6th Annual Fall Nationals
October 11-12, 2008 - Summit Motorsports Park

AMA Dragbike Fall Nationals
Words and Photos by Matt Polito, www.dragbikephotos.com

Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH, is the new House of Speed in motorcycle drag racing. Coming into the Fall Nationals, the track had no entries in the AMA Dragbike records books but now it has plenty, most notably in the speed category. The 2008 Fall Nationals at Norwalk will forever be remembered as one of the greatest speed events in the history of the sport

The big number was Korry Hogan’s barrier-busting 250 mph charge in Top Fuel. National records were set in Pro Street, Super Street, Super Sport and Real Street.

The event was marred by two crashes during the Saturday’s pro qualifying action. Jeff Lindeman went down after the nitrous system would not shut off on his Pro Mod bike following a run of 7.14/182. Lindeman suffered a broken wrist and ankle that will require surgery.

In Pro Street Jason Dunnigan laid his Hayabusa down after having “just touched the brakes” following a career-best lap of 7.38 at 200 mph. Dunnigan suffered minor scrapes and bruises.

Although it was not backed up for a record, Korry Hogan’s 250.97 mph blast was historic as it was the first time in history that anyone accelerated from a standing start to 250 mph in a quarter mile on a motorcycle. The run came in the second qualifying session during Hogan’s number one qualifying 5.95 elapsed time.

Norwalk also saw the return to the Top Fuel wars of Geoff Pollard who clocked a 6.17 at 222 mph on the first full pass of his new fueler.

Eight-time champ Larry “Spiderman” McBride seemed a step behind Hogan at the event, managing only cylinder-dropping 6.0 timeslips in qualifying and the first round of eliminations. Meanwhile Hogan ripped off another 5.95 in the opening round of eliminations at a seemingly paltry 238 mph.

The hard work of the McBride camp paid off in the final. After a near dead-even start McBride sprinted to the quick lap of the event at 5.90 seconds at 244 mph. Any hope of the sport’s first side-by-side five second runs were dashed at the green when Hogan’s bike made a hard left into McBride’s lane.

McBride is now the 9-time AMA Dragbike Top Fuel Champion.

Reigning PMFR/Robinson Funnybike champ Keith Lynn has appeared in every final this year and he kept the string alive in Norwalk, gaining his third win of the year. Leading Funnybike qualifying was Sweden’s Rikard Gustafsson. Gustafsson, riding the ex-Korry Hogan 2-time championship machine, turned heads with a 217 mph clocking during Friday testing. Gustafsson ripped a 6.48 in qualifying – one-hundredth off Hogan’s best with the bike and within striking distance of Gary Clark’s 8-year-old all-time mark of 6.45 seconds.

Gustafsson’s didn’t fare as well in eliminations. Twice on Sunday the bike stalled off the line, one time being in the second round with a weird, double stall with Mike Coulson.

Lynn, who qualified second at 6.53, was cracking off 6.70’s as needed in eliminations including in the semifinals against Gustafsson.

In the final Lynn met Mark Paquette, who was in the 6.70 zone as well. Lynn and teammate Roger Gordon turned it up in the final. Lynn got the holeshot and stormed to a 6.58 at a booming 215 mph. Paquette was right with him for a while but shut off and still clocked a 6.78.

Like McBride, Lynn has locked up the defense of his number one plate.

The third time was the charm for David Vantine in Mickey Thompson Pro Modified as veteran got his first win of the season in his third final of the year. TT Jones led qualifying and reigning champ Jack Young with 6.84’s. Eric McKinney, now running all kinds of classes, was third at 6.85. Vantine was fourth.

Racing was - as it sometimes is in Pro Mod – a war of attrition. Vantine stayed above the fray but being the only racer able to put down a string of nothing but 6.80 passes. He took out Young in the final 6.84.to 6.96.

Going to the final Young put a little distance between himself and challenger Mike Phillips. Although Young is leads Phillips by over two rounds, anything can happen. That is why we race.

The Orient Express Pro Street class saw the most 200 mph runs ever at one event and also saw the all-time AMA Dragbike Pro Street speed mark get shattered as event winner Walter Sprout set the new national record to a stunning 206 mph speed.

Mike Slowe took the top qualifying spot with a 7.28 at 200 mph followed by Barry Henson (7.34) Trevor Altman (7.34) and Sprout (7.36). Five riders (Slowe, Jason Dunnigan, Curtis McDougald, Mike Kavos and Frankie Stotz recorded 200 mph passes in qualifying and Kavos temporarily re-set the national record at 202.03 mph.

Slowe took the Saturday night SUZUKI Pro Street Shootout with a final round win over Allen Daniel.

The speed mark got hammered on Sunday with jaw-dropping performances in every round. Five riders came out of round one with 200 mph speeds led by Slowe’s all-time best 203.95.

The new mark lasted about 2 hours as Sprout came back in round two with a 204.88 mph charge.

Looking to back the 204 up for a national record (would have needed a 202.83) Sprout used the 204 as a backup for his next volley, a 206.54.

The 206 came in the semifinals in one of the best side-by-side races in the sport. Sprout got the holeshot over Mike Slowe and inched away from him, 7.28 to 7.29. Both bikes ran over 202 mph. Imagine running 7.29 at 202 on a Pro Street and going back and kicking the trailer.

The other semifinal was almost as entertaining. Barry Henson got a slight holeshot over Curtis McDougald and again, walked away from him, making the final 7.31/203 to 7.33 at 202.

The final was anticlimactic. Henson got the holeshot but burned through the clutch. Sprout got a big lead but hit the shut-off at 1000 feet and coasted through the traps in front of Henson. Final numbers: Sprout 7.41/180, Henson 7.84/153.

With his win, Sprout came within one round of Slowe who is looking to defend his number one plate.

In Help Me Ride Super Street Nicky Mazeika continued his march toward the championship on the Plathings/Exoticycle turbo GSXR 1000.

Mazeika started the weekend qualifying on the pole with a solid 7.73 at 198 mph, outpacing Rickey Gadson at 7.82 and Richard Gadson (who sat out Atco due to an illness to bike owner Chris Jones) at 7.91. The three were the only riders to turn in seven second runs in the class during the event.

Mazeika simply crushed everybody in eliminations. And while his elapsed times were turning on win lights, the speeds he recorded had the competition hanging their heads.

In round two Mazeika made history, recording the first-ever 200 mph pass in the class with a 7.65/200.92 over Sean Henson.

It didn’t stop there. Mazeika took out Richard Gadson in the semis, 7.74 to 7.95 while upping the speed mark to 201.13 mph. In the final, Mazeika got a one-thousandths of a second holeshot over Rickey Gadson and marched away, running 7.72 to Gadson’s 7.93 and further pushing the speed envelope to a stunning 202.18 mph.

Mazeika, who has beat Rickey in four finals this season, has a commanding lead in the points. If he shows up at Valdosta, he virtually locks it up.

In Dragbike.com SuperSport Keith Dennis continued his amazing run remaining undefeated in his bid to claim his first SuperSport championship in 10 years.

Qualifying was led by the record setting 9.00 of Joe Franco, Jr. followed by impressive performances by Dustin Clark (9.02) Farlie Hall (9.06) and the return of Eddie Murphy at 9.09. Dennis was down in the sixth spot at 9.11 but as Dennis says, he does his work on Sunday.

And on Sunday Dennis turned in a masterful performance on his Quantum Motorsports/Brock’s Performance GSX-R 1000. He got the holeshot on every rider he faced (except Hall who redlit) and put distance on them as well. In the final he faced rookie Joey Gladstone, an Orient Express-backed rider appearing in his fist SuperSport final.

Gladstone had a hard road to the final, needing to take out Danny Payton, Franco and Murphy to earn the right to line up against Dennis.

Dennis made it five straight, taking out Gladstone 9.08 to 9.15. Dennis set the national speed record for the class at 165.40 mph. Like Mazeika in Super Street, if Dennis shows up at Valdosta, he collects the number one plate.

Jeremy Teasley continued to distance himself in the APE Real Street class, taking his third race in a row.

Teasley again took the top qualifying position, running a new elapsed time record of 7.18 on his ’08 turbo Busa, challenged only by Todd Schnitz (8.39) on the Jones Performance ZX-14 and the Busa of John Fernandez (8.40).

While Teasley expectedly made the final he faced an unexpected opponent in Richard Gadson. Gadson, riding the Hinds Motorsports ’08 Busa, qualified 9th at 8.71 but ran a couple of 8.50s in the early rounds and then got a holeshot win over Schnitz in the semifinals, 8.70 to Schnitz’ quicker 8.68.

Gadson got a big holeshot against Teasley in the final but Teasley drove around him 8.25 to 8.60.

Teasley holds an all-but-insurmountable points lead over Gilbert Coronado. Coronado did not attend the Fall Nationals and will drop a zero-point race. It is a wash as Teasley did not compete in Atlanta and drops a zero as well.

Sportsman action saw a total of five Ohio riders make the winners circle.

Former Fast by Gast Top Gas champ Glenn Brown took the win over #1 qualifier Canadian Dan Cryderman, 8.20 to 8.21.

Multi-time champ Rob Schenz took the win in the MTC Super Comp class facing the all-world Mike Konopacki in the final. Konopacki hit a redlight foul in the final.

Ken Edwards took his second win this season on his Suzuki B-King, taking the Power Sports Factory Street Fighter class over a redlighting Tom McGowan.

Mark Coulson won the Saturday Dynatek Pro ET putting a holeshot on Adam Konopacki.

Kevin Adams took the Sunday Dynatek Pro ET competition with a .005 light over Tracey Fields.

Mark Piccirillo won the Brock’s Performance Street ET competition when Steve Lynch redlit in the final.

Super Eliminator saw its biggest field in history with 21 entries. Jack Seberger took the final when Thaddeus Neeld timed out on the auto-start tree.

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AMA Dragbike is based in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the Drag Racing division of the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association). AMA Dragbike has evolved of the past 17 years to become the largest motorcycle drag racing sanction in the world. The organization holds records and hosts riders for the fastest (245 mph) and quickest (5.79 sec) motorcycles on asphalt. The 2008, eight-race tour will bring thousands of bikes in 13 different classes down the finest race tracks in the world all to compete for purses in excess of $450,000 with contingency postings of over $1.5M.