May 2004
THE STRAITS IN TEXAS
Speed
May 2004 - Rucker Performance Lone Star Nationals
Unlike the sweat-a-thon that usually occurs when the AHDRA circus roll in to Dallas, this year’s temps were cool and comfortable. Ironically, that pleasant weather may have contributed to a high-speed back tire problem, with serious consequences.
Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley
Mike Romine finally advanced from the Screamin’ Eagle Nitro Harley runner-up position he’s firmly held throughout the start of the ’04 season, but his Dallas win was overshadowed by Bill Furr’s serious top-end accident.
Furr started the weekend in good shape, taking #1 qualifier with a 6.448 at 217.02 mph right off the trailer.
“We were two tenths ahead of everyone else and the day looked good for us,” Furr said at the time.
But a serious tire problem was affecting all three manufacturers throughout the Nitro Harley field. “It was pulling the rubber right off the tire right to the cord,” said Romine, who then ran down his team’s tire count for the weekend.
“My bike did two tires, Mike Conner’s Top Fuel bike did two, and the Pro Fuel did one also. We did five tires. Mine was the worst—two inches wide and twelve or fourteen inches around the tire on the last qualifying pass.”
Like many fuel teams, Furr and tuner Rex Harris were swapping tires over the next two qualifying passes. “We stayed number one and we’re excited about the tomorrow,” Furr said Saturday night. “My son Aaron has been crewing with me this weekend and we’ve had a great time. Tonight, we’re going to kick back and relax and think about tomorrow.
Furr started off race day with a bye, running a 6.683 at 203.94. But his tire appeared to fail big-time about 300 feet past the finish line in round 2. Steve Stordeur, who won the first three Nitro Harley races (2 AHDRA, 1 NHRA) of the year, was in the other lane. “I spun the tire several times, so I was several hundred feet behind Bill when he went across the line. I saw something black come off the back of the bike and I thought it was a belt. Then I saw a whole lot of tire pieces coming off. I had to avoid hitting that and the next time I saw Bill he was coming off the back of the bike darn near head and shoulders first. He wasn’t conscious and he couldn’t answer questions while they were working on him, but I heard he was talking to his son on the way to the hospital.”
“Did I win?” and “What were my miles per hour?” were Bill’s questions to Aaron. Unfortunately, he was still asking similar questions nearly a week later, as cranial swelling kept his short term memory out of whack. He is expected to make a full recovery from that injury, as well as a collapsed lung, several broken ribs, a broken finger and serious abrasions.
“When we used to run IHRA we would encounter that every once in a while,” Romine said about the tire issue. “Back then they said it track preparation. This is the same tire we ran at Vegas, Phoenix, and everywhere. I don’t know if it’s the concrete all the way down [the Texas Motorplex track is concrete for the entire quarter mile] and the traction compound they’re using with it. The track was good: we just had a problem with the top end. It may just be the top end was too good.
After Furr’s accident, Top and Pro Fuel classes were limited to eighth-mile passes. “We didn’t have any more fuel problems after we cut back to the eighth mile,” continued Romine. His second-round opponent Chaz O’Neil broke at launch, and Ron Houniet redlit against Romine in the semi. Final-round opponent Mark Revels smoked the tire.
“I have to thank Furr for taking Stordeur out early so I didn’t have to deal with him,” said Romine. “We’ve run good at every race, but Steve’s put us out.”
He also thanked Chromatic, Lucas Oil, Ross Pistons, performance Machine, Romine Racing, Autolite, Mickey Thompson tires and High Gear.
Jims Pro Fuel
The Jims Pro Fuel class was not immune from the tire woes that affected the Nitro Harley’s at Dallas. “Actually, on Saturday, I ran a 6.96 at 202 in the morning and chunked a tire myself,” said Lehman, who nonetheless got quicker in round 2. “At that point we were real solid in the show and experimented. So I ran a .78 in the second round and thought about sitting out the third when Jack (Romine) stepped up and ran that .69 and I said ‘Damn!’
“We hadn’t had a performance outing like that since Norwalk two years ago,” said Lehman, though he wasn’t able to run quicker than Romine in qualifying and had to settle for second. “So I went into the first round looking to pick it up and smoked the tire.” He still was able to get past Fletcher Mitchell. “We went after Mark Conner in the second round and we went all the way through the quarter ‘cause we knew he wasn’t going to back out. Jack smoked the tire in his race in the right lane, but still won the round. So we put him in the right lane and he said, “Yeah? You’re gonna let me have the right lane?”
“But I didn’t know that Jack was gonna do what he did,” said Lehman. What Jack did was redlight. “My bike was movin’ really good through the first half. The holeshot would have been everything in the race.
“I can’t thank my crew enough,” added Lehman, who also won the opening race in Gainesville. “We had a big problem when a lifter went south on Friday, so we had to rebuild the motor. My guy Vose Babcock said, “Man, every time we come to Texas we have to rebuild our motor! But I was real sure on Friday night we were ready to rock on Saturday, and we were.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am. I was really concerned about missing Phoenix, but here I am. I think I’m still 3 points ahead.” And for that, Lehman thanked his own H-D of Palm Beach, VB Cattle Company, and added “I get a great deal of support from the Orangeburg Cycles, from Bill and Rex.”
Kresto Pro Dragster
“We set the eighth- mile record and ran our personal best, so we are happy,” said Scott Truett, despite the fact that we went home with a broken mount and runner-up pay in Kresto Pro Drag at Dallas. Whereas winner Chuck Jones left the track with some uneasy relationships after returning to last year’s consistent combination.
“I guess everybody knows by now that I took the Derringer motor out of my bike,” Jones said. “So I put the motor I had last year back in the bike. I haven’t been able to talk to Johnny (Vickers) much about it ‘cause he’s busy helping Mark Cox. Russ Welch is still working with the Derringer, and I hope I can go back to using it. But I still want to win a championship and it wasn’t going to happen the way it was going.”
Things were going Trent’s way in qualifying. He qualified #1 with a 7.401, then ran Steve Dorn-like numbers in round 1 on race day with a 7.276. “I think there’s more in that motor,” he said. ”I think it’ll run a teen now. It really wasn’t pulling all that hard on the top end; the horsepower is coming all to the eighth mile. Basically, it’s the combination of clutch, gearing, and timing that has allowed us to step up. And the heavier, longer bike is allowing us to put the horsepower down. That was Dale Nungesser’s tune-up on that, so big thanks to Dale.
But Truett’s day started to unravel in the semi. “When I went through the lights and shut the motor off I could tell it didn’t shut down right,” he noted, forcing a no-show in the final. “The rod bearings went out and the bottom end locked up in the final. I don’t think it’s able to withstand the torque that the motor is putting out, so we’re gonna switch to a bushing. And now we’ll be putting the oil pump on there, which we did not have before.”
Jones cracked two pistons on his final round solo pass, even though he was trying to save the equipment. “I ran it to the eighth mile, he stated. “I don’t really know when it happened. I thought I’d save parts but I might have hurt ‘em.
“I’m going to California if we get the bike back together,” said Truett. I think the points will come down to me and Chuck. He’ll be in California, too.”
“Scott’s really running good,” added Jones, who was indeed joining the gold rush to the golden state. “He’s doin’ to me what Steve Dorn did to me last year. I know what they’re doing, and if I have to run the number I’ll have to do it, too.
Jones thanked Cycle-Rama, Peter and Rabin Iaconelli, Dragmasters, Hawaya, and Horney’s Custom Cycles, and added “My whole race team would like to wish Bill Furr a speedy recovery.”
S&S Pro Stock
Former Pro Gasser Rick Maney put Dave Feazell’s old 45-degree-motored bike to good use, taking the Dallas S&S Pro Stock win over Dave Higgins. Maney, who runner-upped to Tom Bradford his first time out with the bike at Vegas last fall, said “I love the Pro Stock bike; it’s much better than the Pro Gas. The learning curve has been about 180 from riding a Pro Gas bike. A Pro Stock bike is very unforgiving. But I’m getting more comfortable every lap and hitting my shift points better.”
Maney blew the bike up on his first qualifying pass at Phoenix and had to put it right back on the trailer. “We hadn’t planned on going to Dallas ‘til that happened,” he said. “I had to pull a lot of favors to get the bike back together in that amount of time.”
Good thing he made the trip. Other than a missed shift on his third qualifying round, every pass at Dallas lowered his personal best all the way to a 7.496 in the final. Dirk Higgins redlit in the other lane. “I looked up and saw the win light and let out. When my crew chief told me we ran a .49, I couldn’t believe it. To run those numbers with the type of air we had down there really astonished me.
“I was real leery of the LED Christmas tree light, so we stepped up and Dirk redlit. It’s an honor to go up against guys like Jon Miller and Dirk Higgins and come out on top. Those guys are top notch.”
“Our motor was going south on top of the redlight,” said Miller. “We had some valve seating issues. We were running about 20-25% leakdown. Our casting is a little porous around the valves, and it works good for about five or six passes, and then we start losing the valve seal. Hopefully we’ll get a new casting before the year’s out.
“When Dave had it, well, it was and still is the fastest 45-degree motor out there,” Miller said about Maney’s mount. “I think we’re just as fast as when we’re running right. But our clutch set-up is way off right now. We’ll have it fixed by Commerce.”
Maney had folks to thank for helping him get his bike fixed by Ennis. “Special thanks to Dave Feazell, Bill Uchartz, Dave Decker, and Jim Nasi,” said Maney, who also thanked sponsors S&S Cycle, Jim NASI Customs (also his employer), Horizon Banks, LA Specialties, Dyna Ignitions, and SS2 Racing.
S&S Pro Gas
John “Jet” Peek returned from a self-imposed exile at his busy Full Throttle Custom Cycles shop in Houston to head upstate and take the S&S Pro Gas win in Dallas. “I bought the shop in May of 2001 but had already started changing points,” said Peek, who runner-upped to Joe Marchant in Pro Gas points that year. “We’d done well enough to hang on. Now I’ve been so busy I can’t get away.”
Peek started slipping in some runs at a local track, but noted, “This year I’d only made one eighth-mile pass on a sick track before going to Dallas.” Still, he ran an 8.052 his first pass off the track at Dallas with his new combination. “We were real happy with that. It even got on the rev limiter twice.” That run held up for #1 in the seven-bike field.
Peek, who beat Lee Hitz on his shovelhead with an 8.02 in the semi, remarked, “My first round on Sunday was an aborted bye run. Then came the final with Brook McCabe. We were sweating tat a little ‘cause he was running good.” McCabe outran #2 qualifier and Phoenix winner Robert Markham in the other semi. “He went out ahead of me and I chased him down and beat him across the finish line. He was out there a long ways.” Turned out there was a reason for that. “Neither of us knew he’d redlighted. I was swearing it ‘cause he was a long ways out there.”
Peek rides a ’96 Bonnie Trent chassis with a 2001, 176- cubic-inch, “Jet” engine spouting two S&S Super D’s on a custom, hand-fabricated manifold. “All throttle, no bottle,” touted Peek, who also touted sponsors Full Throttle Custom Cycles, Rivera/Primo, American Heli-Arc, Custom Automotive Machining, Dan Beavers, Rod Williams, Gypsy Lee, Dave Mackie Engineering, and his 2 blonde crew. “That’s my wife Sandy and her friend Robbi Bradford. Sandy’s my crew chief and tuner, and that doesn’t mean she makes sandwiches. I rank her right up there with Phyllis McCure, Patti Romine, Jackie Hill, and Julie Vancil.
“It was fun being there, hanging out and seeing the guys. But I’ve gotta stay here at the shop and keep track of things. If I’m not here I’m not making any money. “And I hope Bill Furr’s doing good and gets back soon.”
Joker Machine Pro Modified
“I’m really excited about Junior winning,” Travis Lummus said about teammate Junior Pippin’s Joker Machine Pro Modified win over champion Cliff Dwy at Dallas. “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometime,” laughed Pippin. “When it’s your day, it’s your day.”
It was actually Pippin’s weekend, as he was fast out of the box and qualified #1 with a new track record 8.38. “I think I set track records at the last seven Pro Modified races,” said Pippin, who knew for sure that it was at least the last six.
“They had a thing at the track for my good friend Jim McClure,” he said, referring to a special opening ceremony at Dallas for the Top Fuel legend who recently passed away. “So that #1 qualifying spot means more to me than any #1 qualifying spot ever. And to out-qualify the Beast (Dwy) and Darren Mauldin is pretty good.”
Later that day, Pippin worked his way through the field to face Dwy, a West Coast competitor whose Sasquatch Racing team took the championship in ’03, suddenly the underdog, Dwy redlit against Pippin.
“It was the same as what happened two years ago against Mike Lozano,” Dwy remembered. “I did not get in deep enough. When I grabbed a handful of throttle, the light went red before the tree came down. It was actually breaking the rear beam. When that happens it starts the timer. Larry (clutchman Cook) and I ran the incrementals back at the trailer on the computer and it ran an 8.35.” A lot different from the 8.643 that showed on the ticket, along with a -.266 redlight start. “We left handlebar to handlebar, and Junior couldn’t run me down. We were runnin’ down Junior all weekend and were gainin’ on him bit by bit.”
“I had to knock the Beast of the West down a notch or two,” laughed Junior. “I like those guys, though, those guys are great. I was gonna go to Reynolds(Georgia) to the Fun Run, but I went to Dallas instead. They had 8200 people in Reynolds. “That sounds like a good party that Junior missed, but the race for championship will likely keep him and Cliff crisscrossing the country with the AHDRA circuit all spring, summer and fall.
“Baker Drivetrain is now our primary sponsor and they’re giving us the resources to go east and pursue this thing,” said Dwy, who won the reaction time contest again in Dallas. “Junior’s been out west already twice. He came out west to conquer Bigfoot and succeeded.”
Team Sasquatch hopes to be on an all-new mount by the end of the season. “Ryan Evans of TSP is building us a new chassis. Baisley is done with the motor and TSP is picking it up at Bakersfield to build the bike around the motor and tranny.”
“I wanna thank everybody, but first and foremost, thank the good Lord for keeping me around here,” Pippin said. “Last year we started out with a unhealthy motorcycle and an unhealthy rider. Then I got better and we had a healthy rider and an unhealthy motorcycle. Now we have both healthy, and the Beast from the West is gonna have to deal with Junior. If I lose or win I’m havin’ a good time, but I’m havin’ a lot better time when I win.”
Helping Junior win is S&S Cycle, Red Line Oil, Rinehart Racing, Reed Randall Properties, Tim Hunter and Associates, John McGee of Bandit Clutch, engine builder Steve Allstadt, and everyone at the Gene Lummus H-D shop.
Rivera/Primo Street Pro
“Basically, it was the weekend from hell,” said Jordan Cruz. Nonetheless, Cruz persevered and won his first Rivera/Primo Street Pro race at Dallas. “We had problems with that bike from the moment we got there, breaking belts on the primary side.”
Ironically, it was Cruz’s first round opponent, Joe Sternotti, who delivered the solution to Cruz’s Buell woes by coming over and helping with the belts. Sternotti was rewarded for his sportsmanship with nothing but heartache. “My bike had fallen over in the lanes and almost hit his,” reported Cruz. “He said ‘Geeze Jordan, your first bike almost hits mine and now you’re probably gonna beat me.” And he did, though #2 qualifier Sternotti gave it away with a massive -.366 redlight. Still, the performance of his bike was strong enough to earn the praise of the #1 qualifier Travis Lummus.
Despite setting a new MPH record right off the truck, it was Lummus’s bike doing the giving away in the final, backfiring when cranked. “That bent the butterfly valves and it was idling wrong,” reported Lummus. “It tried to pull me through the lights.
“We didn’t get outrun, we got beat,” he continued. “We did a .35, a .26, a .22, a .16, and in the last round we did a 9.91. We had a malfunction in the bike.”
Even after fixing his belt problem and taking the win, Cruz found further woes on the George Bryce built Buell. “We found out after the race the motor was running on half the motor because of a bent intake valve. The bike was built two years ago, when I was very ill and on a form of chemo. At Gainesville, George said he could not believe the bike ran that number after it had sat around for a year. Since then, the bike has never run the way it should have run. That motor has a lot more in it.
Lummus congratulated Cruz, a 20-year veteran boat captain, on his first Street Pro win. “With my recent health issues, I’ve been taking time off to help my wife in her business,” said Cruz who thanked her 7 Seas Communications, Star Racing, and Dragmasters. “They’re the biggest help,” he said of Willie Herschberger’s Florida racing ensemble. “I live in a condominium complex where you can’t even have a pick-up truck, and Willie’s given me carte blanche over at his place, fixing what was wrong.”
Dragmasters Hot Street
Still burning after a 3,000 mile roundtrip last season that resulted in a disqualification for billet cases, John “The Juggler” Burdynsky was out for revenge against a certain Dragmasters Hot Street competitor who he blames for the DQ. “My whole goal was to kick his ass the first chance I got,” said prodigal son Burdynsky. I told him, ‘I’m gonna take my SE bike, the one I’ve won three championships on, put a swingarm on it, blow it up to 87 inches, and you will NEVER beat me again!’”
Burdynski’s boast seemed idle in Gainesville, where he was one round and out. But in Dallas he qualified #1, won the race, set a new 10.358 record and even ran headlong into the .20’s with a 10.248 in the final against redlighting Mike Roberts. “I hope this number doesn’t run anyone off that is working with their Hot Street bike. I want to see the class grow.
I want to thank Kevin Turner of KT cycles for his support over the years. He’s a great friend and the man that tore down the bike for the protest (at Dallas). I’m happy to see the buzzards around my pits waiting to call me a cheater, so I’ll say this once and for all—I’m a true sportsman and I don’t cheat. If I have to cheat to win I’ll never get another sponsor and, more importantly, respect.”
The name of my Buell is Bad Attitude. The guy that built it had a bad attitude, and when I saw the bill for the new bike it was double what was agreed to originally and that will definitely give you a bad attitude.”
In addition to KT Cycles, Burdynski also plugged Brian Nallin of Millenium Cylinders.
Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod
“Finally got our first win,” said four-time Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod runner-up Terry Vaughn, whose task was eased somewhat when #1 qualifier Tripp Nobles still broke his tranny. “We were running really well. We actually set an MPH (139.75) record on Saturday, but Tripp still edged me by about .014, so he got lower qualifier.” Vaughn beat Richard Nallin in a close final.
“If we can ever get this MTC clutch together we’ll really be going fast,” Vaughn declared. “It’s too soft on the launch and then we get out there about 70-80 feet and it wants to wheelie real hard. It’s a crowd pleaser but my cheeks were puckered all weekend.” Vaughn, from Phoenix, just had back surgery on February 16th. “I had a third of one of my discs removed, so I haven’t been on the bike much this year. That’s a big part of our deal. We haven’t gotten enough times down the track to get it dialed in correctly. But we’re getting there, we’re closing the gap.”
His V-Rod sports an 80-inch Wiseco Big Bore kit and cams and that’s really it. We made our own exhaust for it. We were gonna get a Rinehart exhaust but we ran out of money. We’ve got the lightest bike out there, but I’m not sure I really want to tell everybody that.” Works Performance, Cycle Dynamics, Hackenburg Racing, and Sam Terranova. “Sam’s my mentor, parts machinist, mechanic, do-everything, keep-me-straight, make-me-go-fast guy. He’s been drag racing about 30 years, and he’s really helping me get my program together.”
Red Line Oil Super Gas
“The weekend was really good to me right out of the trailer,” said Red Line Oil Super Gas winner Dave Ostrowske. “The bike ran the number with just a couple of adjustments,”
That bike is an ’00 TSP chassis with a 99-inch Sportster engine. “I bought the bike at Bristol last year and spent the winter doing a couple overhauls to get it where it is now. The engine has an S&S set of flywheels, Carillo rods, Redshift cams, Baisly heads, and a Bandit clutch.” Ostrowske won by default when Dale Tyson snipped a .003 redlight, spoiling what has been a dynamite final between two riders nailing bulbs and two bikes running the number. “I want to congratulate Dale,” Ostowske said. “He has his program going in the right direction, with two final rounds in as many races.”
“I feel very fortunate to have won in just my second race in Super Gas after making the move from Supersport last season and building a new bike. I thought it would be a very steep learning curve. However, when you are a part of a team like Team Freedom, it makes it easier to adapt.”
He thanked Dave and Jo Smith of Freedom H-D, Team Freedom Racing, Winning Combination Motorsports, Paul Smith, Mike Harrison, Red Line Oil, Vanson, VP, Zippers Performance, S&S Cycle, Pingel, Uniontown Tire, and “my very patient wife Lori.”
S&S Supersport
Allen Nusbaum is enjoying his retirement by winning races, like the S&S Supersport race he won in Dallas.
Nusbaum received a good deal of help from some of the very folks he ended up beating. He thanked Aaron Possein, G.W. Bass, Mike Fitzgerald, and runner-up Dean Shields. “Double extra thanks for Dean,” said Nusbaum. “He’s a good person, a great gut, and a good friend. I had some electrical problems with the bike when I got there and they all pitched in and helped me. And then I raced them.” He also beat #1 qualifier Wicked Wanda Poff. “All four of them were very close and very good races. I raced four really good racers and I was lucky to beat them.”
In addition to his vanquished opponents, North Carolinian Nusbaum thanked his wife Cindy, Landmark Forestry, and Mountain Air Photographic Services, and offered “get well” wishes to Susie Wevodau and Bill Furr.
Nusbaum rides a Schultz and Shreve-chassied, 88-inch Buell that was built over the winter of 2001. When not racing, he enjoys “ a little bit of fishing, and hopefully I’ll get to play some golf.”
Performance Corner Super Eliminator
“Hell, I hadn’t won a race in so long,” said Donnie Huffman, who won Performance Corner Super Eliminator. But he had mixed feelings about the final, which saw champion Larry Guy throw it away with a redlight. “I hated it. I sure wished he hadn’t redlit ‘cause I would like to have seen what the outcome would’ve been.” But he’ll take the win anyway and love it. “I’m happy for Larry to go to the finals after [his trouble in] Gainesville. He told me he knew he had to cut alight one on me ‘cause he was running right there on the number and he knew I had a faster bike and could play with him on the other end.”
“Huffman won it the hard way, on a bike borrowed from Joe Perry. “I dropped a valve and blew up my ’04 Sportster on Friday,” said Huffman. “I was gonna try to slow up my SE bike for SEP but it got mad at me and blew up, too. So there I was with two broken motorcycles and I had the Super Gas bike left. Then Joe Perry came up to me and offered me his bike to ride. Then Dan DeGood came up and offered me his bike. But Joe offered first.”
So there was Donnie with a strange mount, a full fairinged ’98 S1 Buell. “I used a couple of rabbits to get qualified. I used Chuck Bothe and Charlie Walker to qualify in SEP, and in SE it was faster than the index but easier to slow it down a little bit.” Which is how he beat #1 qualifier Kevin Barber. That and a .007 light.
A big thanks to Joe Perry and Clay Wilsert, H-D Buell of Lakeland, Charlie and Eleanor Walker and Cierra Transportation, Vanson Leathers, VP Fuel,. And Dragmasters.”
Screamin’ Eagle Performance
Dubuque, Iowa H-D Dealer Clay Wilwert scored his first AHDRA win at Dallas on a practically stock ’04 V-Rod. He was supposed to pick up a considerably–not-stock- V-Rod from Star Racing on Thursday before the race, but the bike wasn’t ready. That left him with only his stock V-Rod pit bike to go to Dallas with. Teammate Joe Perry, who was planning to skip Dallas, offered to lend one of his bikes. Wilwert drove to Perry’s home in Tennessee and, since Joe’s bike was going, Clay persuaded him to load up the other bikes and go to Texas.
After driving over 2500 miles in two days, Wilwert came to the races with an attitude that he needed to accomplish something positive to make the trip worthwhile. Getting points in the V-Rod class would be a good thing, and doing well in the Screamin’ Eagle Performance class on Joe’s Buell would also be nice. But when Donnie Huffman blew up two bikes in Friday test and tune, Wilwert and Perry decided to le Huffman have the Buell for the SE and SEP classes that he is chasing points in.
So Joe and Clay knocked few parts off of the pit bike, added a Screamin’ Eagle race tuner, and ran consistent 11.50’s all weekend. While that was only good enough for first-round loser money in V-Rod, Wilwert and the pit bike knocked off AHDRA power couple Charlie (who was #1 qualifier) and Eleanor Walker and reigning Syn 3 ET champ J.P Hendrzak to win SEP. Hendrzak had the better light in the final, but Wilwert put up the better number. And Huffman rode the Buell to the SE win.
Clay thanked sponsors Wilwert’s H-D Buell, Acme Racing, Two Wheel Travel, and Vanson Leathers.
Syn3 ET
Tom Ocasio, fleet manager for the state of New Jersey Department of Corrections, overcame Robert Miler’s .008 light to win the final of Syn3 ET.
Ocasio races a ’99 Buell X1 Lightning with an 88-cubic inch motor built by Simons Performance Center of Pendell, Pennsylvania. “It was running consistent 10.90’s all weekend long,” said Ocasio, who also went to the semifinals of SE.
Ocasio, who first started racing a modified stock car before drag racing motorcycles at Arco Raceway, thanked his crew chief/wife Debra, stepson Anthony Tallarico, and son Thomas, Jr., both members of the crew. He also thanked sponsors Brian’s H-D/ Buell of Langhorne and Monmouth Associated Chiropractic Center of Howell, New Jersey. “That’s the way we get there,” Ocasio said about his sponsors. “A gallon of diesel fuel costs the same whether you’re a pro or a sportsman.”
Shutdown Area
Dallas was bittersweet. Nothing emphasizes that more than the fact that Bill Furr’s accident might have been caused in part by a track too good. The tour moves further west next, not to the streets of Bakersfield, but to legendary Famoso Raceway.
Bill Furr Update
Bill Furr continues impressive improvement recuperating in Orangeburg, SC. A visit to the doctors led to a “continue to take it easy and do what you’re doing” diagnosis and set of instructions Furr stayed away from pain medication Monday morning only to get a dose of the reality of intense pain. Since then, he’s more aggressively reducing pain medication than doctors tell him. But he’s anxious to get back to the shop.
“I went out and looked at the motorcycle today. There’s a lot of damage there.” Furr still has no recollection of the accident or the day at the track. Team members have told him about his passes and his day, but the memory is not there. Perhaps graciously. Though he declares he’ll be racing at AHDRA’s Atlanta event n a few weeks, it is entirely possible he’ll simply be out there coaching someone aboard one of his other bikes.
Orangeburg Cycle Racing staff continues to be overwhelmed with the amount of business to be done without Bill, but stay committed to customer satisfaction. Rex Harris attended an event over the weekend in Florida working with OCR customers preparing for upcoming events.
Furr has ordered new leathers, complete with safety gear, for quickest possible delivery. Stay posted for his first event performance.
November 8, 2006 11:15 AM | send page | Press Releases