Brock’s Performance Products would like to recognize the following AMA Dragbike champions on their 2008 accomplishments

Keith Dennis – SuperSport Champion

Of all the semi-pro classes in AMA Dragbike racing, SuperSport offered one of the best stories of the year. Former champ and grudge racing legend, Keith Dennis, came into the competition on the Quantum Motorsports/Brock’s Performance GSX-R1000 mid-season at his home track in Memphis, Tennessee, and went on a tear, winning every round of competition until he locked up the championship going into the Valdosta finals.

Dennis was shooting for an undefeated season but fell short, losing to Jeremy Teasley in the semifinals. It was a somewhat fitting as Teasley represents the best of the next generation of sportbike drag racers.

“Keith kept it interesting,” said Brock Davidson. “He came in fully expecting to see an undefeated season and he came very close to pulling it off. He had him on the light but then missed a gear against Jeremy – it’s that simple.”

The story of Dennis and the 2008 SuperSport season actually began at the opening event of the season in Valdosta where an unintended entry set the standard for the class – and raised the ire of the competition.

In the off-season, Bryan Snyder of Quantum Motorsports was contracted by Jason and Alex Angela of Aruba to build a SuperSport-spec GSX-R1000 for delivery at Valdosta.

The bike was delivered at the track, but was soon called into action when defending SuperSport champ Kenny Poppell broke the new SuperSport Hayabusa he was debuting. Snyder checked in with the new bike owners, and they gave the OK for Poppell to race it at the event.

Poppell qualified the bike in the second position and ended up runner-up after an uncharacteristically poor light in the final, but eclipsing the national elapsed time record in the process when he broke into the eight-second zone with an 8.99 during eliminations.

Claiming the record would have required the bike to be torn down and the brothers from Aruba declined, as a teardown requires significant time and a costly rebuild considering they had traveled from Aruba to take delivery of the bike.

That got the hackles up from Crow Teasley, father of race finalist Jeremy. Crow questioned the legality of the bike, sarcastically asking: “Who has eight-second SuperSport bikes just lying around?”

“Crow’s comments really got Bryan fired up,” said Brock. “Do we have eight-second SuperSport bikes just lying around? No. But we can put one together really quickly if we need to.”

The boys from Aruba agreed to fund another SuperSport bike, and Davidson tapped Dennis to ride it. Snyder took delivery of the ’08 GSX-R1000 just days before the Memphis event and put the ‘SuperSport mod’ process to it. Dennis had not even seen the bike before he arrived at the Memphis event for Friday testing. (In fact, Dennis called Brock to find out what color the bike was so he could bring the best-coordinated leathers.)

The rest is the stuff of legends and will be talked about for years. Dennis won every round of racing from when he first threw a leg over the bike until arriving at the Valdosta season finals. With semi-pro racers being able to drop points from two events, Dennis was at no disadvantage missing out on the first two events – there was no overtaking him in the points.

With his veteran status and entertaining taunting of his opponents, SuperSport was one of the most-watched (and talked about) classes in the sport.

Dennis won the inaugural championship in the class (then featuring 600cc bikes) back in 1995 and again took the championship in 1998. 2008 showed that he has aged well.

“Keith possesses a confidence that few riders have,” said Brock. “He only has one request: Put him on a bike equal to anybody else, and he will beat them to the finish line.”

And he beat them every time except for one round: the semifinals at Valdosta against Teasley. “Jeremy did a great job this year,” said Brock. “He rides the hell out of every bike he they put him on. My hat is off to him.”

Brock is proud of his company’s tradition in the SuperSport class, which many consider one of the purest forms of racing in the sport.

“SuperSport is the most scrutinized class there is,” said Davidson. “We won the championship with Rickey Gadson in ‘05, with Vince Woska in ’06. We took ’07 off, and we had every intention of taking ‘08 off… until the boys started squawking.”

Nicky Mazeika – Super Street Champion

One of the most impressive set of performances of the season came from Nicky Mazeika and the Playthings Racing GSX-R1000 Super Street Machine. Mazeika won five events in seven final round appearances and set every national record available. He was also the first in the class to break the 200 mph barrier.

“This is really a hell of a story,” said Brock. “The Playthings team won the championship in ‘07 on a Hayabusa with rider Victor Gotay. They come back the next year with a GSX-R1000 and a new rider and dominate. Nick’s job was to jump on this strange bike and race on a national level against guys like Rickey Gadson - who represents the highest level at what we do. What they accomplished was really impressive. You have to hand it to Tim Ulmen, Johnny Turbo and team.”

“There was a lot of talk that the bike was going so fast because Nicky is so light. It’s easy to look at a guy that weighs as much as my leg and say that is why he is going fast. His weight does help Nicky, but he is a hell of a rider. He really grew in to the ride this year.”

Brock’s Performance has supported the Playthings team with their Öhlins drag-specific shock absorber.

“All we help them on is the suspension,” said Brock. “They ran the Hayabusa all year in 2007 with the shock set up how it came out of the box. This year Johnny just made minor adjustments on Nick’s bike.”

“It is really satisfying to work with a team that has their act together,” continued Brock. “They had that bike fine-tuned to perfection. That, combined with Nick’s riding skills, is what got it done.”

Rocky Ward – Street Fighter Champion

Rocky Ward took the Street Fighter championship with two wins during the season. Ward started the season on a stretched ’07 GSX-R1000 and won the opening event at Valdosta, but switched to an ’08 model of the bike soon after.

Throughout the season Ward was locked in a tight points battle with Wayne Robertson and Kenneth Edwards racing the unique Suzuki B-King. Edwards countered Ward’s win at Valdosta with a win at Atlanta and the pair traded wins later in the season with Ward taking the win at Indy and Edwards getting the victory at Norwalk which put him in the points lead going into the Valdosta finals.

When Ward got out of round two and Edwards did not, the championship was set. Ward ended up winning by two points.

“Rocky has been one of our customers for a long time. He had one of our competitor’s pipes on his bike, but he couldn’t run the number. We hassled him until he got another one of ours. Now look at him!” said Brock with a wide grin and a wink.

Jimmy Heisler – Brock’s Performance by Hindle Street ET champion

Jimmy Heisler took the championship in the Brock’s Performance by Hindle Street ET Series with consistent rounds, but without winning an event.

Heisler competed in four classes this season on two different Kawasaki sportbikes. When his ZX-12 broke mid-season, he focused on his trusty ZX-6 in Street ET. He took the 12 to the Street ET final at Bristol against Keith Dennis and then brought the 6 to the semifinal at the Valdosta finals, which locked up the championship.

You cannot mention Jimmy Heisler without talking about his wife Eeman. The couple is one of the only husband and wife racing teams in the sport and run identical ZX-6Rs (called “The Twins”). They also host pit parties at the racing events with Jimmy getting his Cajun on by cooking up a storm and Eeman entertaining the crowd with her humorous (and sometimes touching) parodies on contemporary songs.

“Jimmy and Eeman are examples of people who do this for a love of the sport,” said Brock. “They are really good people. It will be a pleasure to pay him the championship money.”

Brock would also like to congratulate the following supported riders on their 2008 accomplishments

Curtis McDougal – Pro Street #3

Curtis McDougald took Trae Heath’s turbo Hayabusa to the number three plate in very competitive Pro Street category. McDougald won two events in 2008.

‘Trae does this out of his pocket and finished third to much better supported teams,” said Brock. “It’s a real accomplishment. There are some really serious guys that did not finish as well.”

“They did an amazing job,” he continued. “They set the record at 7.20 at the end of 2007 and the mark stuck until the final race of the year. For a budget team to be ahead of the curve like that says that they really have a good sense of what they are doing.”

Wayne Robertson – Street Fighter #3

Wayne Robertson turned some heads in Street Fighter with impressive consistency in the 9.50 index class. Four times in 2008 Robertson was in the top three on the qualifying sheets, earning the #1 spot at Atco.

In addition to his final round appearance at Bristol, Robertson had strong finishes in Atlanta and Indy. He was able to hold off a strong, late-season charge from Thomas Whytas to lock in the #3 plate.

John Fernandez – Real Street #4

Real Street was a wild affair this season with several different riders jumping to the front of the pack until Jeremy Teasley ended all discussion with the final races of the year.

One of those racers was John Fernandez. Fernandez had a slow start but at Bristol he marched into the winner’s circle of the rescheduled Atlanta event. Fernandez then had two-straight number one qualifying performances at Indy and Atco. In all Fernandez qualified in the top 5 at five different events. The Atlanta win combined with a semifinal appearance at Atco helped him take the #4 plate.

Vince Woska – Super Street #8

2008 could only be considered a testing year for Vince Woska. The former SuperSport champ stepped up to the Super Street class last season and the move to a turbocharged machine proved difficult.

The new Hayabusa never really got sorted out and breakage took Woska out of competition on more than one occasion. With all the issues Woska was still able to earn a #8 plate against a total of 33 competitors. If you know anything about the Woska family, know that they will work at it diligently until they get it.

Michael Woska – SuperSport #10

Vince Woska’s younger brother Michael jumped into the SuperSport wars this season after cutting his teeth racing Street ET. The younger Woska had his best events at Indy and Atco and was able to earn a top-10 finish in the point in the hotly-contested class.

Farlie Hall - SuperSport #4

In a class dominated by GSX-R1000’s Farlie Hall had the standout big-bore bike in SuperSport, taking his Kawasaki Team Green supported ZX-14 to a number 4 plate.

Hall came out strong in the early season qualifying number four at Valdosta and then taking the poll at Atlanta, eventually winning the rescheduled event. A semifinal finish at Indy helped keep him in the points hunt.

Joe Franco, Jr. - SuperSport #5, Super Street #5

Second-generation rider Joe Franco, Jr. is among the top of the young riders representing the future of the sport. Joe’s dad is one of the most respected nitrous tuners the sport has ever known.

In 2008 Joe Jr. scored #5 plates in both SuperSport and Super Street – two of the most difficult and competitive class in sportbike drag racing.

Franco was a consistent top-five qualifier in SuperSport and took the top spot at Atco. His best finish of the year was at Memphis where he went to the semifinals.

In Super Street the Franco family fielded the most competitive nitrous entry in the class. A semifinal in Valdosta 1 and a final round appearance in Memphis helped put him in the number 5 spot for the season.

Danny Payton - SuperSport #6

Seasoned observers know that Danny Payton is one to watch in 2009. Peyton screamed out of the in 2008 in SuperSport, qualifying in the top four at the first three races of the season, resulting in one final and two semifinal appearances. While Payton was not able to build on his early-season promise he remained competitive and ended the season with a respectable #6 plate.

Boo Brown - TG-SF-SET-PET

The ubiquitous Boo Brown makes as many laps as anyone, racing in no less than four classes.

His most attention-getting ride is his no-wheelie-bar Top Gas bike where he competes alongside a sea of big-tired bracket bikes. His choice of weapon provides its own challenges, as it can get a little wild in a class where consistency is the key. Still, Brown earned a number 9 plate in the most competitive of index classes.

Running a pretty Hayabusa in pretty new leathers, Brown also scored a number 6 plate in Street Fighter as well as placing #12 and #16 respectively in Street ET and Pro ET.

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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