Brown

Hometown Plains GA Upper Marlboro MD Newark NJ Orient OH Avon IN Hammonton NJ N Augusta GA Hamden CT Yorktown VA Bartlett IL Hudson WI Elizabethtown KY Westport CT Wesley Chapel FL Valrico FL Crossville TN

ET 8.085 8.162 8.171 8.204 8.242 8.252 8.327 8.402 8.441 8.531 8.624 8.629 8.630 8.636 8.714 9.115

MPH 175.23 177.09 176.70 173.74 174.62 174.68 172.12 151.24 173.21 171.31 170.58 169.70 172.72 168.16 173.76 156.63

REAL STREET CHAMPION

9.635 166.58 C. Ellis (.020) W. Brown 8.395 180.43 J. Hall (.120) 8.460 163.39 D. Cox (.265) 8.281 178.68 D. Flores (.128) 8.496 175.48 C. Ballard (.121) 8.376 169.91 R. Guimond (.198)

Rain Delayed

Chip Ellis

8.263 176.17 C. Ellis (.146)

8.240 177.04 R. Gadson (.051)

8.124 179.30 C. Ellis (.068)

8.363 176.37 R. Gadson (.095)

8.354 166.76 J. Hall (.180)

10.701 80.21 A. Dickerson (.102) 8.046 177.37 C. Ellis (.099)

8.219 177.84 D. Flores (.103)

8.308 178.28 R. Gadson (.033) 8.149 178.02 K. Thompson (.092)

8.239 176.37 D. Flores (.031)

8.431 161.25 K. Thompson (.098)

8.459 168.49 R. Guimond (.093)

J. Teasley

Chip Ellis back as a Winner Chip Ellis

D

id Blake Ritter, tuner of the Suzuki GSXR1000 ridden in BST Real Street by Chip Ellis, expect to win at Norwalk when he showed up this weekend? Or just another step in the learning curve?

After all, it was only the second race out for the team, and Real Street is arguably the most hotly contested bike class in the nation. The top dogs are testing constantly between racing twice a month in two sanctions. Even with Ellis’s veteran resume and Ritter’s engine building job at Vance & Hines, winning already was a tall order.

“I expected it to be a good weekend, that’s for sure,” said the cool—almost wary—Ritter. “I mean we came out here with more power than we’ve ever had. We’ve just been takin’ baby steps tryin’ to keep this thing going. I mean, I definitely didn’t expect it to be—I ain’t gonna say easy, but, I mean, this weekend we did pretty well. I didn’t expect to come this far, but I knew that we’d do good.”

Good indeed. Ellis qualified number 1, just ahead of defending MiRock champion Keith Thompson. To be fair, Thompson was without the services of builder/ tuner Cecil Towner III, still recovering from serious burns received in a dyno fire. And Jeremy Teasley, who used to be running away with the points, had it even worse. His Kawasaki ZX14 belched out the same throaty cough on the top end in the last round of qualifying that the bike made at Atco. An apparent electrical issue was screwing with the timing and swallowing exhaust valves and Jeremy’s weekend was done, done and done.

After a round 1 broke bye, Ellis had what he called his toughest race against John Hall on the Joe Franco tuned GSXR. “John Hall probably woulda beat us if he

18

hadn’t have had problems,” said Ellis. “I had him on the tree but he ran back past me at the 330 (with that gangsta Franco horsepower) and at about 1000 feet it shut off and we went past him. But that’s racin’ and that’s why we don’t race on paper.”

Ellis then faced trailermate Del Flores in the semi.

Big Delvis (who claimed the eighth mile MPH record at 142.78) took the tree from Chip, but the lil’ 1000 drove around Del’s ‘Busa. Rickey Gadson took a surprise win over Thompson when both bikes wheelied luridly at about 200 feet. Gadson was better able to gain back a full head of steam with the big ’14 and took the stripe.

Rickey then took the tree over Chip in the final, but Ellis delivered an 8.0 when it counted while Gadson’s bike stayed in the performance range that it had all day—consistent but not good enough to win.

“Our bike was consistent, too,” said Ritter. “Just pull the data, fill the bottle, get out there and do it again— every round. And we added a little more nitrous. Nitrous bikes, you use a little more at a time, keep on diggin’ and try to go for that 7.

“Chip did a good job riding, and everybody that’s played a role on the bike. It’s a team effort. Eddie Krawiec helped, Del helped, everybody back at the (V&H) shop. Lucinano Santana does all the cylinder heads. He’s the man with the master plan. He knows how to get those things makin’ some power. But mainly Chip. I mean, to ride that bike, that’s something else, you know. I can’t say enough about him getting’ the job done like that. Without everybody, we couldn’t do as good as we did.

“Thanks Vance&Hines Motorsports, Van Hook Racing, CP Pistons—without them that bike wouldn’t be holdin’ together right now. Web Cam, Daytona Sensors, VP Fuel, Michelin—couldn’t do it without Michelin, couldn’t get that power to the ground. Other than that, you know, that’s pretty much it.”

I was surprised to hear the Van Hook shoutout.

“Barry Van Hook and I are good buddies from way back,” said former Funnybiker Ellis. “He told me if I ever need anything to give him a call, and me and old Blake are just workin’ boys kinda short on cash. So I called Barry and said ‘Hey man, can you help us out with our entry fees this weekend?’ And thanks to him that’s why we’re here this weekend.”

I told Chip “I got a Facebook message from Steve Rice today saying that you should be the first 5 second Funnybike rider, what do you think about that?”

“I don’t know that I got the cajoonyas that I used to have back in the day,” said Chip. “But Steve’s talked to me about a new project he’s workin’ on, so we’ll see what happens.

8.308 175.14 M. Billiter (.086)

8.326 174.75 R. Gadson (.180) R. Hable 8.316 175.96 A. Dickerson (.288) 11.353 115.97 K. McGee (.256) 8.080 181.64 K. Thompson (.113) 8.892 160.86 T. Whytas (.195) 8.491 178.59 M. Billiter (.073) 16.984 66.19 D. Bassi (.209)

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito, dragbikephotos.com and Tim Hailey

“But I was tellin’ Blake earlier it’s pretty awesome to win this deal, but I still wanna win a Pro Street race, so maybe somebody’ll let me ride a fast Pro Street bike one day and I can add that to my collection.” Well, there’s one for sale in your trailer, right? “Yeah, well listen big dog, we had to borrow money to get here and luckily we won so we’ll make it home.

“We had a great time. They had a great turnout here at the AMA Dragbike race, and I didn’t think they would ‘cause the weather was gonna be so cold.

But Tony Williams and the crew did an awesome job getting’ the track prepped perfectly. I mean we stayed hooked up with our Michelin tire all weekend. And ol’ Blake here did an awesome job tunin’ the bike. I think I flopped around the first coupla runs, but he kept my head on straight and kept the bike runnin’ good. With some help from Vance&Hines Motorsports and Fish’s Customs—ol’ Rob Bush over there helped us out with a transmission. Cecil from HTP, Del Flores—man, if it wasn’t for Del we probably wouldn’t be out here, he’s helped us out a lot. If we ever need anything at his shop he always helps us. And Lucinano Santana. It’s a team effort and it was a great win for us this weekend.”

So, Blake, tell me about how that V&H Suzuki Pro Stock power gets divvied out to the customers? “They all make good power,” insisted Ritter, who puts the motors together. “It’s how they apply it and how they ride it. That’s all it comes down to—a good tune-up.

Everybody’s on the same ballfield, you know, it’s just which team’s got their stuff together. It’s really what it comes down to.”

And how about Mike Phillips? “Mike’s doin’ well.

He’s got a good bike, good set-up, he’s doin’ his job.

More power to him, that’s good.”

Rickey Gadson

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

PRO STREET Qualifying POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Bike# 1 2236 332 71 193 710 1318 455 1996 999 36 62 3253 1813 3333 45

Rider Mike Slowe Victor Gotay Mike Kovacevich Curtis McDougald Taylor Wood Sebastian Domingo Keith Brooks Bud Yoder Nicholas Mazeika Jason Dunigan Darren Burnett Rickey Gadson Rob Budgell Alen Danial Del Flores Sean Henson

Hometown Bensalem PA Tampa FL Minooka IL Lillinton NC Elizabethtown KY Opelika AL Conyers GA Flint MI Woodbury NJ Clark Lake MI Seymour TN Hammonton NJ Port Huron MI Royal Oak MI Keyport NJ Nicholasville KY

ET 7.231 7.260 7.291 7.354 7.412 7.421 7.455 7.498 7.537 7.570 7.601 7.620 7.844 7.850 7.918 10.153

MPH 199.64 205.10 204.23 200.80 199.20 198.35 189.20 201.70 182.13 194.04 144.24 182.70 183.79 190.03 189.76 171.77

Orient Express

PRO STREET CHAMPION

8.318 181.64 D. Burnett (.141) No Show S. Domingo 8.946 100.52 M. Kovacevich (.156)

7.405 196.39 D. Burnett (.072) 7.494 195.22 D. Burnett (.151)

No Show K. Brooks 7.469 199.55 V. Gotay (.148) Rain Delayed

Darren Burnett

9.604 100.91 D. Flores (.240)

7.206 198.64 M. Slowe (.089)

7.457 195.08 M. Kovacevich (.104)

Bye 13.231 56.94 J. Dunigan (.058)

7.195 202.70 M. Slowe (.107)

7.517 193.99 D. Burnett (.185)

7.703 199.70 M. Slowe (.121) 7.571 192.44 T. Wood (.127)

7.616 189.55 J. Dunigan (.073) BROKE J. Dunigan 8.113 179.97 V. Gotay (.075)

7.283 198.09 B. Yoder (.111)

7.273 201.97 T. Wood (.097) 8.156 143.81 R. Budgell (.090)

Burnett Wins, Gotay Resurrects Darren Burnett

A

fter Bud Yoder set Maryland International Raceway ablaze with a 7.11 on his Ronnie Mitchell-built and tuned ‘Busa the week before, most were expecting a record-setting assault on the always meticulous Norwalk surface. But perhaps it was too cold, and the big numbers failed to materialize. What did materialize were dramatic, feel good stories involving two favorite personalities of the pits.

Mike Slowe—perennial champion as well as a favorite personality— took number 1 qualifier with a 7.23. Quick, but not as quick as he and Yoder were running in Maryland. Riding pitside favorite Ken Edward’s Joker bike, Victor Gotay took a surprising number 2 with a 7.26 at a whopping 205.10 mph. Way down in 11th, pitside favorite Darren Burnett hardly looked like a potential race winner. “We were struggling with inconsistent data from my bike all weekend,” said Darren. “But (tuner) Anthony Navarro still managed to give me what I needed to make it down the track.”

Saturday night’s frigid Dunigan Pro Street Shootout win went to a determined Lil’ Curtis McDougald on Trae Heath’s Carpenter engined ‘Busa. It was a battle of the “Lil’s”, as Lil’ Nick Mazeika made his second straight final on his Navarro-built Lil’ GSXR1000.

Keith Brooks beat Alen Danial in round 1 of the Shootout but packed it in. He and NLR boss Sebastian Domingo were nowhere to be seen on raceday. “After my 15-20 foot slide, I had enough,” Brooks said on Psychobike. Apparently he had a lurid trip against Danial. “There is nothing fun about sliding the front end at 190 mph, so I packed up and headed home.”

Danial left as well, possibly because of poor choice in associates. “I was doin’ all the cooking and tuning and riding and I just got overwhelmed when the bike wouldn’t go down the track,” said Alen, who runner-upped in the Norwalk Shootout last year on his Nocturnal Cycles ‘Busa.

The big story on raceday was the drama provided by Gotay on the Joker. In a round 1 match-up with Del Flores, Victor shot out to a big lead while Del struggled. At about half track, things started going bad for Gotay.

“We had a little problem with our tail,” said Victor. “The clip came off, and when I went to go to the second hump, the tail wasn’t there.” Despite the fact that his seat was sliding dramatically off the bike, Gotay stayed on the gas for the win and an eventual high-speed high side. Victor rolled to the right while the bike shot across the Flores’s path in the left lane and hard into the wall.

“Dude, I’m just glad I was having a lousy pass,” said Flores, who pulled over to aid Victor. “I saw his head banging against the ground over and over again and I thought ‘Oh no!’”

“Del came up to me and said ‘Stay down. Are you OK?’” said Victor.

“I was like ‘Yeah.’ I was gonna get up and look and try and see what was wrong with the bike.”

Victor’s health is one thing. He has a reputation of sorts for crashing hard and coming up smiling. But the bike went down fast and hit the wall a ton. Surely there’s no way it was gonna make the next round. But there was the Pro Street family, digging in and seeing if they could make it happen for Edwards’ shoestring operation. “I didn’t think it would make the next round, but thanks to all these guys—Brock Davidson, Ronnie Mitchell, Johnny Turbo, Barry at Velocity, Terry McIntosh, Dunigan—they all came over and worked all together and we’ll make it,” said Victor, ironically wearing a Brock’s hoodie with “Stupid Fast” emblazoned across his chest.

The bike and even Gotay’s Bates Leathers passed tech and were able to make round 2 against Jason Dunigan. Sore anywhere at all, Victor? “Nothing at all, not one thing. I just got a little scratch on my fingers, and that’s about it. Against Dunigan I spun off the hit. The tire got cold.”

Victor lost the round, but the legend of the rebuild was set. Ironically, Jason broke on the pass. “His motor was blowed up,” continued Victor.

Does he have a spare? “I’m pretty sure he does, but he’s not gonna put it in I don’t think.”

Victor was right, and Burnett got his second broke bye of the day.

Earlier in the day, Darren was scheduled to race Domingo in round 1 and Mike Kovacevich was supposed to race Danial, but both got solo passes.

They raced each other in round 2, with Darren taking the win in a good race. “That was a big round, a real big round,” said Slowe, who raced Yoder in 2. “I was lookin’ forward to it. It coulda turned out really bad, it coulda turned out really good. With Kavos and Darren, and me havin’ Bud, if they woulda took us both out, it woulda made it a points chase goin’ into the final in Valdosta. But fortunately it went my way. I took out Bud, Darren took out Kavos, and that damn near locked the championship up with a couple rounds left to go here. That was the big thing, getting’ that off my shoulders. Now I can concentrate on goin’ back out and havin’ a little bit of fun and hopefully get this win here, then we’ll se what this thing has in Valdosta.”

“I was fighting to control a lofting front wheel in the second round against Kavos,” said Burnett. “But we were able to hold on to the lead from the tree and get a huge win.”

Mitchell took the blame for Yoder’s loss. “It didn’t download the map,” said Ronnie. “The map that I made for that run didn’t go into the bike, so it still had the old map in it. I don’t know what happened. Goof up, my fault. You’re runnin’ Mikey Slowe, you gotta be on your game regardless.”

Bud did set the eighth mile MPH record over the course of the weekend at 166.33.

Slowe had Taylor Wood in the semi, and teenager Wood recovered from a near washout that had the pits buzzing. “It just turned,” former champ Barry Henson noted. “You know how it comes down and wants to wash? It came down crossed up a little bit and then he had to peddle it.”

“It got so sideways, it went over to the side of the motor,” said Taylor’s dad Andy.

“We had that with Phil (Stoll) and it ruined all the lines on the side but the pipe kept him up,” added RMR’s unofficial pit boss Duane McComas.

“He (Taylor) did a great job.”

“He did an unbelievable job of riding it,” agreed Andy.

“But it was a good learning experience for a new rider,” said McComas.

“Oh, absolutely,” agreed Barry. “I seen Rickey Gadson do that on a GSXR1000 (remember those days?) Supersport bike and fall. The same exact thing. He toted the tire through first, toted it through second, and then it got to washin’ over and he went right down. Those things just happen. He went right back out there on the same exact motorcycle the next round and went straight down the track.”

“That was good, though,” noted McComas. “He (Taylor) did a great

7.251 198.93 M. Slowe (.160) 11.577 80.08 S. Henson (.122) 7.239 199.26 B. Yoder (.148) 7.332 201.85 N. Mazeika (.397) 7.234 200.77 T. Wood (.116) 7.810 186.72 R. Gadson (.134) 7.268 199.85 R. Budgell (.094) 7.221 199.55 C. McDougald (.143)

story by Tim Hailey, photos by Matt Polito, dragbikephotos.com

job ridin’ that bike. That’s natural instinct.”

But it also amounted to a round win for Slowe and another final for the champ. Burnett ran a 7.49 in the other semi on the pass that would have been against Dunigan. Slowe had a massive performance advantage but, as they say, that’s why they run the race. “Going into the final round against Mike, I didn’t even want to know what Anthony was putting in my bike!” said Darren. “Ant’s encouraging words on the line to me were ‘You gotta pin it to win it,’ meaning lock the throttle and hang on!”

Slowe actually took the tree(!), seemed to spin, then wheelied in second, and Burnett took his first Pro Street win. “For me to just go to the finals in Pro Street with Mike Slowe was the highlight of my career,” said Darren. “When the winlight came on in my lane, I could not believe it. I said to myself and—out loud, mind you—well, I better not repeat what I said, but I was pretty dang excited! I simply can’t describe the overwhelming feeling.”

“It’s a lot of pressure off my shoulders,” Slowe said about securing the championship, and on a year when he was trying to sell his bike, step back and take it easy. “I pretty much did everything I wanted to do in Norwalk. I locked up my fourth straight Pro Street championship. I never thought this would be possible with missing two races out of eight with all of the great racers out there. It was awesome seeing Darren win his first Pro Street race, even though it happened against me.

“I’m looking forward to Rockingham to see if I can pull off the championship over there as well. I’m only 9 points out of first going into this last race, so not bad for taking the season off! Seriously though, I would never have made it to any of these events without people like Timbo and Playthings, Anthony, Darren and Tiffany. Timbo carted my bike around for me to all of the races, Ant has been there all year with anything I have needed, and Darren and Tiff for giving me a place to crash. Also can’t forget my wife Nicole for letting me go racing and for all of the love and support.”

Burnett’s thank you list was similar. “This is certainly a team accomplishment. Tim Uhlman, Anthony, Nick Mazeika, Franco Durst, and of course Mike Slowe, have all put so much effort into making the Playthings Racing Team’s Pro Street debut this season successful. I feel very privileged to be in the company of such a great group of people.

Also thanks to Justin Price, Robin Fiore and the great staff at Mountain Motorsports in Kodak, Tennessee, Dawn and Dana at Bates Custom Leathers, David Snapp at Custom Cycle Corner in Knoxville, and of course a special thanks to Tiffany Anderson for her unwavering support!

“I also want to thank Ronnie Mitchell for building such a pretty bike, Barry Henson and Velocity Racing for the turbo and engine management system, Anthony for the engine and tuning, Terry McIntosh for a fantastic chassis, and Catalyst Racing Composites for the great bodywork, and certainly a big thank you to Scott, Scott and Brandi at AMA Dragbike for giving us racers the best series in the world to compete in!”

Mike Slowe

19

Street Fighter a Hot Brawl Gregory Stephens

T

he hottest AMA Dragbike class has to be Schnitz Racing Street Fighter. Thirty-two racers qualified at Norwalk, Ohio and a new winner emerged from the field as the championship points battle heated up.

Maurie Misner led qualifying with a 9.509. Bob Carlson and Ron Reagan were second and third respectively, but with identical 9.525s, and Paul Cavanaugh and Dustin Burchett rounded out the top five.

Misner was paired with Greg Stephens, who qualified on the bottom of the pile, in round 1 of eliminations. Stephens’ 9.419 in qualifying didn’t hurt him on Sunday. “He rolled in deep and when I bumped my second stage light on he pulled back in,” said Stephens, who was unaware that you could not deepstage in AMA Dragbike Sportsman competition.

“I got to the ticket shack it showed me the winner. It was a little bit of good luck to start my day off. I’ve not had any good luck all year and my confidence started coming around. It was good to get a win.”

Stephens met Mark “The Animal Guy” Dotson in round 2. Greg was closer to the index, won, and then met Wes Brown for 3. Brown and Stephens were both fast and both broke out. Again, Stephens was closer to the index, and gaining momentum. “In the semis I had the kid that won in Indy and I knew that he had a faster bike than me,” said Greg, referring to Dustin Burchett. “I kept up with the other racers and knew what they were running. He was on a roll and was still

RACE LADDERS O/U 0.009 0.025 0.025 0.026 0.029 0.033 0.035 0.038 0.039 0.044 0.045 0.046 0.050 0.059 0.065 0.086

POS Bike# Rider 17 1315 Mark Dotson 18 3407 Randy Jarrell 19 3361 Rocky Ward 20 4867 Sean Neizmik 21 1407 James Hendricks 22 2100 Andy Baumbach 23 1297 Douglas Wall 24 1077 Wes Brown 25 8527 Eddie Bishop 26 3140 Jason Williams 27 3300 Daniel Adkins 28 1509 Blair Dickerson 29 2212 Rj Hall 30 2000 Brain Wadhams 31 1162 Joseph Mulhern 32 3544 Gregory Stephens

goes with me when I race. She keeps the logbooks, keeps up with what’s going on out on the track, and she kept me calm and my mind focused on racing instead of the other rider. That is a lot and if you let the other person get in your head that will cost you a lot of races.

She was actually sick with the flu and is still sick almost two weeks later. She works for a doctor and has been on medication but hasn’t kicked it yet. A lot of it was the cold air and I can’t thank her enough for her support.

She’s a trooper. Also I want to thank Howard at XXX Racing Fuel, Walter Houghtaling for helping with my lights, Kenny and Judy for helping me build the bike this spring, Eric and Michelle at H&H Racing, and all of my sponsors—Two Brothers, Schnitz, APE, Kawasaki, Gateway Cycles, Vortex, Richie’s Tires, Snap-On Tools, Scorpion EXO, XXX, Motul, Sharkskins Racing Composite, and Soupy’s Performance.”

The finals in Valdosta have the potential to recrown current champ Ward. Rocky is currently fifth and will need to have a great weekend to gain 26 points on the field. Currently multi-champ “Fearsome” Andy Baumbach sits in the number 1 position with 387 points, but only 5 points back is Star Racing’s Michael Smith. Number 3 Thomas Whytas has 376 points followed by Rampage Racing’s Charlie Tyre with 375 points. Tyre’s partner, Joe Hutto is leading Street ET points and the Rampage Racing crew will be looking to crown champions in their home state on their home turf—South Georgia Motorsports Park. Street Fighter looks to be a brawl in the making!

Ward

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

Schnitz Racing STREET FIGHTER Qualifying POS Bike# Rider ET 1 19 Maurie Misner 9.509 2 1988 Bob Carlson 9.525 3 4179 Ronald Reagan 9.525 4 4242 Paul Cavanaugh 9.526 5 3007 Dustin Burchett 9.529 6 2962 Earl Ealey 9.533 7 3626 Charlie Tyre 9.535 8 2700 Michael Smith 9.538 9 8388 Tony Roberson 9.539 10 1969 Mishael Daddio 9.544 11 4665 Walter Houghtaling9.545 12 1725 Dave Page 9.546 13 1533 Brian Cheatwood 9.550 14 3662 Kenneth Edwards 9.559 15 2090 Thomas Whytas 9.565 16 3114 Ron Arnold 9.586

running in several other classes. I actually had to sit and wait on him for Street ET. Rocky Ward warned me that he was riding his old bike and that he was running the number.” Stephens used a better reaction and ran 9.512 to Burchett’s 9.756 and was headed to his first final, ironically against Ward, who’d thrashed the other side of the ladder (in addition to giving Stephens questionable advice!—Tim) “I had lane choice all day and ran the left until the semi and the final,” said Stephens.

“They both put me in the right and I knew rollout was shallow. At first I thought it was going to hurt and that I would roll out of the lights or something, but it actually became a blessing as I had better reaction times there. Walter Houghtaling helped me more than anybody on the tree. He gave me a few little hints that helped my launch. My reaction times improved, and I finally had an .023 in the final. Against Rocky it was tight all the way to the end. We both had run high .40s. I know his reputation and knew he was the champion, so I knew I’d have to do well. We were neck and neck the whole way and both of us lifted at the top end.” Behind from the tree, Ward broke out by .001 more than Stephens. “It was a very exciting finish.”

Stephens runs the IHRA Bracket Super Series at Mountain Park Dragway in Clay City, Kentucky. “I’ve won 9 races in the past 2 years and got runner-up in the bracket Rocky finals in Steel, Alabama, and won a shootout at the NHRA race in Ohio Valley Dragway in Louisville. But this by far was my biggest race I’ve won. In a way, this is like comparing bracket racing to John Force, as you are racing the best of the best with AMA. “I just bought this bike brand new this year. It’s an ‘09 Kawasaki ZX10R which is stretched and lowered, with a Two Brothers Racing Exhaust System, airshifter, Michelin P1 racing tires, Two Brothers Juice Box, auto shift, and I use XXX Racing Fuel, which makes two tenths of a second difference in the quarter.

“First I’d like to thank my wife Kim. She’s my rock, my biggest supporter, and she’s the solid part of my racing team. She has sacrificed a lot so I can have my racing career. She’s always there and always

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

ET O/U 9.597 0.097 9.609 0.109 9.617 0.117 9.630 0.130 9.647 0.147 9.660 0.160 9.705 0.205 9.847 0.347 9.862 0.362 9.932 0.432 10.132 0.632 11.122 1.622 12.156 2.656 9.489 -0.011 9.487 -0.013 9.419 -0.081

Schnitz Racing STREET FIGHTER CHAMPION

9.689 133.43 G. Stephens (.082) 9.840 149.73 M. Dotson (.136) 9.592 144.49 W. Brown (.091) 9.574 143.46 M. Smith (.129) 9.456 147.83 D. Burchett (.084) 9.396 144.13 D. Page (.135)

TT Jones Gregory Stephens

9.587 144.88 S. Neizmik (.137) 9.459 144.83 R. Hall (.226)

9.478 142.49 G. Stephens (.137)

EET STR TER FIGH

9.512 133.24 G. Stephens (.072)

9.462 146.08 R. Ward (.132) 9.475 146.21 R. Ward (.122)

9.399 138.06 W. Brown (.169) 9.466 142.28 G. Stephens (.023) 9.491 142.64 D. Burchett (.106) 9.756 144.98 D. Burchett (.148) 9.406 143.92 S. Neizmik (.192)

9.390 146.56 D. Adkins (.152) 9.465 137.23 R. Ward (.096) 9.618 118.60 D. Wall (.136) 9.428 134.81 D. Wall (.137) 9.709 142.22 R. Jarrell (.243)

9.534 146.85 R. Ward (.094) 9.432 149.23 R. Reagan (.176) 9.521 133.86 D. Adkins (.076) 9.529 144.36 W. Houghtaling (.139) 9.532 138.54 D. Wall (.060) 9.471 143.02 C. Tyre (.113) 9.595 143.03 R. Jarrell (.187) 9.450 122.11 J. Mulhern (.092)

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

Fast By Gast

Fast By Gast

TOP GAS Qualifying Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Bike# Rider 3636 Ronnie Woodall 2100 Andy Baumbach 2025 Ben Gartz 2544 Ken Dermanelian 3185 Bill Pippard 2900 Mike Konopacki 2356 Mike Hall 5 John Schwartz 1776 Michael Wagner 3173 Kevin Adams 3007 Dustin Barchett 3019 Tim Walker 1725 Dave Page 1069 Harvey Hubbard 3817 Carlos Guzman

ET 8.209 8.212 8.216 8.228 8.229 8.229 8.230 8.233 8.233 8.233 8.289 8.323 8.328 8.348 8.358

O/U 0.009 0.012 0.016 0.028 0.029 0.029 0.030 0.033 0.033 0.033 0.089 0.123 0.128 0.148 0.158

Pos 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Bike# Rider 3038 Mark Wagner 2265 Eric Harmon 8200 Robert Karder 888 Kenny Schwartz 1548 Dan Cryderman 2220 Keith Nichols 3079 James Wagers 2515 James Teasley 2309 Jeff Shively 3611 Scott Mulkey 1036 Barry Harvey 1135 Mike Wagner 2525 Jerry Hurley 1367 Craig Adams

ET O/U 8.390 0.190 8.413 0.213 8.448 0.248 8.460 0.260 8.475 0.275 8.541 0.341 8.598 0.398 8.659 0.459 9.710 1.510 12.807 4.607 13.004 4.804 8.193 -0.007 8.189 -0.011 8.185 -0.015

TOP GAS CHAMPION

8.204 162.49 M. Konopacki (.022) D. Barchett 8.415 126.70 B. Gartz (.182) 12.527 77.70 E. Harmon (.102) 8.451 130.28 K. Nichols (.079) J. Shively (12.741) 8.211 157.15 A. Baumbach (.051)

Rain Delayed

Mike Konopacki

8.356 135.92 M. Konopacki (.052) 8.177 155.65 M. Konopacki (.107)

8.157 163.97 R. Woodall (.037) 8.150 163.28 R. Woodall (.051)

10.718 77.20 B. Gartz (.049)

J. Teasley 8.181 156.23 M. Konopacki (.044)

8.629 160.94 K. Nichols (DEEP)

8.295 150.95 B. Pippard (.041) 8.196 163.02 B. Pippard (-.025)

8.174 148.15 A. Baumbach (.063)

8.304 146.57 M. Wagner (.075)

Bye

Konopacki the Top Gasser Mike Konopacki

T

he Track or Treat Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio lived up to the tricks that inspired its name, with a day full of rain on Friday and cold temps throughout the weekend.

Saturday evening’s ET program had its gremlins, with several racers losing to redlights or deepstages.

Seasoned veterans were clearly befuddled. Rickey Gadson was shocked to be timed out in Street ET. Standing behind the starter, I also watched in surprise. Andy Baumbach too experienced a confusing loss.

After several bizarre starting line infractions Sunday morning, the crew took to fixing the problem and redlit racers were called back to the lanes for reruns. It appeared the problem was fixed, but on occasion and for no apparent reason, it would resurface. Halloween was upon us.

Fast By Gast Top Gas had Ronnie Woodall qualifying number

1 with an 8.209. “Fearsome” Andy Baumbach, Ben Gartz, Kenny “D” Dermanelian, and Bill Pippard rounded out the top 5.

Sitting just outside at number 6 was Mike “Packman” Konopacki. “I got a broke bye first round against Scott Mulkey,” said Konopacki.

“Then in round 2, I believe he (Dustin Burchett) broke all the bolts on his sprocket in the waterbox.” Ben Gartz had problems on his round 3 pass and Mike lifted to take the win. “I lent him a part for his slider so he could make first or second round, but it wasn’t payback. It was a race and that’s the way it was.”

Keith Nichols was Mike’s opponent in the semi and Nichols went deep.

“It looks like I didn’t race anybody, but the bike was running great.

Sometimes you qualify well and get the bad luck draw first round and you can then be on the trailer. There is so much luck.”

Twenty-nine racers started the

day with Konopacki and Woodall the last two standing. Ronniel started his trek to the final by having the earned bye first round. His next three rounds were against Carlos “Speedy” Guzman, Super Comp winner James “Crow” Teasley Jr., and Bill Pippard.

In the final, Konopacki ran 8.181 to Woodall’s 8.190. It would have been a great race had both left the line under green, but Ronnie’s -.006 redlight ended the round prematurely. “It might have had something to do with racing one of the best,” quipped former Super Gas champ Woodall, who’s stepped up in class with a new combination.

“Now it’s got a big tire and it gets on up out of there, and maybe that made the difference. This was my first Top Gas final and first number 1 qualifier, but I’ve only raced Top Gas four times. Next year I plan on running Top Gas, and with Ray Mancini right at my back door to

Ronnie Woodall

8.779 151.78 C. Guzman (.097) 8.665 146.91 J. Teasley (-.009) 8.281 155.88 M. Wagner (DEEP)

8.190 162.82 R. Woodall (-.006)

8.220 145.81 K. Nichols (.047)

8.311 142.12 R. Woodall (.055)

8.175 149.88 B. Pippard (.038) 8.143 158.95 K. Schwartz (.080) 8.223 156.59 M. Wagner (.145) 8.316 163.45 D. Page (.061)

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

work on my engine, I hope to run Pro ET and Super Comp too.”

Quiet Canadian Konopacki finished by gratefully acknowledging those who helped him. “I want to thank my son Adam and Kevin Yeo for their help at the track, and a special thanks to Paul Gast and Fast By Gast.”

Konopacki has been an icon in AMA sportsman racing for years.

“He’s leading Top Gas by 108 points,” said AMA Dragbike’s Scott Valetti. “This is a lock. If he shows and qualifies last and loses first round, he would get 42 points. If Kenny D. qualifies first and wins the race, he would get 127 points max, which would only bring his total to 533. Mike would have 556.” Mike also has a chance at an historical hat trick. He currently only needs to qualify in both Pro ET races to lock in that championship, and Super Comp is in reach but tight.

21

RACE LADDERS

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH SUPER ELIMINATOR

CHAMPION

9.85 9.851 117.75 G. Seeley (.108) 9.80 11.021 114.25 J. Gilchrist (.234) 11.43 12.478 87.63 J. Bird (-.206) 8.40 K. Hutchinson (.711)

9.69 9.749 137.02 G. Connors (-.026)

9.80 9.962 112.57 G. Seeley (.148) 9.80 9.792 131.50 G. Seeley (.039)

Bye 9.78 9.949 129.40 G. Seeley (.082)

Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye

Seeley Seals a Win Gary Seeley

N

orwalk always brings out a good group of Super Eliminators, and 18 competitors qualified this time around. Scott Allen won both of this season’s previous events, but Gary Seeley stepped up swinging in Ohio and knocked a home run.

Round 1 action had Seeley’s better light taking out Alexander Hughes. “We have drawn each other first round the last two years at Norwalk, and I’ve won both times,” said Seeley. John Gilchrist had the same problems at the tree and slowed on the top end in round 2. However, Seeley ran an oh-soclose 9.851 pass on his 9.85 dial, and he realized how close he came to breaking out at the top end. “He was having some minor mechanical issues and I rolled off right at the finishline and almost broke out.

A lot of guys were having traction problems. Lack of test and tune time on Friday really hurt a lot of the guys.” Joe Bird had the reaction time in round 3, but struggled on his pass. Seeley had lowered his ET from 9.85 to 9.80 after the previous

22

pass, and he slowed to a 9.96 to assure himself of the win. Seeley then started out his semifinal bye run with an exceptional .039 light.

Out the back, he ran a nice 9.792 on his 9.80 dial and was ready for the finals.

Seeley dialed down to a 9.78 for the final against Canadian Gary Connors, who dialed 9.67. The lights on the tree flashed at almost the same time. Seeley left first with a nice .082 and Connors was late with a .229. Connors reeled in, took the stripe, broke out, and Seeley took the win. “That was my best light in competition,” said Seeley. “And it was a real fun race with Gary. We’ve known each other for a while and, win or lose, it was good to meet in the finals. He’s worked long and hard throughout the year and deserved being there. He’s getting better every time he goes out.

“This was my first AMA Super Eliminator win. My home track is US131 in Martin, Michigan, and I race there occasionally and do most of my test and tune there. The bike is a 1972 H2 750, old-school Kawasaki

Bye

9.67 9.649 126.40 G. Connors (.229) 9.54 9.845 104.00 R. Wilhelm (.127)

Bye

Gary Seeley

9.69 10.061 109.08 S. Allen (.054) Bye

8.40 9.254 121.52 J. Bird (.125)

Bye

Rain Delayed

9.69 9.719 130.02 G. Connors (.080)

9.42 9.705 132.46 G. Connors (.342)

dragbike with a Fast By Gast top end on it, Lectrons, MTC slider, standard stock stuff, and it weighs 304lbs.

I’ve had it for 20 years now. It’s a toy. I’ve raced on and off for that time. I used to race a Z1 Kawasaki wheelie-bar bracket bike back in the mid 80s and got involved with them since 1977. That’s when I got my first one. Around 1989 is when I started racing this bike.

“I want to thank Laurie at Purple Haze Racing, Nevile Lush Racing, Larry Smith at Red Line Motorsports, and of course my sweetheart of 29 years, Kim Bresett. I couldn’t do it without her. She helps out and runs the pit bike—the whole shot. Also thanks to my brother, Larry Seeley.

He’s the one that took me to my first motorcycle race back in the late 70s, so he’s the one that got me involved

9.56 9.612 129.60 R. Wilhelm (.091) 10.27 11.002 123.38 J. Molyneux (.042)

8.85 9.010 139.59 R. Wilhelm (.125) Bye 10.27 11.030 125.56 J. Molyneux (.117) 13.69 14.790 78.34 T. Bixler (.131)

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

in it. Last but not least, thanks to all the 2-stroke racers that came out this weekend.”

Norwalk is the last SE race for the season, and seven racers attended all three. Scott Allen is this year’s champion by virtue of winning the Martin and Indy races. Gary Seeley’s Norwalk win and runner-up finish in Martin earned him number 2. Gary Connors, Roger Wilhelm and Mike Bianco finished out the top five. SE records are set at nearly every event, and Norwalk was no exception with four new milestones: Thad Neeld – (EE/G) 1/4 Mile ET @ 9.301, David Derrick – (DD/A/HH) 1/4 Mile ET @ 9.277, Roger Wilhelm Jr. – (EE/A/ HH) 1/4 Mile ET @ 9.531, and Scott Allen – (EE/M) 1/4 Mile MPH @ 133.98.

Gary Connors

RACE LADDERS POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

SUPER Bike# Rider ET O/U 3007 Dustin Burchett 8.903 0.003 2259 Cory Marks 8.903 0.003 4135 Heather Wagner 8.908 0.008 1353 Brian Allarie 8.912 0.012 1069 Harvey Hubbard 8.913 0.013 3026 Ron Saint 8.917 0.017 2515 James Teasley 8.917 0.017 1100 Daniel Rockey 8.921 0.021 1465 Gary Russell 8.930 0.030 2900 Mike Konopacki 8.932 0.032 1870 Mike Byrd 8.939 0.039 4188 Floyd Appleby 8.946 0.046 2999 Rob Schenz 8.948 0.048 1530 Kevin Billingsly 8.948 0.048 4665 Walter Houghtaling8.969 0.069 1172 Ryan Robaugh 8.976 0.076

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

MTC COMP Qualifying POS Bike# Rider 17 2088 Mike Chongris 18 2100 Andy Baumbach 19 3788 Dennis Greene 20 3636 Ronnie Woodall 21 2216 Ron Hall 22 2500 Gary Chapman 23 8512 Kirk Hess 24 1006 Mark Sproul 25 2616 Robert Cassar 26 2128 Jeremy Hines 27 2318 Jerry Williams 28 4588 Adam Konopacki 29 1817 Bart Mcgee 30 2613 Mathew Short 31 3817 Carlos Guzman

MTC ET O/U 8.999 0.099 9.004 0.104 9.069 0.169 9.090 0.190 9.108 0.208 9.181 0.281 9.395 0.495 9.991 1.091 10.096 1.196 14.729 5.829 8.800 8.800 8.872 -0.028 8.862 -0.038 8.859 -0.041 8.842 -0.058

SUPER COMP CHAMPION

J. Teasley (.389) 8.937 142.49 J. Teasley (.065) Bye 9.015 140.74 A. Baumbach (.019) 8.899 138.74 C. Marks (.043)

8.833 137.71 J. Teasley (.114)

8.980 147.42 G. Chapman (-.005) 9.191 131.75 H. Wagner (.107)

James Teasley

8.973 139.41 B. Allaire (.037)

8.978 134.19 A. Baumbach (.037)

8.859 153.11 R. Saint (.047)

TT Jones

9.110 132.45 B. Allaire (.044)

9.403 103.91 K. Billingsly (.036)

9.095 147.10 F. Appleby (.091)

8.908 145.64 J. Teasley (.594)

B. Allaire 8.996 133.95 G. Russell (.025)

9.052 129.32 R. Saint (.041) 8.976 152.49 R. Saint (DEEP)

8.921 136.48 G. Russell (.040) 9.049 146.38 R. Robaugh (.018)

9.192 141.83 H. Wagner (.098)

James Teasley

M

TC Super Comp has been dominated this season by the Canadian family of Mike and Adam Konopacki, winning three of the events.

Cory Marks was able to put a dent in the points by winning Atlanta and running aggressively in the points chase to possibly knock Mike off of his throne. However, Mike had bike gremlins surface in round 1 at Norwalk and Marks lost in round 2. At the end of the weekend the stars were aligned for Ohio’s James “Crow” Teasley Jr. to make his comeback appearance and take the class win.

“It was amazing,” said Teasley. “I hadn’t raced the bike for a year or so when I took it to Bristol last year and I redlit first round in Super Comp. I took it to Norwalk because we’re so close. Joe Franco was bringing me a Top Gas motor and I figured I might as well run Super Comp, too.

“The very first pass when I hit second gear the wheel came down and the front wheel started to wash out on me. It’s never done that before. Still, when I got the ticket it was 8.91. I couldn’t believe it!

LEGENDARY APE CRANKWORK STROKERS - COMPLETE ROTATING It was dead on all weekend.”

ASSEMBLIES Thirty-one Super Compers qualified with Dustin Burchett earning the number 1 position with an 8.903. Marks also hit the same number but he did it after Dustin secured the top spot. Heather Wagner was third with Brian Allaire and Harvey Hubbard rounding out the top MANUFACTURER OF five. Teasley’s 8.917 was good enough RACE SPRINGS AND TITANIUM RETAINERS for seventh.

“I had Jeremy Hines in round 1 and he was having trouble with his bike so I won,” said Teasley. “Konopacki was supposed to run me second round but

8.806 150.28 R. Schenz (.051) 9.147 140.30 F. Appleby (.072) 8.836 150.77 A. Konopacki (-.009) 8.893 145.63 G. Russell (.036) 8.871 145.94 D. Rockey (.057) 8.956 143.20 R. Robaugh (.003) 8.850 138.41 D. Burchett (.046)

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

Teasley Tames Super Comp wasn’t able to make the call so I had a single. The bike wouldn’t start and Jeremy Hines quickly loaned me a battery and it cranked. We just broke the beams and pushed it back to the pits. He loaned me the battery for the rest of the race and I really want to thank him for that.

“In round 3 Andy Baumbach told me he was having transmission problems and didn’t have fourth gear, so at the top end I was able to drive around him. You know that if you race Andy you can’t do that unless he’s having problems.

“Ron Saint went deep in the semis, and in the final Brian Allaire had lane choice and put me in the right lane.

So I talked to Mike Wagner and he warned me to barely touch the second light and I did exactly as he said. I held it there and then the guy in the left lane got timed out.

That was a one-sided racetrack, that was for sure. I was on the right side in Top Gas and had two people redlight and you can believe one thing—that if I had lane choice I took the left lane.

“I guess you get lucky every now and then. Basically I only ran one round. I couldn’t do anything wrong. It was just one of those races and I had a lot of fun.

“Thanks to my dad, James Sr., my brother Robert, and my sons Cameron, Jeremy, and even if he doesn’t wanna go race with us anymore, Brandon. My dad, all of us worked hard. Cameron was doing everything, pushing the bikes and helping do gas and air. Thanks to my wife

8.830 145.39 B. Allaire (.031)

Sherry and my daughter Trinitee for their support, Jeremy Hines, and Scott and Brandi for putting on a good show, and everybody else at AMA.” As we enter South Georgia Motorsports Park for the National Finals, Mike Konopacki is leading by 48 points.

“This one could be interesting,” said AMA Dragbike’s Scott Valetti. “Corey Marks has the capability of maxing at 535 points.” Currently Konopacki has 456 to Corey’s 408. With points championships locked for Mike in Top Gas and Pro ET, this is the race to watch and see if he can secure the points necessary to make history.

Brian Allaire

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RACE LADDERS 8.97 9.605 111.32 R. Robaugh (.549) 8.20 8.358 133.29 A. Baumbach (.190)

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH DYNATEK

PRO ET CHAMPION

8.97 8.953 142.63 R. Robaugh (.000) 8.97 8.953 142.63 R. Robaugh (.000)

8.91 11.496 75.12 D. Burchett (.002) 8.91 11.496 75.12 D. Burchett (.002)

Bye Bye 9.48 9.454 143.09 B. Carlson (.048) 8.04 7.971 160.38 K. Adams (.030) 8.80 8.776 146.50 M. Short (-.021) 9.58 9.552 132.49 T. Bixler (.093) 8.90 8.881 147.34 R. Schenz (-.009)

Ryan Robaugh 8.91 8.957 146.56 8.96 9.241 111.08 D. Burchett (-.038) R. Robaugh (.090)

8.77 8.787 144.46 M. James (.041)

7.99 K. Adams (.114)

7.97 7.976 161.23 K. Adams (.052)

9.20 9.232 127.17 R. Helle (.101)

8.93 8.842 139.06 E. Harmon (.038)

8.80 8.765 148.23 M. James (.016)

Bye

8.29 8.301 154.83 M. Wagner (-.017)

Bye

Bye

8.77 8.783 149.28 M. James (.017)

Bye

K. Adams 9.57 9.531 128.27 T. Bixler (.025)

8.89 8.944 146.18 D. Burchett (.008)

8.76 8.745 148.07 M. Short (.026)

Bye

8.88 8.921 145.85 W. Houghtaling (.016)

Saturday’s Race Results

Bye Bye

DYNATEK

PRO ET CHAMPION

8.83 8.876 145.42 D. Burchett (.011) 8.83 8.837 146.83 D. Burchett (-.007)

7.97 7.962 164.05 K. Adams (.080) Bye

Bye Bye

7.97 7.969 159.74 K. Adams (.035)

Bye

Kevin Adams 7.96 7.989 157.82 8.83 8.879 146.40 K. Adams (.041) D. Burchett (.035)

8.91 8.923 143.40 D. Liguori (-.017)

O

hio racers have always done well on the AMA Dragbike tour, and Norwalk’s 2 Wheel Tuner Pro ET races were no exception as Buckeyes won both rounds.

“I won Pro ET on my dad Bob’s bike,” said Saturday winner Ryan Robaugh from Painesville. “I’ve only raced the bike one run last year and raced it once this year, and I haven’t run a delay box since 2005. That’s the reason I entered Pro ET on Saturday was to get some runs in case we needed it for Super Comp. We never got fast enough (for Super Comp), and could only run 8.95 and got beat (in that class) in the third round.”

But Saturday’s Pro ET race (and Sunday’s Street ET on a different bike) was another story for steady racer Robaugh. First round opponent Chris Ragan’s bike quit at the burnout and he couldn’t get it started and pulled to the line. “Then I raced Rick McWaters in round 2,” said Robaugh. “He’s a local guy (and former Hot Rod Cruiser standout). He had good lights and went under. My .005 against Rick gave me the bye for round 3 and I was trying the right lane and trying to figure out my delay and went .027 red. I kept adding a bunch of time to the box and thought it could have been me. I was adding more time than I’ve ever added on any bike.

“Then Andy Baumbach timed out or something.”

Baumbach’s round 4 deepstage was one of many right

24

8.15 8.177 159.16 M. Hall (.027)

Bye

8.78 8.784 148.25 M. James (-.006)

Bye Bye

Sunday’s Race Results

Bye Bye

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

lane infractions that happened over the weekend. .007 to his .005 reaction and ran closer to my number,” Officials attempted to find the cause and repair said Adams, who won the round. Eric Harmon had the the situation but it appeared to continue at various better reaction against Kevin in 4 but took too much stripe times for no apparent reason. “He might’ve been and broke out. Adams dodged a bullet running 7.976 on one of the first guys that got the deepstage. I’m not his 7.97 dial. He earned the bye in 5 and ran a near perfect sure what I did, but I got off the two-step and then 7.969 on his 7.97 dial. hit it when it went green. At the timing shack they Mike James went -.006 red against Adams in the semis. told me I won, and who knows whether it really was “I heard a lot of things about the lanes and he claimed that’s a deepstage, or one of those situations that started how he went red,” responded Kevin when asked if James happening on Sunday. was in the right lane. Seasoned veterans expressed vast “I was laddered and I got the bye for round 5 differences they were entering in their delay boxes to avoid and hit a perfect reaction time. I came back and going red in the right. “I know that they had some reruns added some to my box. In his previous round, I earlier in the day. I kept drawing chips and getting left, left, heard that Kevin Adams left in third and was trying left, so I stuck with that lane.” to change his clutch plates but AMA put him on the Adams’ final round opponent was Saturday runnerclock and he couldn’t make the call. It was getting up Burchett, who was also going rounds in Street ET late and the track was getting cold. They took our and Street Fighter. “He had me on the tree by .006,” said dial-ins and moved us (fellow semifinalist Dustin Adams. “But I was able to catch him and got in and out of Burchett) to the final. I went back to the left lane and since I it and lifted for the win. put so much time in my box I went an .090. Dustin probably “The bike is a conversion chassis with a Katana body wasn’t ready for right lane and went red. and a 1428cc GS1150 motor. Tom Stack and my dad Bill “My first win was in Super Comp at an IDBA race at built it. It has a Cube Delay box, Web cams, RC wheels, Norwalk when I was 17. I’ve won some IDBA races in ET Mickey Thompson tire, Dyna ignition, Lectrons, MRE and won Super Comp with Prostar in Gainesville in 2004. airshifter, Dyna shiftcounter, VP Q16 fuel, and it’s painted In 2004 and 2005 I went to only a few AMA races and this by Vic Ellinger. was first AMA appearance since 2005.

“Thanks to my wife Brianna and my son Connor, my “My dad has six dragbikes. He also has a Super Gas father Bill—of course—Tom Stack, my brother Craig, Ed roadster that he’s been racing most of the time. We haven’t James, Tom LaPoint, and Matt and Colleen Short.” been racing our dragbikes much and I’ve been riding my The points championship appears to be locked in with streetbike to the local track, racing and then riding it home. Mike Konopacki leading by 186 points. “This is a lock if he We thought the dragbike would have no problems running enters both Pro ET1 and ProET2 in Valdosta,” said AMA 8.80s and we couldn’t believe we couldn’t run faster than Dragbike’s Scott Valetti. “Currently Mike has 494 points, 8.95 no matter what we changed. My dad was supposed plus 22 equals 516. If Steve Klemme won both Pro ET1 to race his bike and decided not to at the last minute. That and Pro ET2 he would max at 502.” The remainder of the put me riding it in Pro ET for Saturday and Super Comp for top ten positions are still open and any one’s position to Sunday and my street bike in Street ET for Sunday. advance.

“The wheelie bar bike is a Kawasaki ZX11. My dad built it off a stock cradle in 2000 and it has a 1428cc motor that he and Dean Franz built. It has a Biondo Little Wizard delay box, Dyna Ignition, and Mickey Kevin Adams Thompson tires.

“Thanks to my dad, Dean, and Perry Paugh, who helped me with my ZX12 this summer to figure out the clutches, and a special thanks to my wife Amy and my 15 month old son Jake.” evin Adams was hoping to gain back on Sunday what he lost the night before when he was unable to make the call to the semis. Winning against Ron “Not The President” Reagan in round 1, Adams next faced Atco winner Jimmy “Cha Cha” Heisler. “He went red and I don’t know exactly what happened,” said Adams. The charts indicate Heisler deepstaged, but video shows that he might have fallen victim to the right lane anomaly that plagued the weekend.

Adams then had his hands full in round 3 against “Fearsome” Andy Baumbach. “I had an

K

Dustin Burchett

8.92 8.937 137.86 D. Liguori (.022)

Bye

Buckeyes Rule Norwalk Ryan Robaugh

9.40 9.426 138.29 R. McWaters (-.030)

Bye

8.77 8.777 142.48 M. James (.027)

8.88 8.947 148.02 W. Houghtaling (.019)

8.83 11.712 70.23 D. Burchett (.017)

RACE LADDERS 9.00 9.103 149.43 C. Ballard (-.068) 9.00 17.266 62.88 J. Holt (-.229) 11.20 11.266 120.03 M. Lonsbary (.014) 11.05 11.208 116.58 R. Burt (-.021) 9.50 9.574 142.25 A. Baumbach (.040) 10.55 10.627 124.65 R. McWaters (-.077) 9.44 9.445 147.20 R. Arnold (-.049)

Track or Treat Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, October 10-11, Norwalk, OH

BROCK’S PERFORMANCE STREET ET CHAMPION

9.10 9.191 132.41 C. Ballard (.126)

9.10 11.654 93.34 C. Ballard (.053)

9.00 8.941 157.61 J. Gladstone (.077)

8.98 9.106 156.84 J. Gladstone (.111)

11.20 11.204 120.91 M. Lonsbary (.245)

9.76 9.714 142.94 R. Robaugh (-.042)

Corey Ballard 9.10 9.268 141.89 9.00 9.045 157.17 C. Ballard (.017) J. Gladstone (.158)

9.50 13.841 74.70 A. Baumbach (.054)

9.50 9.439 142.94 E. Ealey (.164)

9.50 9.589 142.37 A. Baumbach (-.009) 9.44 9.499 147.41 R. Arnold (-.019)

Bye

9.50 9.648 143.26 E. Ealey (-.085)

Saturday’s Race Results

9.00 J. Teasley

9.00 9.158 140.66 J. Gladstone (.080)

9.61 9.632144.89 R. Robaugh (.010)

9.50 9.803 147.13 M. Dotson (.142)

9.35 9.321 144.74 R. Arnold (.080)

9.69 9.830 132.78 R. Robaugh (.038)

Bye

9.84 9.927 142.60 T. Hill (.137)

Bye

9.50 9.505 125.01 E. Ealey (.042)

9.40 9.443 139.76 D. Wall (.006)

9.05 9.216 159.40 G. Hrycych (.379)

8.98 8.861 163.83 J. Gladstone (.137)

9.00 9.347 130.09 J. Teasley (.049)

9.40 9.514 124.05 J. Neubauer (.024)

10.35 10.979 125.33 J. Heisler (.126)

10.60 10.654 123.92 G. Stephens (.237)

9.61 9.56 142.04 R. Robaugh (.022)

DYNATEK

STREET ET CHAMPION

9.59 9.804 118.43 R. Robaugh (.047)

9.20 9.265 148.69 D. Burchett (.030)

9.20 9.239 152.52 D. Burchett (.080)

Bye

Ryan Robaugh 9.61 9.663 138.46 9.20 9.197 144.15 R. Robaugh (.096) D. Burchett (.062)

10.58 10.495 124.53 R. McWaters (.022)

9.42 9.427 145.55 D. Wall (.008)

10.55 10.545 117.47 R. McWaters (.052)

9.42 9.501 133.45 D. Wall (-.053) 9.40 9.386 151.15 J. Neubauer (.032)

9.20 9.23 146.97 S. Lynch (.090)

Sunday’s Race Results

9.47 9.352 143.17 D. Adkins (.086)

Ballard and Robaugh Take Street Corey Ballard

T

he Brock’s Performance Street ET field often contains racers that are looking for a chance to test and tune during the event, and such was the case for Saturday winner Corey Ballard. “It’s really not my class,” said Ballard. “I use Street ET to test for Real Street, and since we didn’t have a test and tune on Friday, and since I kept on winning, I kept on going.”

First round Ballard ran Sean Neizmik, who lost with a redlight. “I saw the red and just cruised out to try and save my clutch,” said Corey. “I leave just like I do in Real Street and don’t change anything for Street ET, so it can build up some heat. In round 2 I let out of it when I knew he (Paul Woods) wasn’t coming.” Woods’ slow reaction gave all the advantage to Ballard. “Then when I found that Joe Holt was dialing a 9.00 for round 3 I dialed heads-up. When I saw that he went red I ran it out, ran 9.103, and then dialed 9.10 the rest of the night.” Murray Lonsbary ran 11.204 on his 11.20 dial in round 4 but was too late on the tree and Ballard won with a 9.191. “Fearsome” Andy Baumbach went red .009 against Ballard in the semi. “He went red

before I left, so I just moseyed down the track.”

Ballard then faced young Joey Gladstone in the final. Eager for a win that would help him in the Street ET Championship chase, Joey was cautious at the tree and Ballard nailed a .017 to Gladstone’s slow .158. Corey ran 9.268 on his 9.10 dial to win over Gladstone’s 9.045 on a 9.00.

“I got him on the tree and let out on that pass,” reported first time winner Ballard. “He almost caught me! I underestimated him at the 1000 foot cone and it was really close.

“My bike is an ‘02 Suzuki Hayabusa. It’s my Real Street bike and has nitrous but I just run it on motor in Street ET. If I try to use it there is no in between, it’s either on or off. It has a Brock’s TiWinder pipe, the new super, titanium Sidewinder pipe and this is the first Street ET win using that pipe. It’s got a flat oil pan, McIntosh Swingarm, of course Brock’s lowering links and strap, Ohlin shock, Galespeed wheels, Mickey Thompson Shootout tire, VP C-23 fuel, MTC clutch components, MTC pistons, Web cams, Kevin Hunt KWS Head, Crower Rods from MPS, billet fuel rail from Orient Express, and Fast By Gast backcut transmission.

I watch my tach to shift and never notice the shiftlight if it does come on.

“I’d like to thank Fun For All Motorsports, Chris Hill at Performance Cycle, Brock Davidson, Joe Hahn at Orient Express, and Beth Rudd at MPS. When crunch time happens in the pits, I’d like to thank Gary Hrycych, Danny Payton, Ron Arnold, Wes Brown, and Chad Masters for their work.

“I especially want to thank Lori King, my fiancée, who is due with my baby on Thanksgiving and still puts up with me being gone while she holds up the house and the shop. Lori owns Fun For All, which is a Yamaha/Suzuki Dealership in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and I do everything from sales to parts to mechanicing. There are about 10 riders that run AMA that I do the work on their bikes. We also sell parts to many of the other non-dealership dragbike companies. Our plans are for me to attend the Finals, but this is my first child and you have to get your priorities in order. I could be home with Lori with her having the baby.” yan Robaugh did well on Saturday going rounds until losing to Gladstone in round 4.

Undaunted, Robaugh stayed focused and won Saturday’s Pro ET race on his dragbike. On Sunday, Robaugh sat out Pro ET and ran Street ET and Super Comp. “My dad was supposed to race his bike and decided not to at the last minute,” said Robaugh who had planned on riding his Kawasaki in Street ET both days. “That put me riding it in Pro ET for Saturday and Super Comp.”

Robaugh started Sunday’s Street ET race with a statement-making round 1 win over points leader

9.22 9.247 138.16 D. Burchett (.112) 9.50 9.693 143.70 M. Dotson (.077) 9.20 9.217 155.02 S. Lynch (.093) 9.50 9.468 127.99 W. Houghtaling (.027) 10.58 10.588 123.88 R. McWaters (.001) 9.98 9.82 136.91 T. Hill (.159) 9.48 9.471 147.18 D. Adkins (.042) 10.01 9.924 134.81 R. Hable (.004)

story by Debbie Knebel, photos by Matt Polito dragbikephotos.com

Joe Hutto. “I beat him up on the tree and took it through by a wheel at the stripe,” said Ryan. “My reaction time earned me the single and I went to the right lane for round 2. I wanted to be sure I was staging good and be sure I wouldn’t get deepstaged. Instead I went red! Third round we were laddered and I got the better light (on Ron Arnold) and he had to break out. Since I took out the number 1 guy, I got the bye run for the next round. I ran it out to see what it would run.” The pass was 9.56 on his 9.61 dial.

In the semi, Douglas Wall went red and Robaugh advanced to his second final of the weekend. It was déjà vu all over again, as Ryan’s final round opponent was fellow Buckeye Dustin Burchett—the same as in Pro ET the night before! “Dustin had lane choice and put me to the right. He went around me and got out of it but not enough, I guess.” Burchett ran a breakout 9.197 on his 9.20 dial to Robaugh’s winning 9.663 on a 9.61.

“I’ve been riding my street bike to the local track, racing and then riding it home,” said Ryan. “It’s an ‘01 Kawasaki ZX12, lowered and stretched with an airshifter, shiftlight, Shinko tires, an Akrapovic pipe and Power Commander.

“Thanks to my dad Bob, Dean Franz, and Perry Paugh, who helped me with my ZX12 this summer to figure out the clutches, and a special thanks to my wife Amy and 15 month old son Jake for their support.”

The championship is still up for grabs. Rookie Hutto has an 83 point lead over Gladstone, and with the two race format, both riders will need to be on their game to pull it off in Valdosta. Should either stumble, Bob Carlson is 113 points out, and both Jim Walker and Andy Baumbach—136 points back each—are breathing down their necks.

Ryan Robaugh

R

Dustin Burchett

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