Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MiRock Superbike Series

Ellis claims Teasley bounty at HUGE Bike Fest

By Tim Hailey

Photography by Tim Hailey

event: Fast by Gast WPGC Bike Fest
when: July 17-18, 2010
where: Maryland International Raceway in Budd’s Creek, MD, USA

Rider Chip Ellis and tuner Blake Ritter weren’t intimidated by Jeremy Teasley’s HTP Performance Real Street win streak. The bounty that the Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MiRock Superbike Series levied on Teasley’s head had swelled and Ellis and Ritter planned on taking it back to Indiana with them.

But before the pair could take on Teasley for the win at Maryland International Raceway’s Fast by Gast WPGC Bike Fest—now indisputably the nation’s biggest all-motorcycle drag race—Teasley had some unfinished business to attend to. He still had to win the rain delayed June final over Eddie Murphy. That he did on Saturday, doubling the bounty for anyone that could beat him and his Adams Performance/RS Motorsports Kawasaki ZX14 on Sunday.

No combination rose to that challenge better than multi-time AMA Prostar national champ and NHRA national event winner Ellis, his fellow Vance & Hines employee Ritter, and their Suzuki GSX-R1000. Ellis qualified number 1 and made his way to a semifinal made up entirely of riders who’d ridden for Teasley’s team boss Coby Adams at some point in their careers—Ellis himself, Ryan Schnitz, superstar Rickey Gadson, and current pilot Teasley. Ellis advanced in style, nailing a record 7.83 to beat Schnitz. Teasley beat Gadson, then took the tree against Ellis in the final. But setting the record was no fluke for Ellis, and Ritter had the bike firmly in the 7.80’s at this point. Teasley, running a whole new nitrous system installed by owner/tuner Roger Starrette, was stuck in the .90’s and event promoter Jason Miller handed the cash bounty over to Ellis in the MIR winners circle.

Adams is final round tested after many matches with his rider Teasley, but couldn’t get his own ZX14 to hook up on Saturday and was stuck in the B race on Sunday. He opened the day with an 8.0 but fluctuated as the day wore on. His worst light and ET of the day came in the final against fellow builder/tuner heavyweight Del Flores. But Del and his ‘Busa were hovering around 8.40, and Adams had enough to take the B race.

Although Teasley saw his Real Street streak broken, two Orient Express Pro Street wins on the weekend helped ease the pain. After leaving the tree within .001 of each other, Teasley and his nitrous huffing Kawasaki ZX14 ran 7.31 to pull ahead of number 2 plateholder Rodney Williford for the rain delayed June race win. Rodney’s turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa was on a top end charge but ran out of racetrack.

Sunday’s race saw plenty of Pro Street upsets, with number 1 qualifier Bud Yoder breaking in the water box before his round 2 match with Sean “Skinny” Walsh. Sean carried that break all the way to his first Pro Street final against Teasley, and stepped up by taking the tree and running his quickest lap of the weekend. But that wasn’t enough to keep Teasley from his second Pro Street win of the event.

Steve Smithers drove all the way from Kansas and was determined not to go home empty handed. He beat Ehren Litten in the Pro Street B final after a full, four round raceday.

Pro Comp eighth mile racing for nitrous Pro Mods, turbo Funnybikes and Outlaw Pro Street bikes made its MiRock debut, and Maryland native Ronnie Procopio took all the spoils. Procopio qualified number 1 on his nitrous Pro Mod Suzuki and met up with Canadian Terry Schweigert on a similar combination in the final. Schweigert failed to make the long trip pay off, cutting a poor light, backsliding slightly on ET, and handing Procopio the homecoming win.

Robert “Crossroads” Johnson worked his way through a 52 bike House of Speed Crazy 8’s field to meet Dr. Rick Bunting in the final. Bunting ran .009 off the index, but gave up too much to Johnson’s .012 light at the tree and Johnson took the win.

After subduing a 134 bike Fast By Gast Pro ET field, Shawn Smith beat Kip Green in Saturday’s final. Rodney “They Call Me Mister” Tibbs and his gorgeous old school Kaw 900 took Sunday’s win when Jimmie Miller redlit. Rickey Butler Jr. won the FBR Shop Quick 32 final when Jay Windsor redlit by a scant .001.

Derek Christensen and Brandon Bachmeier bested 133 riders to reach the final in Saturday’s Schnitz Racing Street ET race, and Christensen bested Bachmeier in the final. Dale Hamilton and Glenn Gass fought their way through an even bigger field on Sunday, with Hamilton taking the win.

In all, 7000 watched the Maryland action, which along with the 450+ race entries each day included 47 stunt and show bikes, 13 bikini contestants, live music, and a large vendor display, all at Maryland International Raceway’s fabulous facility.

The Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MiRock Superbike Series races next August 21-22 at the Schnitz Racing Summer Sizzler at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina, USA

Find out more about the MiRock Superbike Series at www.mirockracing.com

Yamaha's GP stars Present Leno with ex-Bostrom R1 Superbike

Stars align for Leno's Garage

Cypress California, July 21, 2010 – The stars of the MotoGP World Championship made their way to California this week. They're headed for Laguna Seca, of course, but on Tuesday you could not have been blamed for thinking the race would be held in Burbank.

The suburb north of LA is normally home to a lot of television and film production and star sightings are commonplace, but on Tuesday it was teeming with motorcycle racers... Fiat Yamaha's championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha riders Ben Spies and Colin Edwards; Yamaha legends Kenny Roberts Sr., Eddie Lawson, and Wayne Rainey – even AMA Superbike championship leader Josh Hayes and Ben Bostrom were all spotted in the nondescript warehouse district near Burbank's Bob Hope Airport – not a typical transfer point on the way to Laguna Seca.

But avid motorcyclists know that Burbank is also the location of Jay Leno's famous 'Big Dog Garage.' Leno, host of the Tonight Show, is a member of the AMA Hall of Fame. His garage (actually a 70,000 sq. ft. complex with several full time employees) houses over 200 motorcycles and cars – ranging from pioneer motorcycles like his 1918 Pope to an 800-horsepower 'Ecojet' car tuned to run on recycled cooking oil. It's definitely a garage and not just a collection, since virtually every vehicle is licensed and insured; Jay rides and drives all of them.

The latest addition to Jay's fleet is fast and exotic, even by his standards – an ex-Eric Bostrom AMA Superbike.

“Last Fall, Jay auctioned off a custom Star V-Max to benefit Bailey's Cafe, a charity that we both support,” said Bob Starr. “We were thrilled with the results of that auction; it benefitted a very worthy cause. But we realized that when he sold his V-Max, it left him without a Yamaha in the garage.”

“We wanted to make sure that Jay had a unique bike, that reflects his uniquely effective role as an ambassador for our sport,” Starr continued. “This R1 Superbike is not something that can be purchased at any price. It is virtually as-ridden by Eric. We put it into storage at the end of the 2008 season. We just asked Chuck Graves to go through it and make sure it was ready to ride again.” The bike was a surprise gift for Leno, who thought he'd only agreed to host a dinner for Yamaha's MotoGP riders.

It was hard to tell who was more star-struck. Jay and his garage staff met a 'who's who' of Yamaha racing history. But even legends like Eddie Lawson do a double-take when they see the scope of Jay's garage and workshop. “There are so many vehicles in here,” said Lawson, “that are just works of art.”

Since all his bikes get ridden, it will be up to garage manager Bernard Juchli to find a place to hang a license plate on this factory superbike. When we asked Bernard how he'd manage to register it, he smiled and replied, “I can't reveal that.”

The job of going through the ultra-trick R1 fell to Team Yamaha's Chuck Graves. Graves made a few concessions to making the bike 'streetable'; swapping the Magneti Marelli ECU for a YEC unit, and the race dash for one with a speedometer. But the engine internals, fork, swingarm and more are pure factory unobtanium. “This bike was built before we homologated parts,” said Graves, “so really, a lot of these components just aren't for sale, at any price.”

In all, over 100 of Yamaha's 'friends and family,' and representatives from Dorna and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, attended the event, which included a great meal prepared by none other than Yamaha-USA's own racing boss Keith McCarty. Tim Collins of Alpinestars presented Jay with a custom set of leathers to match the bike, and Troy Lee added a fantastic custom-painted Arai helmet, which included signatures and elements from the designs used by the legends and MotoGP riders at the dinner.

When he posed for photos with Lorenzo, Spies, and Edwards he quipped, “Yeah, this is great – I love being the slowest guy in the room.”

After dinner, as the event wound down, the riders prepared to travel up the coast to Laguna Seca and Jay – who works at his comedy as hard as Ben Spies works at his cardio fitness – went home to write the next Tonight Show opening monologue. Jay couldn't attend the races, as he was already committed to an event in Detroit this weekend. But it's just a question of time before he takes his R1 up the Rock Store. If you see him there and think, 'Wow, that looks like a genuine factory bike,' it's because that's what it is.”

2011 Suzuki Hayabusa

New Colors for the Big Bird

Suzuki has finally come out of its shell and released pics of its 2011 model year Hayabusa. There wasn’t a 2010 model as Suzuki tried to clear showrooms of leftover 2009 bikes, and the only changes that we can see are the color schemes. Still, they’re pretty different from the ’09 colors, so check ‘em out.

2011 Suzuki Hayabusa:

Transmission Features
The Hayabusa comes with an optimized 6-speed transmission. Oil spray to the 4th, 5th and 6th gears reduce wear and mechanical noise during highway cruising. Suzuki Clutch Assist System (SCAS) serves as back-torque-limiting system for smooth downshifts and also contributes to a light clutch pull.

Engine Features
The Hayabusa is equipped with a 1340cc, in-line, DOHC liquid-cooled engine with 16-valves, and Twin Swirl Combustion Chambers (TSCC).

Lightweight aluminum alloy pistons with a compression ratio of 12.5:1 are used for maximum performance in all conditions. Hard, smooth chrome-nitride Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating on the upper compression and oil control rings on each piston reduces friction while improving cylinder sealing.

Suzuki Composite Electrochemical Material (SCEM) cylinder plating improves heat transfer, durability and ring seal.

Lightweight titanium valves allow the use of light valve springs and high lift while maintaining accurate valve control. Iridium spark plugs are used for high combustion efficiency.

The Hayabusa's engine is fed via Suzuki's SDTV (Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve) fuel injection system with dual 12-hole, fine-spray injectors per cylinder and ram air intake with large volume airbox.

Suzuki Pulsed-secondary AIR-injection (PAIR) system ignites unburned hydrocarbons and reduces carbon monoxide emissions.

S-DMS (Suzuki Drive Mode Selector) allows the rider to choose from three different engine settings depending on riding conditions or rider preferences.

The Hayabusa comes with a large volume 4-2-1-2 exhaust system with a large capacity catalyzer, dual triangular canisters and closed loop system.

A high efficiency curved radiator features dual electric fans controlled by the ECM for increased cooling capacity. The oil cooler has 10 rows cores for increased heat dissipation.

Chassis Features
A lightweight and rigid twin-spar aluminum frame minimizes weight while maintaining high torsional strength.

The Hayabusa has been outfitted with a fully adjustable inverted front fork featuring DLC (Diamond-Like Coating) coated inner tubes. The front suspension offers minimal friction resistance and provides outstanding suspension performance over a variety of riding conditions.

A bridged aluminum alloy swingarm features a cross-sectional shape for increased rigidity, which also helps cope with improved rear tire grip and increased engine output. The Hayabusa's fully adjustable rear shock absorber has a 43mm piston and 14mm rod diameter.

Radial-mount front brake calipers offer maximum braking performance and allows for smaller 310mm front brake rotors resulting in reduced unsprung weight and improved handling. A lightweight single piston rear brake caliper works in conjunction with a 260mm rear brake disc.

3-spoke cast-aluminum-alloy wheels are shod with 120/70ZR17M/C (58W) front and 190/50ZR17M/C (73W) rear radial tires.

Vertically stacked twin headlights provide increased light intensity, improved light distribution and match the elegant flow of the Hayabusa styling.

The Hayabusa's instrument cluster features four analog meters for speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge and water temperature with a S-DMS mode indicator, gear position indicator and adjustable engine-rpm indicator.

Advanced aerodynamics offering superb wind protection both for normal and completely tucked-in seating positions.

The Hayabusa comes with a bright, durable LED taillight, with clear inner lens and red outer lens.