Nitrous and Turbos live happily at MIR

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

Despite forecasts for rain and oppressive heat and humidity, a strong Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MiRock Superbike Series field laid down quick runs and put on a thrilling show at Maryland International Raceway’s Fast By Gast Summer Showdown. And the notorious nitrous vs. turbo battle that has raged in drag racing for at least a decade found peaceful coexistence in Sunday’s pro class finals, with two wins going to the bottle and one to the hair dryer.

Ryan Schnitz seemed destined to shatter Orient Express Pro Street records on his Cecil Towner-tuned HTP Performance nitrous Hayabusa. Ryan nailed a 7.06 at 195.51 mph in round 2 of qualifying, with more in it. The bike was spinning on the top end, its RPM's wavering. The nighttime Q3 session seemed to be the right time. The afternoon rain was over, the sky cleared, the temperature plummeted, and the MIR staff prepped the track like nobody's business. It seemed like a perfect time for Ryan to get a distinctive new jacket, but instead the bike launched skyward and the lap was ruined. “I guess I put a little too much in it!” laughed Towner.

And that, pretty much, was the story on raceday too as the ‘Busa failed to show the rock solid stability that led to Saturday’s .06. The day ended with the win, but not the record. Schnitz raced champion Rodney Williford in the final. Williford spun early and shut off, while Schnitz’s problems occurred further down track, taking the win with a 7.51. Ironically, Schnitz’s 7.063 was too quick for his Q1 7.13 to serve as a back-up for the record. “We went too fast!” said Towner.

A DME Real Street win finally went to someone other than Jeremy Teasley and his Adams Performance / RS Motorsports Kawasaki ZX14, as Johnny “Turbo” Dobrin took the first ever MIRock Real Street win for the mechanical power-adder. After ceding the tree to Teasley, Dobrin pulled low Real Street ET of the event to drive around on his Exoticycle Suzuki Hayabusa.