#NHDRO motorcycle drag racing series pre-race report
event: NHDRO World Finals and Pro Street Shootout
when: September 29-October 1 , 2017
where: Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis, Indiana USA
Pro Street’s Turn for NHDRO Big Money
America’s fastest growing motorcycle drag racing series faces a hectic and action-packed double schedule as staff and racers alike push though a two-race weekend that will decide season champions at the DME Racing / Pro-Stock Inc. World Finals at Brownsburg’s Lucas Oil Raceway. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, also a little $5000-to-win McIntosh/Grayson Machine & Fabrication Pro Street Shootout will be run between the world’s quickest streetbikes on Saturday night.
With eliminations from NHDRO’s August race rained out, Saturday’s qualifying this time around will also be the first raceday of the weekend for all classes.
August’s Pro Street qualifying finished with Richard Gadson leading the field with a 6.82 run in the final round on Ronnie Mitchell’s Detroit-built “Apollonia” turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa. What made Gadson’s achievement most impressive was that it was the team’s first time at a racetrack this year.
Gadson, new 6.66 world record holder Rodney Williford, Louisville winner Justin Doucet, Gateway winner Gabe Frederick, Muncie winner Doug Gall, Quicktime Motorsports’ Rudy Sanzottera, recent Man Cup winner Ehren Litten, Bill DeShong, Alen Danial, multi-class superstar Jeremy Teasley, and many more will finish up their August business during the day on Saturday, race a huge field on Saturday night, then race again on Sunday.
What happens when you take all that Pro Street power (or more), put it in a purpose-built frame, and add a big tire and wheelie bars (or not)? You get HMH Motorsports Pro Open. Ron Maddox finally showed back up to give champion Chris Cutsinger a run for his money back in August, and did just that. Cutsinger is still number one qualifier with a 6.62 at only 193 mph on his turbo ‘Busa, but Maddox rode a stirring 6.73 in a great side-by-side Q3 pass. Let’s hope Brian Lewis, Eric McKinney, and others show up this weekend to ensure some great eliminations in this awesome class.
Fast Time Motorsports boss Jeff Jones is the Quicktime Motorsports/Lindeman Performance Pro Ultra 4.60 number one qualifier with a perfect 4.600. His teammate Chase Morris is number two and has a slim points lead over class sponsor Jeff Lindeman.
The G&G Metal Spinners Top Gas 8.20 index class points are led by Bradley Shellhaas, but Ron Wheatley is number one qualifier with an 8.202. They’ll both still have to deal with Top Gas Killers “Kounselor” Kenny Schwartz, Heather Wagner Baldi, Mike Wagner, and many more.
Stephen Knight is the Millennium Trailers Super Comp number one qualifier, just .001 off the 8.90 index on his no-bar ‘Busa. Two-time dragbike.com BAMF Dustin “Biscuits” Lee is the points leader.
Lee also leads M2.Shocks Crazy 8s points and tied Brandon Teasley for number one qualifier with 8.882s. But Teasley nailed his first and carried number one into eliminations. Crazy 8s is the only class that got a round of eliminations in on Saturday night and—sadly for him— Teasley promptly lost to Tom Cooper, so the 8s are wide open!
Don’t forget NHDRO’s $50 bounty on 8.90 dominator John “Spooky” Markham’s head in Route 21 Street Fighter. Markham has won every Street Fighter final so far this year, but it’s Illinois’ Scott Leonard that’s qualified number one this time around for the 9.50 index class. Will Markham win both this weekend to sweep the whole year?
All of these index racers will also be racing round after round in either MPS Pro ET or Kevin Dennis Insurance Street ET—or both.
Will Kyden Mann spend some of the MPS Pro ET Big Money he won in August to come back and race the Finals? What about Norwalk legend Craig Adams—will we be graced with another visit from The King? Bradley Shellhaas will be there, along with Joe “Big” Deck, Team Shocker’s Ricky Scott Jr., Bobby “The Living Elvis” Brown and more.
Surely August Kevin Dennis Insurance Street ET Big Money winner Mitch Pennington will be back with his true hand-clutch Suzuki GSXR1000. Wes Brown will be after it, along with Ron Arnold, Ben Knight, and many more.
Don’t forget APE/Trac King Grudge with bikes like “Troubleman” Jackson’s H&H Racing-built and tuned “Trouble” ‘Busa, Teasley’s own “The Grinch” Kawasaki ZX14R, MPS bikes “Venom” and “Clean Getaway,” and more.
Brian and Niki Welch can’t wait to welcome everybody back to Indy for NHDRO’s World Finals and Pro Street Shootout—now doubly big and doubly important!
Find out more about the NHDRO at NHDRO Motorcycle Drag Racing Series
NHDRO thanks: McIntosh Grayson Motorsports, Ape Raceparts, Quicktime Motorsports, RPS Manufacturing,
ROUTE 21 Racing Apparel, Millennium Trailers, G & G Metal Spinners, Kevin Dennis Insurance Agency, Mps Racing, DME Racing, HMH Motorsports Coatings, and Pro-Stock Inc.
This report was prepared by @Tim Hailey. Enjoy everything there is to read, see and watch about motorcycle drag racing and more at http://www.eatmyink.com