Part 1

After witnessing the jaw-dropping stock dyno results of the 2008 Hayabusa and feeling the bike’s raw power for myself at Road America, to say that I couldn’t wait to get this beast to a drag strip “set-up” properly was an understatement.

Luckily, the next stop on the AMA/Prostar tour is Joe Sway’s VERY fast track in Atco, New Jersey which also happens to be the home track of young Richard Gadson. Of course, with the last name Gadson, Richard is frequently confused by the casual observer with his Uncle Rickey. The elder Gadson is his 9 Time AMA/Prostar National Championship winning, Team Monster Energy Drinks/Kawasaki Drag Racing sponsored, owner/instructor of the Rickey Gadson Drag Racing School…Well, I think you get it. Rickey gets plenty of well-deserved ink, Speed Vision, and seat time while Richard quietly sits back and learns how to go faster every time he hits the strip. As a result, Richard was able to secure a factory ride in 2006 on the Velocity Racing/American Suzuki-backed GSX-R1000 and currently jockeys for Scorpion EXO, Lee’s Performance, and HTP Performance just to name a few. Richard is a fine young man, and I was proud to ask him to stand in as our introductory jockey for the Hayabusa Chronicles Part 1.


Photo by Craig Anderson

Rider Profile of Richard Gadson

Born: March 8, 1986 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height: 5’ 3”
Weight: 140 lbs.-in shorts (155 Suited)
Nickname: Lil’Richard
Accomplishments:

• Current 2007 Super Street #5 (one race remaining)
• Current 2007 1000 SuperSport #6 (one race remaining)
• 2006 AMA/Prostar 1000 SuperSport #3 Plate Holder
• 2004 AMA/Prostar 600 SuperSport #2 Plate Holder

Largest grudge race purse: $20k (Just curious…Did you win? Yes and No, there have been several)

Biggest threat: My Uncle Rickey

Busa Chronicles…? “Yo-Brock, what’s up with that? I thought you were writing some kind of DIARY or something?” I was asked by one club warz participant at Atco. “I wrote the Diaries about another very fast bike that we also like to drag race, but this is a completely different machine with its own personality,” I stated. “Chronicles…That’s cool, cause that muthaf*cka right there damn-sho looks like THE CHRONIC… Ha-ha-ha!” I spent some time in college, so I’m pretty sure I know what that means?! It also instantly became our new nickname for our new 08 Busa-Chronic.

We arrived at Atco Thursday night after a couple of day’s stay in Ohio to load the trailer for the race.

I’m sure everyone suspects that we stayed up 24-7 testing and tweaking on our new toy, but that simply isn’t the case as I also have a business to run. Alterations to this point have consisted of systematically fitting components to the new Busa to see if they are the same as those from previous years and documenting required modifications (if not.) This is a very time consuming task especially when you consider that we need return the bike to stock to properly document the bolt-on improvements in order of need. Chronic arrived at Atco fitted with our ultra-mod clutch kit (to remove the back torque limiter and smooth the clutch engagement,) a front end lowering kit, and three position adjustable rear lowering links--set at stock height--with the same nearly-full tank of pump gas from Road America that we used for our dyno pulls on the previous Saturday. I was interested in seeing what the bike would do at the strip with a dead-stop friendly clutch and a strapped front end as this represents “step one set-up” to most drag race enthusiasts with a brand new ride.

I realize that your average guy wants to know what other average guys can do on the same bike they have purchased (or are contemplating purchasing) more so than with a professional fly weight jockey. I consider my riding skills as average as they come and my 200 lb. suited size is at least close to “bigger” status so I decided to give myself the first shot with the new mods.



In the words of crew member and Quantum Motorsports owner, Bryan Snyder, after my first pass, “That was embarrassing to watch; you need to let Richard ride the bike right now.” Truer works were never spoken, and I handed the key off. I’m not even going to get into the road-weary, driving all day, cry-baby crap. Reality is…sometimes I just suck.

Unfortunately, threatening skies and oil-downs limited Richard to a single pass for the evening. The corrected air was pretty good, but the humidity was very high.

Even though the vertically-challenged Gadson left the line with only one tip-toe touching the track surface on the partially lowered Busa, the result was a very strong 9.76 at an unheard-of nearly 149 MPH. We were all impressed and ready to start changing items for the weekend to let this mutha’ LOOSE! It was also time to get some rest. I AM NOT getting old… I AM NOT getting old…

Saturday started with Scott and Brandi in one of the worst predicaments of their rookie AMA/Prostar season--a record crowd and bike count in conjunction with a wiring problem to the tree (UNDER the track surface) which slowed the morning session to a halt. Typically, the co-owners of Dragbike.com would have allowed an exhibition run or so during the day to showcase a feature bike, but it simply wasn’t in the cards.



We realized that this was the perfect time to remove the mirrors, lower the rear end and replace the factory oil with some Alisyn <<0 (less than zero weight) since we had PLENTY of time to get it done.


2007 MMI Top Technician award winner Jason Gillum using his “take it apart-put it back together” skills as an attempted gearing change was for not. None of the previous Busa gearing components worked any longer.

I decided to enter the bike in Street ET to have a little fun AND redeem myself from the previous night’s horrific pride crusher. After contemplating the previous failure, I decided that I subconsciously held the clutch too long, most likely due to being afraid of what the bike was going to do based upon previous experience with no clutch mod. I remembered having enough time last night to say to myself, “Let go of the clutch, Dummy,” so I decided to relax and do what I know how to do---just let things happen and be sure to get the clutch out of my hand.

Hey look, everybody, I CAN ride once in a while, especially if I’m on a fast bike. The 60 ft. is nothing to brag about, but the progressive numbers do indicate that I got the clutch out and the gas pinned before the 1-2 shift. The rest is all motor as 117/149.55 MPH indicate. I KEEP TRYING to tell everyone this thing is a killer, but putting it into words just doesn’t mean as much as flashing a decent time up on the boards. NOW, the big question…Did I get lucky? Will Richard go much faster? CAN he go much faster? I look at the above ticket and see nearly two tenths quicker E.T. potential for MYSELF. I know Richard will go fast, but I think what was about to happen next shocked everyone.


Photo by Daymon Harrison

Since Richard didn’t get a chance to make a pass during the day, we decided to let him get some seat time in during the evening Grudge Racing program. The Grudge program is a class that AMA/Prostar created to keep street racers off of the streets which is run after Saturday’s last qualifying session. The attraction to street racers is that no times are displayed on the scoreboard, so a grudge bike’s actual times can remain a secret. This is a high priority for a gambling bike since the chances of getting a decent race can plummet the moment your competitors know how fast your bike is. The downfall is that time clocks would not show the results that everyone wanted to see--what a “new” Busa could run. The word had to travel through the pits (and Internet) afterwards.

A high pressure weather system was moving in, and the temperature was cooling off rapidly as the late evening program progressed. NO. The above description is not appropriate; it was just like DISNEYLAND as far as conditions were concerned!


Photo by Matt Polito, www.dragbikephotos.com

That’s right, MINUS (-250) feet was corrected altitude?! There were plenty of ‘old timers’ at Atco, and NO ONE remembered these kinds of numbers ever being measured. The problem for the fast bikes was more horsepower than ever in combination with a cold track so tire spin was at a premium. We did not have this problem with the stock wheelbase Busa on pump gas through the stock exhausts. During the session, we were at as much of a loss as everyone else. We watched Richard leave—very hard—and waited for him to return with the results. It was no surprise to anyone after watching his first pass that stock performance goals were just reset. How much?



The engine tone told the only story on both passes--Richard was fighting torque wheelies on Chronic, even with the stock exhaust and gearing. After conversing with his riding coach, Lil’-Richard’s last-pass goal was to leave the line with a bit more RPM (to gain additional inertia in an attempt to allow the gyroscopic down-force of the crankshaft to help keep the front end on the ground.) Ok, maybe they didn’t know exactly WHY, but they knew WHAT to do. You have GOT to love fast racers!!



The above is not a misprint. 9.32@150.95 MPH. In the left lane was a brand new Busa with a 200+lb rider who purchased the same parts from me on Thursday night at the track after picking up his bike at a dealership earlier in the day.

Just in case you missed the details of what has been done to Chronic thus far:
1. Mirrors were removed
2. Ultra-Mod clutch kit was installed
3. Front end lowering kit was installed, and the front end was strapped
4. Rear lowering links were added (at the lowest position)
5. Alisyn <<0 fully synthetic motor oil was added
6. High Octane pump gas was put in the tank at Road America
AND NOTHING ELSE!

You can see from this ticket that Richard fought the bike a bit which disrupted his 330ft and 660ft time compared to the 9.32 pass. Otherwise the 1000 ft total difference in Air Density from the night before only translated to about .25 MPH difference on the top end.

Photo by Matt Polito, www.dragbikephotos.com

The 2008 Busa is strongest machine in stock trim we have ever tested-period.

On Sunday, I was concentrating on trying to get my best E.T. which I was unable to pull off. Instead, I only ran this:

I believe I can run 9.50’s with the bike set-up as it…Oh well, WHO CARES?!? I’m done with Chronic as it currently sits. Next I will begin to add the bolt-on modifications necessary to get a stock engine bike down the track properly with my no-riding ass in the saddle. Stay tuned for more information as our next battle with the new 2008 Busa will be to reach my own personal milestone of 200 MPH at the Maxton ‘Monster’ Mile. (Click Here for Maxton Results)

Good luck and go FAST!!!
- Brock

Photo by Daymon Harrison

Special thanks to the Brock’s Performance staff: (My Beautiful Rhonda, Jim, EJ, Steve and Clark) for running the place while I’m gone for weeks playing with such a cool new bike!

And to my crew: Jason Gillum and Bryan Snyder, and a very special thanks to Scott Valetti and Brandi of AMA/Prostar and Dragbike.com.

Photo by Daymon Harrison

Photo Credits: Matt Polito, Daymon Harrison, Craig Anderson and Tim Breymaier at Reelvue.

Editors Note: (Okay its a little bit of a ramble, but read it anyway!)

I would just like to put into perspective the efforts that have gone into Hayabusa Chronicles Part 1. It has been a full three weeks since the AMA/Prostar Atco race that this written piece was sent to me to be put together. How long could it take to write this article? What has been Brock doing for 3 weeks?! We are all waiting!!!

Well, we all know Brock has a very busy business to run, so okay he is busy I understand. And okay he has been up in Canada at Hindle developing a new exhaust system for the 2008 Hayabusa! So I can understand taking two weeks maybe.

But wait kids, there is more! He is also getting ready to go to Maxton, to do even more testing! And apparently you can't run around on the border with a motorcycle in your trailer with out all the proper documents. So I think he may have been trapped for a few days in the Canada border, I am not really clear on that.

So anyway, it's 2am and I realize I am missing a few images, so I send an email to Brock hoping that he can get me these images in the morning so that we can get this out to you. Well a few text messages and emails later I have all the materials I need. And here is what he did to get them over to me so you wouldn't have to wait a minute longer!

He pulls over at 2am, unloads the generator, gets out a table, fires up the computer and makes about 5 attempts to get an internet connection. He didn't do this for me kids! He did this for you!

I love Brock, and I hope you do to! Thanks for reading!

- Brandi