Battling Troubles, Teasley Doubles

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

Multi-time motorcycle drag racing champion Jeremy Teasley was not having one of his customary easy weekends—not by a longshot. Looking to win his first Orient Express Pro Street championship, the 21-year-old Ohio native Teasley moved into the seat of Kenny Edwards’ “No Joke” Suzuki Hayabusa. Immediately, the bike started running record numbers but destroying tires while it did so. Edwards took the radical step of changing from the class standard 190 tire to an 18-inch tall, 8.5-inch wide wheel shod with a Continental Attack 240 race tire cradled in a new Roaring Toyz swingarm.

The team brought the new combination to the Honda-Suzuki of Sanford Spring Bike Open, the opening round of the 2012 Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MIRock Superbike Series, the biggest championship in motorcycle drag racing. But in Friday night (March 16) testing, the big tire struggled to handle Rockingham Dragway. By the end of the night, Edwards decided he was switching back to the 190.

But the turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa wasn’t doing much better with the 190. With heavy spring pollen coating everything in sight, the high-powered Pro Street bikes battled for grip. Number-one qualifier was taken by the unheralded Danny Cox with a 7.24 at 201 mph, riding the Hampton Roads Harley-Davidson-sponsored nitrous ‘Busa built and tuned by HTP Performance’s Cecil Towner. The HTP Performance ‘Busa ridden by Hoosier Ryan Schnitz, the first bike ever to run a 6-second quarter mile on a street legal tire, was stuck in fifth and Teasley in sixth.

Two-time defending DME Real Street champ Teasley posted a very rare redlight in round 1 of his title defense in that class. His weekend seemed to be getting worse by the minute. But Pro Street whittled its way down to Teasley and Schnitz in the final. As bikes spun off the line, Teasley grabbed the track and powered to the finish line for the win while Schnitz spun again and sat up on the bike.

That wasn’t the only win for Teasley and bike owner/tuner Edwards, as Jeremy also won FBR Shop 5.60 on Edward’s Suzuki B-King. It’s a hallmark of Teasley’s skill that he’s able to move seamlessly between vastly different kinds of equipment in classes with very different demands. Teasley and the B-King streetbike beat Jason Herron and his GS dragbike on a holeshot in the eighth-mile index class.