Maxton Monster Mile Results
Re-Written by Guy Caputo (Excerpts taken from the ECTA Newsletter)

The first meet of the year for the ECTA went very well and without any real hitches. Except of course for the rain that fell all day Sunday and part of Saturday Morning. Unlike the sport of Dragracing, rain does not cancel an event, it just shortens it. As long as you were allowed to go down the track, your entry money is spent. Land Speed Racing does not allow you to ride against a competitor. Land Speed Racing at Maxton is a 1-mile throttle wide open ride but without the any of the time keeping that is associated with dragracing and you are all by yourself on the track. You run as fast as you can to the finish line at exactly 1 mile. Therefore, you can start in 4th gear if you wanted to as long as you're haulin' ass at the finish line. You are trying to best a MPH class record and if you do so, you become the record holder for that class. There's no purse monies, no contingency monies, not even a photograph of your last run across the finish line. If you break a record, you get an "atta boy" and the bragging rights to that particular record. There are quite a few records to be broken and bested so don't worry you won't find a record to break.

The fastest time of the March meet went to Rich Yancy aboard his very fast Budweiser Red Suzuki Hayabusa. Rich set his first record in the SB/F-3001 at a blistering 218MPH. His next run he told me he upped the boost on his turbo and ran a very impressive 224MPH that set the class record and the top speed of the meet. Rich, you are the man!

As everyone knows by now, John Noonan of JE Pistons in Southern California holds the honors as being the fastest man on a Hayabusa. Recently at El Mirage Dry Lake in Southern California, just north of Los Angeles, John set a new Record of 232MPH on the 1.2-mile Dry lakebed. Word is he went straight and true at 232. Earlier this last year, John ran an impressive 246MPH at the Land Speed Nationals held at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Imagine what John could do with 1 mile of pure concrete traction at his fingertips. Recently I talked with John about doing the Maxton Monster Mile and I tried my best to embarrass him why he hasn't gone 250MPH yet there. Some Land Speed Racers that run both the dirt track at El Mirage and the Salt track at Bonneville feel that Maxton is nothing more than a 1-mile dragrace. I guess the argument could be made to that fact, but Maxton uses the same very stringent rules as both Bonneville and El Mirage and so what if they have a traction advantage because of the 8,000ft concrete runway they use for a track. I say, if your fast on the dirt and salt, you are probably faster on the concrete, but hey, that's just my opinion.

George Crim on his Harley named "Road Kill", set two more records with his best speed of 153+MPH in the AP/F-1350 CLASS.

A new rider, Thomas Cronan aboard his Honda 250cc Rebel (Yes, I said 250 Rebel) running in the M/G-250/4 class, ran an impressive 81+MPH and this young man is destined for racing faster and faster. The Honda Rebel even impressed me for it's top speed without any real aerodynamics to speak of. Outstanding Thomas. Great Job, Well Done!!!

Sidney Conn of the Cooked Goose Racing team was back down with his Moto Guzzi motorcycle and was able to set a fast 151+MPH on his entry. He bested his speed by 10MPH, I didn't know a Moto Guzzi could go that fast!
Terry Cruse ran a screaming 144+MPH on his Harley in the MPS/PBG-1650 record, who ever said Harleys couldn't run fast needs to see these big bad boys first hand for themselves.

Mark Wolniak of Wolniak Racing ran his 1000cc Suzuki to a blistering 177+MPH on an open record. Kathy Henry also of Wolniak Racing ran a best speed of 120+MPH aboard her Harley Sportster. She looked great in her leathers too. I know, I'm a male chauvinist.
The "Don't be Scared" Racing team with Joe Gaudette ran in the APS/BG-750/4 class and set the record to 153+MPH with team member Bergie Frazier, Jr.aboard his ZX12R in the P/P-1650 class running a respectable 181+MPH for the big Kawasaki.

Yours truly was at the meet and ready for bear with the Dragbike.com / Maximum Performance Suzuki Hayabusa. After the rain dried up on Saturday afternoon and the track was ready for the race vehicles, we strapped on a Nitrous Bottle and headed for the starting line. When it was our turn to go down the track, I said my short "God, take care of me" prayer and I was off. I started down the track very aggressive in my shifts and was flying when I hit 4th gear and pressed the Nitrous button. The bike made a whirling noise as the Nitrous flowed to the cylinders and the front end began to rise off the ground. I shifted into 5th and the front end began to lower to meet the concrete when all of a sudden, half way thru 5th gear, the nose of the bike suddenly pushed forward as if I had lost all my power. I tried to shift into 6th very quickly but without success. I tried repeatedly until a couple very short seconds later; I was thru the traps at the finish line. I let off the nitrous button and shut down the motor while attempting to brake the Maxton Monster from who knows how fast. It wasn't until after I collected my time ticket that we realized that we fell short of our goal. We went thru the traps at 199.982MPH while still in 5th gear and decelerating. Hell, I could have farted and gone 200+MPH! After figuring out we melted all 4 sparkplugs into the head, we hung our heads in disgust and packed it up for Toledo. After returning home and tearing down the motor, we found that we burned up the exhaust side of chambers 3 & 4, melted the valves and the seats and wiped out the pistons and the cylinder walls. Nitrous, it's beginning to turn ugly at this moment.
We can only surmise that by stealing fuel from the high-pressure side of the FI system to supply the Nitrous fuel system; we depleted the output pressure of the FI pump causing us to go very lean. The 2nd mistake was on the riders part who should have released the Nitrous button the moment the bike fell on its face. Oh well, that's racing and we will be back for the May 24-25 event. I want the coveted 200+MPH green hat and so far, I am paying dearly for it.

We have since had the Hayabusa Fuel tank modified with a new (separate) Pingel high flow fuel valve to accommodate the Nitrous fuel system while leaving the high pressure Fuel Injection (FI) side alone.

Twin Jugs Racing had a couple of entries in the hotly contested 250cc push rod class. Rosemary Pennell brought her Harley Sprint and set the M/PG 250/4 record at 78+MPH. Debbie Heneman had her 1968 Harley Sprint out for a few shake down cruises. Her entry went 82+MPH on the second run and we are told should do better next time.

The SNART Racing team from Asheville, NC was back at it again with their MPS/PG-1000 class entry and rider Lee Trindall took her to a record 128+MPH. Not bad for the first meet of the year. Don Thigpen was aboard a SNART Racing/Evo Power Harley at a top speed of 120+MPH. They are still working out the bugs and should be back again for better runs in their future.

"Mr. Motorcycle" Scott Guthrie showed up with at least a 7 bike team for the event opener. Riders Jay Barker and Wayne Pollack both set records on their team bikes. Jay was able to set 3 new records aboard his 750cc Suzuki. His fastest pass was 168+MPH in the MPS/F-750 class. Wayne, aboard his GSX1300R Hayabusa using Nitrous and alcohol injection was able to muster up a 205+MPH run. That leaves Scott Guthrie, who for the first time in any event know to man, did not set 1 single record. This man has set over 200 records in various classes and with various vehicles for years and at this event...NADA!

I must tell you the truth, Scott was so busy helping his team mates break records that when he finally got ready to ride his own scoot, the rain took over the event and he was left out in the cold. That's Racing Scott!

The O.F.O.S. team Ken Weaver, traded in his Harley for a Busa and was able to wring out a 174+MPH pass.

There were a ton of other folks who made great rides down the Maxton Monster Mile track so lets give them a hand for breaking these new records.

As you are all probably wondering, what do all those class letters and numbers mean? Let me just start by saying that if you have a motorcycle of any size, shape or style, there is a class you can run it in. Actually to be more correct, there is a record for everyone to try to break. Here is a sampling of the designations of classes:

So, the Dragbike.com / Motorcycle Performance Suzuki Hayabusa is designated MPS/F-3000. Because it has an extended swingarm and a raked front end, it is a Modified Partial Streamlining Frame Class and entered in the 3000cc engine class. I could have also entered it in the 1650 and the 2000 classes as well. The motor is 1397cc so it could not be entered in the 1350 class. The Hayabusa has a ton of fairing material on it so it is always considered a partial streamliner.

This type of racing is not for a cash purse; you don't get plaques or even have your picture taken at each event. If you break a record, you get the bragging rights to say you're the fastest in that class. If you break a record over 200MPH, you get a neat Green hat and T-shirt that says you're a lifetime member of the 200MPH club. So far I think that damn hat and t-shirt is going to cost me around $7,000 after this last motor mishap of mine.

If you ever wondered what happened to all those Drag racers you haven't heard from anymore, you will probably find them at the starting line sitting on their bike waiting for their turn to break a record. I know it's where I'm going to be during the May 24-25 event.
For more information about Land Speed Trials, go to www.ecta-lsr.com And check out their website.

Until Next Time, Safe Racing to All

Guy Caputo can be reached at Guy@Dragbike.com

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