Big Cash, Big Crash, Low ETs at The Rock

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

Big money, track records, a dramatic high speed crash, and quickest-ever side-by-sides were all part of the show when the Mickey Thompson MIROCK Superbike Series rolled into Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway for the 18th annual FBR Shop Summer Sizzler on August 15-17.

Highlighting the bill was the $5000 to win Nitrous Express Pro ET purse on Saturday—MIROCK’s biggest-ever sportsman payout. A whopping 110 entries went mano y mano for the Big Money, courtesy of Rockingham Dragway, Schnitz Racing, the FBR Shop, Nitrous Express, Shinko/WPS, Shutt Electronics, and MTC Engineering.

Veteran MIROCK racer Dale Hamilton seemed particularly poised to take away the big prize, as he’d entered himself riding two separate motorcycles and both reached the semifinals! Both ended up on the same side of the ladder, meaning that Hamilton essentially had a bye to the final at that point. But on the flipside, he was denied the opportunity of putting both bikes in the final and ensuring himself the win.

Meanwhile on the other side of the ladder, unheard-of Virginian Brian Guarino—racing his first MIROCK event ever—also had a bye to the final. Both riders were on streetbikes—Hamilton on a Suzuki Hayabusa and Guarino on an especially inauspicious GSXR. Big man Hamilton left first with a 9.66 dial-in, but Guarino left quicker with an .018 reaction time. Hamilton ran only .014 off of his dial but his .050 light did him in. The guy no one had heard of came in and took away the biggest payout ever away from the East Coast’s toughest bracket racers.

“He’s a good racer,” said Hamilton, gracious in defeat.

How did he pull it off? “I have no idea,” said VMP track regular Guarino, still dazed in the winners circle with his wife, son, and Rockingham Dragway’s Big Check. Guarino had an .017 light in the quarterfinals against dragbike specialist Alan Fields and ran .009 off of his dial for that win. “I’m just so happy I don’t know what to say.”

The Summer Sizzler was a double event for pro classes, with the rained-out Spring Bike Open still in play. The DME turbocharged ‘Busas of champion Joey Gladstone, Jason Dunigan, Terence Angela and Ehren Litten were hoping to make it an all-DME Orient Express Pro Street semi for team boss Dimey Eddinger, but that dream ended in a dramatic way when Litten’s right front fork snapped just before the finishline on his first qualifying pass Saturday. Litten tumbled and slid into Doug Gall’s lane to the right while his bike grinded along the clutch cover hard into the left-side wall. Both Litten and the bike went through the traps separately with a 7.49 at 154 mph—good enough for fifth in Q1!

Litten was a little scraped and bruised but mostly OK. Gall got his bike stopped incredibly quickly and—always a joker—walked up to Litten with hands outstretched, saying “What did you do that for?” Litten’s bike was covered in fork oil and not OK, requiring a thorough going over back at the DME shop in Winston-Salem.