Turbos Keep it Up in Long Day at MIR

The biggest motorcycle drag racing, stunt and club culture event of the year — the Fast by Gast / WPGC Bike Fest — was suddenly condensed into one long, busy day on July 22 when persistent rains washed out Saturday’s schedule completely. But whenever the Mickey Thompson MIRock Superbike Series is in town, Royce and Jason Miller’s Maryland International Raceway staff keeps it in high gear the whole time, prepping the track at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday and pushing a tick under 500 of the world’s sickest dragbikes down the best racetrack in the business.

Mark Paquette

The mostly dormant turbo versus nitrous battle was reignited when infrequent MIRock competitor Mark Paquette laid down record Mickey Thompson Pro Mod numbers on his badass black turbo Kawasaki. Michigan medical tools sharpener Paquette laid down a string of 4.0s in the eighth-mile class to get to the final against ADRL standout Casey Stemper, who also ran a couple of 4.0s late in the day. But that last one, a 4.08 in the semi against Ryan Schnitz’s 4.19 on the HTP Performance EFI/nitrous/Hayabusa “NJECTED” combination, damaged Stemper’s carbureted/nitrous/GS Suzuki in a flash of flame through the traps.

When Stemper rolled into the staging lanes, there was a resigned air of calm amongst his family crew and a decidedly unthrashed-upon look about his motorcycle. After a short burnout, Stemper staged the bike against Paquette, who’d noticed none of the signs of a wounded opponent. After taking the tree like it mattered, Paquette had the whole track to himself as Stemper shut it off back at the line. It was Paquette’s most vulnerable pass of the day, a 4.107. Paquette set the outright class record at 4.036 and topped his own MPH record with a trap speed of 182.58.

Rodney Williford

Orient Express Pro Street champ Rodney Williford backed up his Rockingham win from the last MIRock race with another one at MIR. Williford ran the only teen in qualifying, taking the pole with a 7.19 at nearly 207 mph. Schnitz and the HTP Performance nitrous Hayabusa Pro Street bike and Joey Gladstone’s MPH record-holding, DME Racing ‘Busa were right behind at 7.226 and 7.228, respectively. After identical lights, Gladstone took out Schnitz in the semi to face Williford in the final.

The two have met each other at the end of the day many times in 2012. This time, Williford came in with a consistent performance advantage and he showed it, running 7.20 in the final vs. Gladstone’s losing 7.35.

“Super Dave” Stewart is normally a quietly consistent DME Racing Real Street competitor, qualifying near the top and hanging in there ‘til the end of the day. But “Super Dave” and his turbocharged ‘Busa were the big noise for much of the day at Bike Fest, qualifying number 1 with a 7.90.