Fast By Gast Superbike Showdown - Spring & Summer Race at MIR

Spring/Summer MIR Recap
By: Jack Korpela

After two long and very competitive days of racing, Maryland International Raceway completed both the Spring and Summer Super Bike Showdowns.

In the Schnitz Outlaw Pro Street category, the sun-scorched, greasy race track prevented riders from posting the 7.30s that were abundant in Rockingham. However Saturday's number-two qualifier, Angie McBride, came remarkably close with a 7.401 in round two of eliminations. After defeating his father in the previous round, Bernard Cannon Jr. took out McBride on a holeshot with a 7.41 to McBride's 7.40.

In Saturday's other semi-final, number-one qualifier, Barry Greene jockeyed his L&W Motorworks Suzuki around Richard "Dimey" Eddinger's 7.60 with a 7.58.

In an all-Suzuki battle of old versus new, Cannon motored his GS to a win over Greene's GSXR with a 7.67 to Greene's 7.74.

On Sunday, current points leader "Fast" Joe Long found his way back to the final after an uncharacteristic red-light in round-two on Saturday. Rusty Johnson collected his first career victory with a 7.58 as Long slowed to a 7.63.

"I'm Happy for Rusty," Long said. "Rusty is one of my customers and we showed everyone that our GSXRs can compete with all these gangsta GSs out here."

In a gung ho Mickey Thompson 60-Inch field of 28 motorcycles loaded with Hayabusas and ZX-12s, Doug Witt took the pole both days with his old school Gixxer. In the final Witt met up with Mike "Anything But" Slowe on his gorgeous 2002 Hayabusa. Before the race Rickey Gadson warned the competition that, after watching a test session at Atco, Slowe was running some low elapsed-times and would be difficult to get by. Gadson's prediction was an accurate one, as Slowe took the upset win over Witt on Saturday with an 8.46 to an 8.58.

After the dust cleared on Sunday's eliminations, the stage was set for a rematch final with Witt and Slowe again emerging as the dominant riders. Witt capitalized on his chance for redemption as he beat Slowe to the stripe with a sizzling 8.34 to Slowe's 8.43

In the Cycle Concepts Heavyweight Hitters class, where the rider must weigh more than 240 pounds and is limited to a 64-Inch wheelbase street bike, Shane Ratliff dominated on Saturday taking the win and setting a new record in the process at 8.794. Ratliff again advanced to the final on Sunday but was defeated by John Vermeulen in a tuner's battle with track conditions much different than before. Vermeulen captured the victory with a 9.02 to Ratliff's 9.18.

Darius Carey was the big money winner on Saturday, cashing in on $3,000 by winning the Quick 32 category and the Superbike runoff.
Two-time Norwalk Halloween Classic winner, Dean Rain of Greensburg, PA, took the win in Sunday's Quick 32, making up for many early-season broken parts.

Johanna White and Matt Suite took top honors in the Superbike class with Alvin York and Lee Freeman taking the checkers in the Street Bike class.

We are now only 3/8 of the way through the Superbike Series and all of the championships are very much still up for grabs. Don't miss the series' next race at Rockingham, NC July 26-27, for the Schnitz Summer Sizzler.

The next MIR race is slated for the first weekend in August.

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