Super Sunday at The Rock
The Lee’s Performance Center Fall Bike Nationals
at Rockingham Dragway
by Tim Hailey

The action at The Rock is nearly 24/7, as Saturday night’s grudge racing broke off somewhere between 1:30 and 2am. The grudge race highlight was a 4.7 stack race between Johnny Locklear and Talk-A-Lot on a long (72 inches?), black ‘Busa. Talk-A-Lot reduced Johnny’s Airtime by taking the win. But more about that in a future Stacks article.

Click here to view a clip of the Midnight Motion Video

Velocity Racing World’s Fastest Streetbikes

Taking their sponsorship battle to the track, race sponsor Lee Shierts knocked Velocity Racing World’s Fastest Streetbikes class sponsor Barry Henson down to #2 qualifier in the morning’s session. Henson improved with a 7.868, not good enough for Shierts’ 7.794. But Lee redlit in the semi and Henson scored the win, the championship (his second), and the series record with a 7.66 in the final against Super Dave Stewart.

Barry won the last 3 Prostar races, including both the MRE Sunshine Nationals and the World Finals in Gainesville just the week before the race at The Rock. He ran a 7.47 in practice at G-ville and consistent 7.50’s throughout the weekend there. Were his Gainesville gains applicable to Rockingham? “I applied a little bit, but actually (what I learned in Gainesville) set me off in a bit of a tailspin,” said Henson. “This track was awesome, but not quite as good as Gainesville. We reduced the kill-time on our air shifter to almost nothing at Gainesville, but we had a little slippage here so I had to open it up a bit. My bike wouldn’t shift on my first two qualifying passes.”

Henson thanked his brother Frankie, wife Stephanie, and kids Sean and Troy. Stewart thanked Tom Cafolla, who gave special thanks to Coby Adams.

“I thought I had him all the way to the eighth mile,” said the braid-shorn Stewart. “After that, that Velocity turbo just caught up with us.” It was Stewart’s second final in the series this year, and he went to the finals at the Prostar World Finals, also. “All against Barry,” added Stewart. “He shut us out every time. We sent him home in Indy, though.”

Schnitz Racing Outlaw Pro Street

Neither Chris Moore nor Matt Smith improved on Saturday’s qualifying best as the top positions in Schnitz Racing Outlaw Pro Street remained unchanged. Angie McBride’s 7.288 lap bettered Saturday’s 7.301, but still kept her in third.

Barry Green, qualified 5th, introduced himself to me on Saturday and asked “What do I have to do to get written about?”

“Win the race,” I replied.

And there he was Sunday night in the winner’s circle. “Remember me?” Green asked. “You told me to win, so I did.” Indeed, Green outran Moore in their semifinal match-up, right before Smith ran a monster 7.16 against repeat class champion Joe Long in the other semi.

But against Green, Smith’s Red Line Oil mount sat at the line for an interminable period while the greenlight shone and Green blazed to a 7.187. “I think something happened to the clutch,” Smith said while removing the clutch cover immediately following the race. “I’ve held it on the 2-step a lot longer than that before without that happening.” Then the clutch cover was off and the problem apparent. “The spring backed out on the slider. Guess I’ll start checking stuff a little closer.”

Green had started the weekend with Rump Shaker, his big motor, installed, but switched to his small motor known as Johnny Boy. “The track couldn’t hold Rump Shaker, but Johnny did the job,” said Green, a furniture store manager and real estate developer from Hinesville, Georgia. Green also works on bikes out of his own Barry’s Speed Shop. “I was the first guy in the .20’s on an Outlaw Pro Street bike, at MIR, and the second in the teens right after Matt Smith,” said Green, who thanked L&W Motorworks.

Mickey Thompson 60 Inch Class

Doug Witt’s 8.131 edged up on John Flood’s monster 8.108 record pass of Saturday, but Flood remained #1 for the start of eliminations. Points leader and champ-to-be Mike Slowe fell back a spot to #6. Was Slowe playing it safe or just not putting it all together this weekend? “No, we’re trying, believe me,” said Gary Kramer, helping out with Slowe’s Cycle Shop bike.

When Slowe beat Witt in the semi, a huge roar went up from the crowd gathered around Slowe’s lane. “We got a blown head gasket,” said fellow Philly racer Munir Ali. “We didn’t expect to win that one.”

Chip Ellis was also surprised by how far he was going on the Adams Performance ‘Busa Buster ZX12R. “We haven’t had a chance to work on our 60 inch bike,” Ellis said midday on raceday. “I wasn’t riding it very good and Ryan (Schnitz) had to give me a pep talk. Last night I was riding the ZX10 (the new Kawasaki; with a swingarm added and gearing modified, Chip ran a best of 9.08) in Street ET and the clutch started to go away. So I took the 60 inch bike out and ran a .22. An 8.20 isn’t too bad.”

The ZX12R had been on Coby Adams’ and Chip’s shelf for a year. Chip made the first pass on it in all that time at Farmington just before they took the bike to Gainesville. And here they were, taking Flood’s Orient Express ‘Busa out 8.204-8.234 in the semi after a hard, fast launch by Ellis. Then came Slowe, who just didn’t have the ‘Busa at this point to run with the ZX12. “I think it’s really good that Kawasaki won this ‘cause it shows that ZX12’s CAN compete with the Hayabusa and old school Gixxers. We just came out here to have some fun and we had a LOT of fun.

“I gotta thank Ryan for the pep talk and Coby, of course, for giving me a badass bike. And Schnitz Racing, Muzzy’s, MTC, and dragbike.com.” Three pro finalists at The Rock were Adams Performance bikes.

Heavy Hitters Fat Man Class

Fellow Wolverine Shane Ratliff knocked Ronnie Mitchell off the #1 qualifying Heavy Hitters spot with an 8.690 lap at 164.01 mph. John Vermeulen made it a Michigan hat trick by qualifying #3, as blue and maize ruled the Big Boy World. Just ask any Buckeye.

Ratliff and Mitchell both went down in the second round. It was Vermeulen who made good in the end, beating Ehren Litten for all the marbles, the win and the championship, in the final. Litten lit a way off redlight and Vermeulen cruised down the track, standing on the footpegs and pumping his fists in the air.

But even a win and a championship paled in comparison to the rest of Vermeulen’s week. Johnny skipped the Prostar race in Gainesville to get married on a Disney cruise with new wife Christine and son Anthony.
Vermeulen was in the first 4 Heavy Weight finals this year, taking 2 of those 4. In all he won 3 races and qualified #1 twice. John thanked MIR and The Rock for putting on the series, Adams Performance, Schnitz Racing, and Jeff Linderman.

Honda-Suzuki of Sanford 5.60 Heads Up

John P. Bryan’s 5.602 on an ’83 Suzuki edged Devon Perkins’ 5.603 on a ’77 KZ1000, as the Old School ruled qualifying for the 5.60 index class. Tim Hill’s 5.605 was good enough for third.

But when all was said and done, 19th qualifier Alan Fields and his KZ1425, 10 inch tire, Super Comp dragbike was the last combination standing. The Climax, North Carolina fireman has been in every final this year at The Rock. “I can’t even believe that,” said former Rockingham track champion Alan, who thanked raceworks.com.

FBR Shop Quick 8

Legion of Doom racer and EatMyInk video customer Robert Hunnicutt, Jr., of Waldorf took out Glen Burnie’s Glen Bond in an all-Maryland FBR Shop Quick 8 final.

Nitrous Express Pro ET

Suitland, Maryland’s Tyrone Perry ran a 9.646 on a 9.64 dail-in to beat trailer theft victim Kevin Adams, who ran an 8.899 on an 8.92 dial in Sunday’s Nitrous Express Pro ET final. Saturday’s winner was Midlothian, Virginia’s Jeff Underwood. He ran an 8.880 on an 8.83 dail-in to beat Baltimore’s Louis Green, who went 10.296 on a 10.31 dail. “The littlest bike out there was holdin’ ‘em up,” Green said about his Blackbird.

Dragbike.com Street ET

Erick Norton of LaGrange, where they have a lotta nice girls, went 10.115 on a 10.10 dial-in to beat Covington, Georgia’s Patrick Williams (10.377 on a 10.310) in Sunday’s dragbike.com Street ET final. Saturday’s winner was Brunswick, Ohio’s Kevin Adams, who put Friday’s trailer theft behind him and won some money to offset brother Craig’s Top Gas bike loss. Kevin beat West Columbia, South Carolina’s Andy Lynch, who went 10.121 on a 10.05 dial.

Tim Hailey can be reached at timhailey@earthlink.net
You can purchase his videos “No-Bar Mix One” and “Wheelie Bar Mix One” at www.eatmyink.com