Mickey Thompson Performance Tires MIROCK Superbike Series

MIROCK Scorches Atco’s Quarter Mile

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

New Jersey’s legendary Atco Dragway ranks as one of the world’s spiritual homes of motorcycle drag racing, and the 45th annual Orient Express Motorcycle U.S. Nationals is the nation’s oldest two wheeled, quarter mile event. So when the Mickey Thompson MIROCK Superbike Series rolled into Atco for the Nationals on September 5-7, no one expected anything less than a good-time, East Coast reunion atmosphere and blistering performances. They got both.

Sure, Saturday night’s rain put the kybosh on Top Fuelers spewing header flames high into the night time sky, but since Atco has its own bar and the Big East’s toughest racers had some catching up, bench racing, and pool hustling to do, no one seemed to mind.

One of those living it up was second year Top Fuel racer David Vantine, who has turned the U.S. Nationals into a pit party ever since he first started racing at this, the closest event to his Hamilton, New York home. And this time Vantine gave the faithful what they’d been waiting for—2 out of 3 match race wins against perennial Top Fuel champion Larry “Spiderman” McBride. Larry’s brother Steve McBride has been trying to get some new clutch disks comfortable in the Blue Bike and hasn’t yet found the sweet spot.