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Despite a sketchy weather
forecast, the Xtreme Dragbike
Association (XDA) delivered an
exciting round of Motorcycle
Drag Racing to Virginia
Motorsports Park with the 32nd
annual MTC Engineering Summer
Nationals.
Friday night rain took out the
first qualifying session,
however on Saturday, the worst
day forecasted, turned out to be
a clear day of racing. On Sunday
night as we finished our finals,
a storm came in and ended the
event with four classes not
completed. On Friday night after
the rain, Jason Miller and Allen
Carpenter stayed on the track
most of the night drying it off
so racing could still start at
9am sharp, a little rain wasn’t
slowing down this event.
On Sunday with a 100-degree heat
index, 140-degree track temps,
and with 3,700’ of air, we saw a
6.69 at 218mph go up on the
board! No one expected to see
these numbers in the heat that
this event had, but no one was
expecting the track to be as
tight as it was either. Jason
Miller promised unreal track
prep, and he delivered on that
promise.
Orient Express Racing Pro
Street
Winner - Jeremy Teasley
Runner-up - Rodney Williford
#1 Qualifier - Rodney Williford
/ 6.699
With temperatures soaring and
high humidity in the forecast,
many weren’t expecting big
numbers in the Orient Express
Racing Pro Street class. But Pro
Street never seems to
disappoint, and we saw one of
the most exciting rounds of
competition this year, it was
really anyone’s race to win. In
round one of qualifying Jeremy
Teasley had the lead with a
6.77, but then Justin Shakir
took that away from DME with a
6.76 pass, but both finally
conceded to Rodney Williford’s
6.69 pass in the final round of
qualifying.
In the Shakir/Gargiulo rivalry,
these two lined up for each
qualifying round to give Justin
Shakir a 2 to 1 win over Mark
Gargiulo. Surely these two will
rematch in July at the WPGC Bike
Fest because we have been left
the question, who really is the
biggest Gangster?
Jason Dunigan ran a personal
best of 6.752 during Thursday’s
qualifying session; however he
could not duplicate it in
competition and will have to
make another attempt to move up
the GOAT list in July.
Brad Mummert’s Old School GS
could not make it to the event
with some finishing touches not
entirely complete. His rider
Richard Gadson rode Scott
Crawford’s Turbo Hayabusa for
this event to earn points for
the bonus race at the World Cup
Finals Import vs. Domestic event
in November. They qualified with
a 7.00, took out recent winner
Gaige Herrera in round one with
a 6.84, but could not get past
Rodney Williford’s 6.79 in round
two.
Gabe Frederick showed up to the
MTC Summer Nationals after
recently running his personal
best of 6.792. He was able to
improve in qualifying with a
6.724 to give him the number two
qualifying position. He would
make it all the way to the
semi-final where he would take a
loss to Jeremy Teasley.
Darion Payne would also improve
his personal best with a 6.892
pass in round two of
competition, but it would not be
enough to get around Mark
Gargiulo’s 6.837.
With nineteen competitors
showing up for competition, and
everyone running so well in the
heat on a perfectly prepped
track, everyone had a chance for
victory. And when we say
perfect, not one rider in Pro
Street had a wheel spin off the
starting line. As a matter of
fact, no one was hanging out on
the starting line this weekend
for fear of losing their shoes
to the track.
In competition, Rodney Williford
and Jeremy Teasley would battle
the hardest to meet in the final
round. In 2017 the Williford
team locked the DME Racing team
out of the winner’s circle for
the entire season. Rodney
Williford made the fastest pass
of the weekend in round one with
a 6.690; however Williford’s
average ET during eliminations
was only a 6.936 to Teasley’s
average 6.769. Williford took
out, Sydney Marshall, Richard
Gadson, and Justin Shakir on his
way to the final, while Teasley
had to take out Chris Edwards,
teammate Chris Connelly Jr, and
Gabe Frederick. Williford took a
slight starting line advantage
over Teasley but the DME Racing
power held on to the finish line
to earn the win running a 6.791
to his 7.512.
DME Racing and Williford Racing
are now one and one for the year
with XDA, but we don’t see this
being a two-team battle this
year as many others will be out
for blood next month as the Fall
Battle Royale nears. HTP’s new
GSX-R100 entry ridden by Ryan
Schnitz is still progressing and
will be another bike to watch
out for this year.
DME Racing Real Street
Winner - Eddie Chapman
Runner-up - Spencer Claycomb
#1 Qualifier - Spencer Claycomb
/ 7.789
The DME Racing Real Street class
saw a new winner at the MTC
Summer Nationals. Eddie Chapman
who has been racing in Real
Street for eight years finally
got his first win! Chapman led
qualifying for two rounds with a
7.837 while rookie standout
Spencer Claycomb struggled until
he finally overcame his gremlins
and took the number one spot
back with a 7.789 putting Eddie
back in the number two
qualifying spot. The battle
continued into eliminations
until these two met in the final
round for an evenly matched
battle, Chapman and Claycomb cut
.079 and .075 lights
respectively. But Chapman got
the edge at the finish line
running a 7.72 to Claycomb’s
7.76 sending him to his first
Real Street winner’s circle.
But the story behind this win is
what really matters. Only one
week before the event, Chapman
realized his motor was hurt and
wasn’t going to make the event.
He called DME Racing’s Andy
Sawyer to let him know, but
Sawyer told him to get his motor
to the shop and that he would
bring it to the event ready for
him to race. So, Monday morning
the engine was delivered to DME
Racing, and was being
reinstalled in the bike Friday
afternoon at the track! Great
work by the class sponsor and
congratulations to Eddie Chapman
on his first Real Street win!
Will Claycomb and Chapman
continue this battle? Come out
to WPGC Bike Fest to find out.
Real Street is also getting a
rule update that goes into
effect for the next event in
July. Jason Miller who is
dedicated to growing this class
has spoken to many racers and
has decided the following
changes will allow more bikes to
enter the field and be
competitive. And who doesn’t
want an extra inch?
- Nitrous ZX-14 bikes are
getting 1 more inch.
- Nitrous ZX-10 bikes are
getting 2 more inches.
- All Motor 1000 bikes are
getting 2 more inches.
With these changes we are hoping
to see close to twenty bikes at
the WPGC Bike Fest. Click here
to read the complete Real Street
Rules (www.xdaracing.com/rulebook/2018/realstreet.pdf)
HTP Performance Grudge
HTP Performance Grudge was
insane Saturday night with 42
bikes entered along with the
special "Running of the Bulls"
event. The Miller track prep was
so tight that bike owners were
taking their slicks off and
putting street tires on! These
bikes were putting down the
power, and the track was holding
it all the way through the
finish line. We were told by the
Bulls that many of them made
their fastest passes to date,
even in the heat!
The Running of the Bulls
featured three shootouts for
this event: Pro Extreme, Pro
Nitrous, and Pro Liter. And with
Track prep ‘On Lock,’ we watched
some of the best grudge parings
this year. With 18K paid out in
Grudge, it was a good weekend
for some of these guys.
Pro Liter
Winner - Richard Gadson on Dead
Man
Runner-up- Jaques Gaskins on
Soldier of Fortune
In Pro Liter there were three
entries, Lil Charlie Delee on
Airwolf took a loss to Jaques
Gaskins on Soldier of Fortune
while Gadson got the bye. In the
final Richard Gadson on Dead Man
took out the Soldier of Fortune
in a hard-fought win.
Pro Nitrous
Winner - John Fernandez on Under
the Influence
Runner-up - Jeremy Teasley on
Grave Digger
The Pro Nitrous class featured
some of the fastest grudge bikes
around with Trouble Man, Rocket
Science, Hannibal, Yellow
Jacket, Grave Digger, Kingpin,
and Under the Influence. Round
one winners would include Lavarr
Delee on Trouble Man, Ken Grate
on Hannibal, Jeremy Teasley on
Grave Digger, and John Fernandez
on Under the Influence.
In round two Fernandez would
take out Delee while Teasley
would take out Grate on the
other side of the ladder.
In the final John Fernandez on
Under the Influence took off
from the starting line like a
bullet, and while Grave Digger
kept up most of the way, they
just didn’t have the power to
finish the job at the finish
line.
Pro Extreme
Winner - Jeremy Teasley on
Kool-Aid
Runner-up- Chris Moore on Cash
is King
In what was one of the most
looked for finals of the night,
DME Racing’s Kool-Aid and Moore
Mafia’s Cash Is King was what
the crowd was waiting for. Both
bikes left the line
instantaneously, and while
Kool-Aid laid down consistent
power through its pass, Cash is
King struggled to keep the front
wheel down to hand the Sugar
King the win. Some say Cash is
King would have won if he didn’t
wheelie, but the word ‘IF’
doesn’t change the outcome.
Oh Yeaahh, we almost forgot,
Garrett Phillips on Side Bitch
was taken out in round one by
Kool-Aid, these side bitches
never last.
Vance & Hines 4.60
Winner - Richard Gadson
Runner-up - Tim Shelton
#1 Qualifier - Alan Fields /
4.602
Vance & Hines 4.60 Index once
again gave us an action-packed
weekend of 1/8 mile racing. In
five rounds of competition, this
class saw no red lights, and the
average light over five rounds
was a .061 showing how
cut-throat this class is.
Richard Gadson, the hired gun on
the Crusher Motorsports bike was
deadly on the tree every round,
with a .046 being his worst
light of the day. He had his
work cut out for him when he met
Tim Shelton in the final.
Shelton was cutting equally good
lights, and in the final, he put
a .002 light on Gadson’s .019.
However, Gadson had the power to
make it to the finish line first
running a 4.605 to Shelton’s
4.638 sending the Crusher
Motorsports Team to the winner’s
circle.
On Saturday Mike Thyen won the
special 4.60 Big Money Shootout,
a $500 to enter, $4,000 winner
take all race among eight riders
that took place during
qualifying.
The FBR Shop 5.60
#1 Qualifier - Duane Jackson
/ 6.601
The FBR Shop 5.60 class was one
of the four categories that
didn’t get to finish when the
rain came in Sunday night.
Number one qualifier Duane
Jackson took a second-round loss
to Stephen Knight who was one of
the five racers still left in
the class. Boo Brown, Shayne
Proctor, Spencer Claycomb and
Freddy Frazier also still had a
chance for a victory before
mother nature broke loose on the
track. But these sportsmen will
be back in Maryland next month
ready for another attempt at
victory.
Shinko Tires Crazy 8’s
#1 Qualifier - CJ Fair / 8.909
When the rain came in on Sunday
night, the Shinko Tires Crazy
8’s class left several heavy
hitters dismayed over losing the
chance for a win. Jeremy Teasley,
Spencer Claycomb, and Fred Reid
were still standing after the
quarterfinal round. Teasley was
about to get a bye in the
semi-final to ensure himself a
final round finish against
Claycomb or Reid. They will have
to settle for another chance at
a win next month at the WPGC
Bike Fest.
Mickey Thompson Performance
Tires & Wheels Top Sportsman
Winner - Wilson Burkhead
Runner-up - George Shriver
#1 Qualifier – Ryan Bonitatis /
7.603
For the second event in a row,
Ryan Bonitatis took the #1
qualifying position with a 7.603
in Mickey Thompson Performance
Top Sportsman. Bonitatis made it
to round three where he took a
loss to the eventual winner on a
break-out pass. Class newcomer
Michael Daddio took a red-light
loss in the second round to
Robin Procopio ending his hope
for a final round finish. Wilson
Burkhead qualified twenty-fifth
with an 8.329 and proved that
having skill wins over being
fast in any sportsman class.
George Shriver who qualified
sixteenth with an 8.199 took the
starting line advantage over
Burkhead with a .016 to his .059
light. But Shriver would lose
the battle at the finish line on
a breakout pass, sending Wilson
Burkhead and his team to the
winner’s circle for the first
time in Top Sportsman.
MPS Racing Pro ET
Winner - Dale Hamilton
Runner-up - Dana Mack
Dale Hamilton is always a fierce
competitor and this year is no
exception with two wins under
his belt before coming into the
MTC Summer Nationals. In MPS
Racing Pro ET Hamilton proved
you should never back down.
After taking a first-round loss
to Fred Reid, he bought back in
and went on to win 7 rounds of
competition to take the win over
Dana Mack. With that $40 gamble,
Hamilton earned himself a $3,000
payday on Saturday. Hamilton had
also won 4 rounds of competition
on Sunday before the rain came
in and ended the event.
Brock’s Performance Street ET
Winner - Dana Mack
Runner-up - Pablo Gonzalez
In Brock’s Performance Street
ET, Dana Mack was the man to
beat on Saturday. Not only did
Mack win Street ET, but he also
took the runner-up finish in Pro
ET giving him 14 round wins in
two classes. Mack faced off in
the final against Pablo Gonzalez
who was always the first bike in
the lanes when the class was
called. Unfortunately for team
Puerto Rico, Gonzalez cut his
first bad light of the day
against Mack, giving away the
starting line advantage and the
win.
This was Dana Mack’s first
Street ET win, and also his
first-time racing at VMP. On
Sunday Gonzalez went on to win
four rounds of Pro ET before the
rain came in and ended the
event. Both Mack and Gonzalez
will be back in August ready to
battle it out for another win.
For full qualifying and
round-by-round results of the
event, visit
xdaracing.com.
The next stop for the 2018 XDA
season will be back at the
Maryland International Raceway
for the famed 18th annual WPGC
Bike Fest on July 27-29, 2018!
This is the biggest XDA event of
the year! The event will also
feature Live Bands, Bikini
Contest, Sound Competition,
Custom Bike Show, Beer Garden
with Bikini Bartenders and a
vendor midway full of great
deals on motorcycle parts,
accessories and apparel.
Visit
www.XDAracing.com
for event information, class
rules, schedule and more.
The Xtreme Dragbike Association
is an east coast motorcycle drag
racing series with 700+
motorcycle racers in
competition. The XDA features
professional and sportsman
classes along with grudge racing
and a vendor midway. Lifestyle
activities such as bike shows,
bikini contests, DJ and live
bands are also held at select
events. For more info on the XDA,
visit
www.XDAracing.com
or connect with us on Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter and YouTube @xdaracing
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