As the season winds down

September was a very busy news month indeed for motorcycle drag racing. In what could be the biggest news for the sport this year, on September 23, 2016, in a joint communiqué from the FIM (Federation International Motorcycles), based in Switzerland and Trakbak Racing Limited of the UK, the world was informed that the creation of a “FIM World Cup Drag Bike” type of series is now underway. Motorcycle drag racers the world over are wondering what exactly does this mean, what are the implications and how will this impact motorcycle drag racing world-wide? The answers to these questions are like the proposed racing series itself; a work in progress. There will be more information to come on this topic in the months ahead.

In NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing, in the Mello Yello Series, going into October Andrew Hines leads all in the championship points race, with his partner, Eddie Krawiec, just 38 points behind him. Star Racing driver Angelle Sampey, is trailing the leader by 52 points in third place. Things are really heating up with just three races remaining in the season.

At the NHRA Dodge Nationals, held Sept. 29-Oct. 2, prior to the first round of eliminations, Eddie Krawiec mentioned to opponent Angelle Sampey, “I’m about to cut your head off and leave it rolling around down there at about the 1,000-foot mark.” During their E-1 paring, true to his word, Eddie delivered a razor sharp .002 reaction time to Angelle’s uncharacteristic .101 reaction time, when the starting line tree lights went green.

Eddie Krawiec (Ron Lewis photo)

Eddie then piloted the Vance & Hines Harley Davidson Pro Stock motorcycle to a winning 6.76 elapsed time at 196 mph, to Angelle’s 6.86 at 193 mph, to eliminate her from competition. What’s really interesting about this was Eddie then mentioned the comment on television during the post-race interview, just after the run. After the race, in the press room, during open questioning by the media, Eddie commented, “Angelle and I exchanged some words in the pits, we had some sparing. I told her what I was going to do to her and I kept to my word.” He added, “It’s about having good friendship and fun, but when we are out there racing, I’m out to get the job done.”

Angelle had this to say about that, during a brief post-race interview “Yes Eddie and I did have a good natured exchange, but it was all in fun.”

In IDBL action, the 2016 International Drag Bike League season ended on Monday, Oct. 10, after a race scheduled for October 7-8-9 ran past midnight due to rain delays. The intrepid Maryland International Raceway track teams coupled with IDBL staff completed the race, despite Mother Nature’s efforts to cause them grief. Friday racing went well, Saturday was a wash out, Sunday racing started late, but racers and staff persevered. This event was exactly how much of the season unfolded for IDBL.