Manufacturers Cup Finals, South Georgia Motorsports Park, Valdosta, Georgia

Words and pictures Ivan Sansom

When the AMA Dragbike series went belly up earlier in the year, many in the two wheeled side of the sport were wondering what was coming next and whether they would have a place to race before the end of the season. A collective of nine companies got together a couple of months ago and decided to organize the Manufacturers Cup Finals at SGMP which, much to their relief, lived up to the billing of the “Largest Motorcycle Drag Race of the Decade”. Brock’s Performance, Fast by Gast, MPS, M.R.E., MTC, Orient Express Racing, PR Factory Store, Schnitz Racing and Star Racing all deserve a major tip of the hat for putting up the funds and the behind the scenes organisation, whilst SGMP provided their usual efficiently run venue, and the racers turned up in droves with over 570 tech cards issued over the weekend.

Thanks to the success of the meeting, the Manufacturers Cup committee announced they would be looking to run another race in the spring, and I wouldn’t bet against another fall visit to Georgia this time next year. And if the racers are looking for something to do during the summer, the European UEM dragbike championship dates would handily fill up any gap in their diaries.

PR Factory Top Fuel

A 6.0 on an early clickoff in Friday’s test session suggested that a weekend solidly in the fives loomed large for Larry McBride. Qualifying didn’t exactly go to script, with tiresmoke off the startline resulting in a 6.715/211 for a lowly fifth on the ladder. McBride also appeared to be out of it in the first round of eliminations when the slick started billowing the white stuff once again and opponent Chris Hand (fourth qualifier with a 6.300/215) was some distance ahead when he clipped the foam block at the top end. Backing the tune-up way down produced a 6.135/233 that was good enough for victory over Russ Sowers was enough advance McBride to the final round but it came at a cost with the clutch pulley shearing off. Quite a few belts with a hammer were required to facilitate the transmission swap and pushed the final back someway beyond schedule. The final was slightly anticlimactic as a heads up race between the quickest inline four fuel bike on the planet (McBride having carded a 5.74 at Valdosta back in 2008) and the phenomenal 6.1s V-Twin of Ray Price and Tommy Grimes when the latter lost traction about 100 yards out, but McBride lit up the scoreboards with a 5.830/232.75 mph blast to set low ET of the meeting and take the $5000 prize money. “I could feel the slick starting to shake and kept saying ‘please don’t go up in smoke’ throughout the first half of the run” said a smiling McBride, having yet again pulled off a win when the odds seemed stacked against him.