Brock’s Performance Products Team Report
Dennis Demoralizes SuperSport
Hall Scores ZX-14 SuperSport Win
Fernandez takes first win in Real Street
The nightmare for AMA Dragbike SuperSport racers continued as class legend Keith Dennis continued his mid-season rampage, scoring his second straight win to go undefeated since entering competition on the Quantum Motorsports/Brock’s Performance GSX-R1000 at Memphis. Dennis won the Bristol final over reigning class champion Kenny Poppell and then hot-lapped the bike back to the lanes to take the win in Street ET.
“Keith was on fire, there is no other way to put it,” stated Davidson.
Dennis “struggled” in qualifying, ending up in the third spot with a 9.31 elapsed time – nearly a tenth of a second off the pace set by Poppell.
“The qualifying performance was all my fault,” said Davidson. “In all my years of drag racing I have never been in air that bad. The corrected altitude was hanging around 4000 feet. Keith made it work. He adjusted his riding style to match the conditions
The bike was down on power so he left harder. It took a minute to figure out what to do with the conditions and tune-up. Once we figured it out he was rolling.”
In eliminations Dennis and Poppell were trading volleys, alternatively scoring low e.t. of each round going into the final.
The final was a classic: the new rising star and recently crowned champion, Poppell, going up against the crafty veteran, one of the true legends of the class, Dennis.
Poppell got the holeshot but Dennis kept his composure, running him down for the win, 9.25 to Poppell’s 9.30.
“Kenny did a phenomenal job,” said Davidson. “He knew what he had to do. To cut a .033 light on a 1000cc bike with stock wheelbase and no wheelie bars is very hard to do. It’s nearly impossible. I have more respect for Kenny than I ever have.”
“Kenny cut a perfect light but he didn’t make a perfect run,” continued Davidson. “Kenny got out on him but Keith didn’t get rattled. He ran the perfect pass. There was no one else in this world that could have won that final.”
Street ET - Bristol
Dennis furthered his prowess by going all the way in Street ET on the SuperSport bike.
We wanted more test laps so we entered the bike in Street ET,” stated Davidson. “Keith started going rounds. I asked him if he wanted to withdraw the bike and save it for SuperSport but he said it didn’t feel like it was slowing down and he kept winning.”
And the road was not easy. Dennis faced and defeated riders like Rocky Ward and both Jeremy and Brandon Teasley en route to his final against Jimmy Heisler.
Dennis held court in the final. He dialed a 9.25 and while Heisler dialed a 9.51, Dennis left before Heisler with a .009 light. Dennis ran a 9.26 on the 9.25 dial as Heisler broke out.
Dennis rode back to the staging lanes following his second win in ten minutes and said in his typical Muhammad Ali-like tone, “Anybody else want an ass-whoopin?!” No one stepped forward.
SuperSport - Atlanta
At Bristol the rained-out eliminations from Atlanta were completed. Brock-backed racer Farlie Hall was one of four racers left in competition and used the opportunity to place a ZX-14 in the winners circle for the first time since the big-bore bikes were allowed to take on the GSX-R1000’s.
Riding a Team Green ZX-14 tuned by Craig Hopkins, Hall took out SuperSport ace Jeremy Teasley in the final. Hall overcame a Teasley holeshot and took the win with a 6.08 in the eighth mile race to Teasley’s 6.25.
“It was good to see him prove that the big bikes can compete,” said Davidson. “Farlie and Craig have been working hard at making that bike go fast.”
With Hall’s win a Brock’s Performance/Quantum Motorsports bike has won three of four events in 2008 and has been represented in every final.
“We are proud of the accomplishment of our supported riders because the level of competition in the class is phenomenal,” said Brock. “We have shown that chassis tuning and riding techniques win races. The ‘tail section tuners’ didn’t fair so well.”
Real Street - Atlanta
When Atlanta competition in Real Street continued at Bristol, John Fernandez had the hot bike. Fernandez had the low e.t. of the two rounds leading up to the final against Eddie Chapman.
“We didn’t start the season with John,” said Brock. “After I watched him at Valdosta I knew he had potential. I wanted him to be our representative in the class.”
“The class is so new there is not a big base of knowledge,” added Brock. “It is a challenge for us but we will step up and find the best solution to the challenge. It is what we do.”
Super Street points leader Nicky Mazieka uses Ohlins suspension specified by Brock’s Performance.
Brock’s Performance supports Bristol winner Curtis McDougald on Trea Heath’s Pro Street 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
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