The big noise in Orient Express Pro Street was the expectation of the sport’s first true 6.80something street tire pass. And when champion Joey Gladstone pulled his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa out of the DME Racing trailer and popped off a 6.91 right away, it seemed a forgone conclusion that the milestone would fall during a weekend with a high performance weather forecast on MIR’s fussed-over quarter mile.
DME Racing Real Street saw the most competitive Pro class action of the weekend, with seven bikes qualifying with 7.80s on the board. Former champ Johnny “Turbo” Dobrin led the field into eliminations and made it pay with a trip to the winners circle. Dobrin beat fellow turbo-‘Busa racer Eddie “Who?” Chapman 7.91 to 8.08 in the final.
Louis Concrete 4.60 packed a full field with the world’s quickest eighth mile index bikes and, in a surprise move, Miller doubled the 4.60 purse although the field fell short of the number required for him to do so. Virginian Darryl Hollins nailed the index best in qualifying and then nailed the tree in the final, taking the win over Terry Tompkins.
With so many racers on the grounds, it hardly seems fair that one would walk off with two trophies. But there’s nothing fair about Kentucky racer Ron Arnold’s starting line and stripe skills, and he won both the Cycle Connection Crazy 8s index class and Sunday’s Fast by Gast Pro ET bracket race. Arnold’s .015
Brock’s Performance Street ET wins went to Virginia’s Clay Davies on Saturday and—just when you thought you already knew all of Maryland’s legendary Proctor family of motorcycle drag racers—previously little-known Francis Proctor
It was North meets South as Michael Ostrowski made the drive down I-95 from New York pay with the FBR Shop 5.60 win over Floridian Robert Parker. Ostrowski’s .033 light on a Suzuki dragbike was hard for Parker to overcome in the eighth mile on his Kawasaki streetbike.
The best-attended motorcycle drag racing season in history continues at MIR with the MIROCK Fast by Gast Summer Nationals, May 30-June 1, 2014.
This report was prepared by Tim Hailey. Enjoy everything there is to read, see and watch about motorcycle drag racing and more at http://www.eatmyink.com