Brocks Performance Atlanta Team Report
Rickey Gadson and Farlie Hall – Dragbike.com SuperSport
Rickey Gadson, who has been winning motorcycle drag races for three decades (make that four in a couple of years) has never looked better. The Monster Kawasaki rider is on the top of his game and just pulled off his second-straight win in the dragbike.com SuperSport class, once again wining an all-ZX14 final over Farlie Hall.
The interesting point is Gadson didn’t have any semblance of a SuperSport program until a week for before the season when he contacted Brock Davidson – who supported Gadson during his 2005 SuperSport championship.
“Rickey had two brand-new ZX-14s and brought them to us,” said Brock. “We dyno’ed both of them and kept the one that made more horsepower.” The selected bike was brought over to Brock’s partner in speed, Bryan Snyder at Quantum Motorsports, for Snyder’s vaulted “SuperSport mods”
“Bryan is very good at supersporting a bike,” said Brock. “He has become very efficient at it. Rickey’s bike came together quickly because we had most everything on the shelf already. All of the bolt-on components are from our standard ZX-14 new owners package.”
After taking the opening event in Valdosta, Gadson found himself in the 4th qualifying position at Atlanta, running a 9.12. He lowered the boom in round one of eliminations, running quicker than the national record at 9.001 seconds after crewman Jason Gillum found and corrected a problem with the bike.
Jeremy Teasley ran the quick time of round two, which set up a monster, semifinal matchup between Gadson and the next-generation superstar. Gadson got the holeshot over Teasley and ran eight thousandths quicker, advancing to the final for the second time in a row.
“They don’t get much closer than that one,” said Brock. “Rickey did what Rickey does: he finds a way to win.”
In the final Gadson got the holeshot over Hall and hammered the nail with the second-quickest lap of the day to take the event win and extend his points lead.
Brock noted that the rule change that gave the big bore bikes a ground clearance advantage has been well leveraged by Gadson. “Rickey has been hitting 1.48 60 foot times,” said Brock “He is the largest rider in the class. For him to be doing this well is a testament to his riding skill and our tried and true product combinations.”
Speaking of products, the MTC Elmer Trett Nationals was the competition debut of the all-new Brocks Performance CT Series™ full titanium exhaust system. Brock marked the introduction of the new product line by having the “Brock’s Performance girls” Heather and Erin in attendance to sign posters at the midway display.
“We could not be more pleased that a brand-new product made it to the winner’s circle on its very first attempt in AMA Dragbike national event competition,” said Brock. “It makes more horsepower across the board than any other system we have developed for the ZX-14 and the lower profile allowed us to take full advantage of the minimum allowable height for these bikes.”
Lost in the headline of Rickey winning two in a row is Farlie Hall, who has risen to the top ranks of the class with two straight finals. Hall had steadily campaigned a ZX-14 in SuperSport competition and won Atlanta last season.
“Farlie is doing an incredible job,” said Brock. “He had a good season last year and he is hungry this year.”
Brock noted that Hall’s determination, combined with the level of competition in the class could only lead to better performances.
“Reminds me of Rickey and Vince Woska in 2005,” said Brock. “Rickey forces you to get better. Rickey won the Championship in 2005 and Vince won it in 2006 after developing the necessary skills to compete against someone the likes of Rickey who will cut a perfect light and run his quickest ET of the event when the pressure is at its highest .”
As for who Brock is rooting for when Gadson and Hall match up? He’s not saying.
“When our team riders race each other our crew guys show respect for both of them and stand in the center of the track,” he said. “It’s OK because we know that a Brock’s Performance rider is going to win the race. We get to cheer either way.”
Keith Thompson – BST Real Street Winner
Veteran sportbike drag racer Keith Thompson took his first BST Real Street victory at Atlanta, getting by reigning champ Jeremy Teasley in the final to take the lead in the AMA Dragbike championship points battle.
Racing the HTP Performance nitrous GSX-R1000, Thompson was on a roll at the opening event in Valdosta, qualifying in the number two spot and making rounds until he broke following a quarterfinal win over Johnny Dobrin.
At Atlanta Thompson again qualified in the second spot but this time he ran the distance, tuning on the win light with a consistent 8.17 in the final over a wheel-standing Teasley. Brock noted that Thompson was the first win with the new Brock’s Performance patent pending TiWinder™ full titanium sidewinder exhaust (Corey Ballard was the first to make it to a final with the TiWinder™, going to the money round in Valdosta). Thompson’s GSX-R1000 is also equipped with Brock’s Performance BST carbon fiber wheels.
“Keith has become poster boy for new product development,” said Brock. “HTP Performance is one of our satellite development teams. Cecil Towner is doing a great job with Keith and Richard Gadson this year. I expect them to pour it on as the season progresses.”
“They are the logical choice to work with for development purposes,” continued Brock. “They are big into GSX-R1000’s and Hayabusa’s and they race both AMA and MIROCK schedules. Cecil has made great strides in the professionalism of this team. They look good; they have a good presence on the midway. Their display is impressive and clean. Their race bikes are well-prepared and they go fast on the racetrack. For us it is a great fit.”
Stacy Smith – Help Me Ride Super Street Finalist and #1 Qualifier
Stacy Smith is riding one of the most impressive machines of the 2008 season, the PTR turbo GSX-R1000 ridden by Nick Mazeika to the national championship.
Now cloaked in new stealthy black bodywork, the bike is performing as it did last season – securing the top spot in the qualifying sheets.
Smith has taken the pole in two straight races, running a 7.88 in Valdosta and 7.75 in Atlanta. The winner’s circle has proved elusive, however. In Valdosta he broke in round two. Then in Atlanta he went to the final but could not get down the track and lost to two-time winner John Fernandez.
“Stacy uses our Öhlins suspension and he tells us he is very happy with the setup,” said Brock. “He said it makes it easy to go fast. He proves it by the way he is qualifying the bike. A win is just around the corner. Once they get their little problems figured out they are going to be hard to beat.”
Andy Baumbach - Schnitz Street Fighter Winner
Andy Baumbach is one of the most successful sportsman motorcycle drag racers in the history of the sport. He has won national events and national championships in just about every sportsman class there is, and has been doing it for over 20 years.
One thing all those wins have in common is that all came on wheelie bar bikes. Last year Baumbach started running a street Hayabusa and this season he is showing that he has all the skills he needs, wheelie bars or not. He chooses a Brock’s Performance street megaphone exhaust.
Competing in the Schnitz Street Fighter class Baumbach followed up a semifinal finish at Valdosta with a win in Atlanta win a final round win over Andy Lynch. The win put Baumbach in the lead in Street Fighter points.
“Has he ever won a race without bars?” asked Brock. “It is pretty impressive when a racer has been used to always running wheelie bars and in just a few races has such success on a street bike. It is a hard thing to do.”
“Andy talked to me about cutting a light without wheelie bar,” continued Brock. “It is kind of surreal to have a guy who has so many championships to ask me about riding technique. I like to think I helped him. I don’t know if I did but I like to think I did.”
Team Brock’s Performance is supported by the following companies
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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