IDBL at Budds Creek, Maryland

Angela takes Battle Royale win

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

Terence Angela (near lane) and Rudy Sanzottera in the final round.

The two-week delay caused by Hurricane Joaquin of the Mickey Thompson Tires International Drag Bike League’s 23rd annual DME Racing Fall Nationals and Orient Express Pro Street Battle Royale, may have dropped Maryland International Raceway’s temperatures to bone-chilling, but the pre-Halloween on-track action was blood curdling hot.

It was no surprise that DME’s Terence Angela made the Battle Royale final on his glittering, turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa. After all, Angela won the inaugural Battle Royale two years ago and runner-upped to teammate Joey Gladstone and his DME/Vance & Hines ‘Busa last year. Aruba superstar Angela has an island voodoo spell cast over MDIR’s annual $10,000-to-win Pro Street all-star race.

Caption UnderJoey Gladstone

This year, Angela beat wild-wheeling Gladstone in the semis, while the other semi was bound to produce a final-round shocker no matter which rider won. Not that Jeremy Teasley would be shocking to see in the final, but the HTP Performance turbo ‘Busa he was riding has always been the blunt instrument in their trailer full of sharp, nitrous-huffing beasts.

Teasley’s opponent was an even wilder card. Anyone not following the Midwest’s NHDRO circuit carefully would not know how far Quicktime Racing tuner Rudy Sanzottera has come both on the laptop and at the throttle. Sanzottera has steadily progressed to run low 7.0s at NHDRO’s Finals in September, and ran his first 6-second pass in round 1 of Battle Royale eliminations.