Historic Weekend at Maxton

The weekend of May 20-21st proved to be a weekend that event organizers and motorcycle fans will remember for a long time. At the ECTA’s land speed meet it was the Brock’s Performance Products-backed Dave Owen that put on a show for everyone to remember, leaving only after the records books were full of new ink from the historic passes that were clicked off.

Dave had been chasing the magical goal of 220mph and after this event he will have to set some new targets because not only did the 1507cc Hayabusa break his previous best of 219.94mph, Dave personally ran a new class record of 220.312mph. After the record setting pass Dave, the sportsman, parked his bike at impound and voluntarily opened up the trunk, tank and under seat area of his bike so everyone could see that no “Sneaky-Pete” devices were being used.

Later in the day knowing that the all time naturally aspirated motorcycle world record (220.55mph) was within his grasp, he turned to team mate Rick Stetson and asked him to take a stab at the record book. Land speed racing showcases many aspects of motorcycling and Dave has already shown he can build, tune and ride as well as anyone in the field but with his normal size frame he doesn’t possess the typical horse jockey type aerodynamic profile that some riders do. Meet Rick Stetson who is approx 20lbs lighter than Dave and several inches shorter as well!! Rick has ridden Dave’s bike previously, and is a member of the ECTA’s exclusive “200 MPH Club” just as Dave which means he has broken a class record over 200mph at Maxton. Rick’s smaller profile was good for 1-2 mph better than Dave speeds at the September meet.

After Rick takes his first warm-up pass with an impressive 216.857mph run, he and Dave plot their strategy as the bike cools off on the pad. Within 40 minutes Rick was ready to go again. With air conditions getting progressively worse as the day heated up sooner would be better than later. Rick lines up again and after getting the familiar command of “the course is yours for competition, be safe” from ECTA starter Al “The Bomb” Freitas, Rick was headed down the course again.

The pass was clean as Rick hid behind the windscreen to minimize the air drag and was rewarded with a 222.123mph pass; setting not only a new Maxton record but also becoming the fastest naturally aspirated bike to hold a record at all land speed racing venues.

Dave credits his success in 2006 to several aspects of his program. First is the weight loss and power gain of the new Brock Performance Street Megaphone exhaust. Not only does it weigh less he picked up a few more precious HP. Next on the list of upgrades for 2006 is the Dymag Carbon wheels that shaved another 11.2lbs and when added to the 10lbs Dave sacrificed from himself it was enough to make the difference.

Dave Thanks Brock’s Performance Parts, Harry’s Machine Parts, Tiger Racing, Larry McBride, Pingel, EK Chains, Innovate Motor Sports, World Wide Bearings, Dymag Racing, Catalyst, Vanson Leathers, Dighton Rehoboth High School Machine Shop, and his family for all the support this season.