Brock’s Performance Products INDY Team Report
Team Brock’s Performance had another strong showing at the AMA Dragbike Pingel Thunder Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis with appearances in the winner’s circle and at the top of the qualifying sheets.
The big story for Team Brock – once again – was the performance of Keith Dennis in Dragbike.com Super Sport. Since the former champ was put into competition at Memphis he has been undefeated and now looks like he is contention for a championship.
Keith Dennis – Super Sport
Early going in Indy it looked like the party was over for Keith Dennis on the Angela family’s Brock’s Performance/Quantum motorsports prepared GSX-R1000. When qualifying was complete on Saturday afternoon Dennis found himself in unfamiliar territory – in the 9th position at 9.27 and barely in the top half of the field.
“We made a few changes in an attempt to make the bike quicker before the race and it backfired in a way,” said Brock. “He struggled with consistency all weekend.”
“The first pass off the trailer on Friday, and Keith runs a 9.16 so we figure we are good to go,” continued Davidson. “On Saturday, we are crawling. Then in the second run, we are worse. We had no idea what the problem could be. It’s a Super Sport bike. It’s basically stock. There is nothing to go wrong. We noticed that the speeds were down so we changed the tire and changed the fuel.”
Saturday night testing during grudge racing turned things right: Dennis ripped off a 9.11, far outpacing the number one qualifying run of Joe Franco at 9.19.
In the first round of eliminations on Sunday, Dennis set the pace, tuning a 9.10. When he wasn’t the quickest on the track he was the better racer on the tree, turning two of the five rounds of competition into holeshot wins. One of which was the final where he hit the best reaction time of the class for the entire event – a .023 – which gave him a big margin over Patrick Cooper’s .170. Cooper, having a career day on his GSXR, ran a great 9.10 in the final but, left too much on the starting line and was beaten by Dennis’ 9.16.
“The bottom line is: It was all Keith winning this race,” said Brock. “All we are doing is providing him a bike that is at least as fast as everyone else. The rest is Keith. They have got to stop him, and they are going to have their hands full.”
When Dennis came into competition at Memphis – the third event of the season – he didn’t look to be a championship contender. Now with three straight and adding in the required two dropped races, he is the odds-on favorite to take his third SuperSport championship and his first in 10 years.
“They are in big trouble,” says Brock of the rest of the SuperSport field. “If Keith keeps riding like he has been, there will be no stopping him.”
Michael Woska - SuperSport
Michael Woska has big riding boots to fill. As the younger brother of former Super Sport champ, Vince Woska, Michael is looking to make a name for himself. Riding his brother’s hand-me-down 2005 SuperSport GSXR, Michael stepped into his own at Indy, qualifying number two to Joe Franco with an identical 9.191. Franco took the top spot by virtue of a faster qualifying speed.
Woska ran a fine 9.11 in the first round of eliminations (the third quickest lap of the round) but ran into the Keith Dennis ‘freight train’ in round two, ending his day.
“Michael had a breakout weekend,” said Brock. “He is 16 years old, running an old 2005 bike that his brother won the championship on, and was bumped out of the number one spot by 5 hundredths of a mile and hour. It doesn’t get any closer.”
We have more work into that SuperSport bike than any other super sport bike we have ever run; it’s fast.
“We are trying to make him forget about the person in the other lane,” continued Brock. “He has to treat every round like it is a qualifying lap. If he can focus on his lane, he will be a threat to the class for a long time.”
Farlie Hall - SuperSport
Farlie Hall continues to well represent the big-bore bikes in SuperSport on his Team Green ZX-14, and in fact was the last SuperSport to win an event before the Keith Dennis onslaught.
Hall struggled during Indy qualifying just as many of the top runners did, and just as many of the top riders did, he came alive in eliminations. After a first-round 9.30, he took out current champ, Kenny Poppell, in round two and then hit a 9.09 – low e.t. of the meet – to take out number one qualifier Joe Franco, Jr. Hall red-lit against Dennis in the semifinals.
“Farlie did a great job,” said Brock. “He has the quickest bike to the 1/8 mile in the class, and he ran the quickest lap of the day. It is a real accomplishment when you consider his weight disadvantage. 1000s have to weigh 550 pounds. Keith weighs 575, and Patrick Cooper weighs 555. Farlie has to weigh 680. That’s over 100 pounds more than the other guys, and he only has about a 10 - 15 horsepower advantage. That, and he also has to be an inch higher in ground clearance. When you put it all together, Farlie is doing a pretty darn good job.”
Brock also noted that all SuperSport semifinalists, Dennis, Cooper and Hall, were on Quantum Motorsports-prepared motorcycles.
John Fernandez - Real Street
John Fernandez was looking to return to the winner’s circle after his big win in Atlanta and he came out of the gate strong in Indy, qualifying number one at 8.502 seconds. Fernandez received an earned bye in round one where he ran a consistent 8.59. He had problems in the second round and slowed to a 9.75 against Johnnie “Turbo” Dobrin. Fernandez will continue to be a threat for the rest of the season.
Curtis McDougald – Pro Street
Curtis McDougald and team owner Trae Heath were arguably the hottest team in Pro Street coming into Indy. With a two-race win streak, Lil’ Curtis was the man to beat.
McDougald fell ill on the Indy weekend but was still a factor. He qualified number two behind the ’08 Velocity Racing Busa of Barry Henson and was in the thick of it in eliminations running a pair of 7.30’s in early rounds. In the semifinals he met current champ Mikey Slowe who, after struggling early, put down a 7.35 against McDougald to put him on the trailer.
McDougald maintains his point lead in the class and still holds the national elapsed time record of 7.20 seconds set last season.
Boo Brown - SET, SF, PET, TG, Q32
Veteran sportbike drag racer Boo Brown has been representing Brock’s Performance in both AMA Dragbike and MIROCK competition in 2008. Brown campaigns a 2008 Hayabusa in Street ET and Street Fighter and has won on both series, taking SET wins in Atlanta, MIR and Rockingham. He is currently 7th in the points in both AMA Dragbike Street ET and Street Fighter.
To step things up a bit Brown runs a no-wheelie-bar “Outlaw”- style GS-based Hayabusa in AMA Dragbike Top Gas and Pro ET as well as MIROCK Quick 32 competition. He is currently ranked 10th nationally in both the Top Gas classes and Quick 32 classes.
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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