Joey Gladstone

Record, but no win for Gladstone

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

It may have taken a full month to deliver, but Mother Nature and Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway track prep crew laid out a record-setting buffet for Mickey Thompson MIRock Superbike Series racers to feast on in the rain-delayed opening round of the 2013 season. The April 19-21 FBR Shop Spring Bike Open also saw it’s fair share of drama and rising underdogs, as none of the pro class champs made it to the finals, let alone the winners circle.

Three-time Orient Express Pro Street champ Rodney Williford qualified number 1 with a 6.99 and seemed destined for a final round showdown with rival Joey Gladstone of DME Racing. But Williford — who’s trying mightily to be the first Pro Street bike in the 6.80s — wheelied wildly on his turbocharged, purple “Nitrous Bike Eater” Suzuki Hayabusa and was unable to chase down Doug Gall in the other lane.

Doug Gall

That seemed to open the door for Gladstone to gain some valuable, early season points on Williford. Gladstone was on a MPH record-setting tear, hitting 212.33 in qualifying and a whopping 214.89 on raceday. He had a bye to the final and needed only to start his motorcycle and take the tree under power…easy, right? Not so much. Try as they might, the DME crew could not get the black and blue ‘Busa fired.

That handed the win to the unheralded, number 3 qualifier Gall. Through breakage, redlights, and Williford’s struggles, Gall was the last man standing, and standing right smack in the winners circle. The Ohio racer is hitting the entire MIRock Series this season and plans to collect more victory hardware.

DME Real Street champ Johnny “Turbo” Dobrin wasn’t even as fortunate as Williford. A see-saw qualifying battle with Jeremy Teasley saw former champ Teasley pip his rival Dobrin with a way-quicker-than-the-record 7.705. No problem, raceday is another day, right? It turned out the highlight of Dobrin’s race weekend was behind him as he launched his Exoticycle turbo ‘Busa way early in round 1.

“I don’t know why I did that,” Johnny Turbo said about his red-light foul start. “I’d been having terrible lights all weekend, maybe that was on my mind.”

The early out meant more anniversary time for Dobrin and his wife Charisse.