The Brock’s Performance Team keeps growing and made some impressive and noteworthy performances at the AMA Dragbike event in Memphis.
Keith Dennis - Dragbike.com SuperSport
By far the story of the event was the triumphant return to SuperSport of Keith Dennis. Dennis, better known as “Shine”, is a legend in the class, winning the inaugural class championship in 1995 when it was limited to 600 cc bikes and he was running against guys like Rickey Gadson, Michael Phillips and Chris Williams. Dennis again took the championship in 1998 before “retiring” from the championship chase.
Known as one of the best (some would argue THE best) pure rider in sportbike drag racing, Brock has always kept his eye on Dennis, looking to bring him back into competition.
Two weeks before the Memphis event Brock made the call, Asking Dennis if he would be interested in riding a new GSX-R being prepared by Bryan Snyder of Quantum Motorsports.
“We will put you on a bike as fast as anybody else,” said Brock.
“That is all I need,” said Dennis.
The plan was a little slow getting off. Sunday before the event Dennis called Brock to see what color the bike was. Brock said he didn’t know since they didn’t actually have a bike yet.
The next day, Monday, Snyder picked up a new ’08 GSX-R 1000 from Fun For All Motorsports in Elizabethtown, KY, and started on the task of “supersporting” the machine.
Snyder’s expertise in this regard is noteworthy: he prepared the “8 second SuperSport bike just lying around” that class champ Kenny Poppell took to the Valdosta final.
Snyder worked two all-nighters on the bike and 27 dyno miles later the bike was trailered to Memphis.
The weather and new AMA testing rules kept Dennis off the bike. His first lap on it was a 9.14 in Street ET on Saturday morning.
When the dust settled following Saturday’s qualifying Dennis was on top of the pack with a 9.12 at 157 mph. The field was as tight as it has ever been with the top five qualifiers separated by 17 thousandths of a second. During grudge racing Dennis performed some exhibitions for his competitors running three laps between 9.05 and 9.07.
On Sunday he went to work. He ran a 9.09 in a semifinal single before taking out Richard Gadson and Joe Franco, Jr. to make the final. Just like the old days Dennis cut a light on his final round opponent (Danny Payton) and ran low e.t. of the meet at 9.083 to take the win.
“Keith is an example of what it used to be like,” said Brock. “It’s nice to be able to show the new guys what the racing was like back then. Keith is going to qualify number one, he is going to cut a light on every opponent – he likes to leave first as the expense of giving up a little e.t. because he knows if he gets out on them they will make a mistake.”
Brock has stayed deeply involved in SuperSport racing since the early days, supporting Rickey Gadson during his championship season of 2005 and Vince Woska in 2006.
Brock also supports Dennis’s final round opponent in Memphis, Danny Payton.
“Danny did a great job making it to the final,” said Brock. ‘People don’t know him because is a quiet guy. They better take notice because he is really talented. He is starting to make consistently fast passes – the kind that win races.”
Joe Franco, Jr. – Help Me Ride Super Street
During the inception of Super Street some were concerned that turbos were going to dominate the class. A diligent adjustment of the rules – and the skill of some of the best nitrous minds in the country – kept that from happening.
Take Joe Franco, Jr.’s performance at Memphis. Sure Nicky Mazieka took the top qualifying position at 7.85 but Franco was right behind him in the number two position at 7.90.
And when it counted – on raceday – Franco held low e.t. of every round. In fact, Franco was the only racer to run a 7-second run in eliminations going into the final against Richard Gadson. Not only that but Franco ran NOTHING but sevens all day.
Brock supports Franco and goes way back with his father, Joe Sr., the legendary “nitrous guru”.
“Joe Sr. is old school,” said Brock. “He doesn’t have any fancy computer stuff – they are not a big-buck team. Joe tunes the old fashioned way and you can see by the results that it is still a very effective way to get a bike down the race track.”
Joe Jr. made it to the Super Street final where he lost to Richard Gadson on a holeshot. Still, the performance has established him as a frontrunner in the class.
“They made a ground clearance change to the class and we helped them with the Dragshock settings in addition to our ‘Franco modified” shorter exhaust system and clutch components. They struggled a little bit at first but Joe Sr. is so knowledgeable he took the new parts and ran with them. It was really satisfying to see them run as well as they did.”
Not to mention doing it on a Nitrous bike. “I am a nitrous guy,” said Brock. “I never had much love for the hairdryers.”
Phil Stoll – Orient Express Pro Street
Phil Stoll and Ronnie Mitchell struggled at Atlanta, qualifying at the back half of the field and going out in round one – not what you would expect from a bike with the number 2 painted on it.
Working with Brock the team found and fixed an adjustment issue with the rear shock, which brought the bike around. In the first qualifier at Memphis a problem with the shifter mechanism wasn’t found until just before the session and Stoll foot-shifted the bike to a 7.80. Mitchell boldly predicted that they would go to the number one spot in the next session. Stoll responded with a 7.38 to take the pole.
“They didn’t realize there was a problem with the shock because suspension issues are less noticeable at a good tracks,” said Brock. “Once we figured out the problem, BOOM, there he went.”
“Ronnie can make that bike run 200 mph anytime he wants,” Brock continued. “He can throw up MPH better than anyone.”
Stoll was looking to go rounds on Sunday but found himself on the business end of the newly-quick Orient Express bike of Mike Kavos. Kavos had just run a 7.48 in round one and stepped up to a 7.42 against Stoll at a new speed record 201.46 mph.
TEAM BROCK
Jennifer Robertson is running both SuperSport and Street Fighter for Brock's Performance. She qualified number one in Street Fighter in Atlanta.
Farlie Hall is running the only ZX14 in SuperSport. He qualified number one in Atlanta.
Former SuperSport champ Vince Woska is making progress on his Super Street turbo Busa.
John Fernandez is representing Brock's Performance in Real Street on an '08 Hayabusa
Report Prepared by Matt Polito, www.dragbikephotos.com
Davidson owns and operates Brock’s
Performance Products, which specializes in a vast array of performance products
for sport bikes, for racing, and for street applications. For more information
log onto www.brocksperformance.com
BROCK'S PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
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