On Saturday, Sept. 23, Niki Taube Zakrzewski became the first female motorcycle drag racer to break the 200-mph barrier.

 

During ManCup competition at Rockingham Dragway, “Niki Zak”, who comes from Sydney, Australia, drove her Suzuki into the record books with a 6.51 at 200.65 mph.

 

She began motorcycle drag racing in 2013 and advanced to the professional ranks in 2015 in the Pro Open class.

 

“The ManCup congratulates Niki on her tremendous accomplishments,” said Jay Regan of the ManCup sanction. “To be the first female rider to crack the 200-mph barrier is truly and amazing accomplishment. For her to do it here with the ManCup makes it all the more special for us, as we have literally watched her performance improve nearly on an event-to-event basis over these three years she’s race with us.”

 

Until Saturday, the “fastest woman on two wheels” title belonged to NHRA Pro Stock Bike racer and former world champion Angelle Sampey of Mathews, LA, who attained a speed of 199.76 mph on July 31, 2016, at Sonoma Raceway in California.

 

Little more than 24 hours later, Niki Zak added an exclamation point by beating reigning Pro Open champion and point leader Mark Rendeluk of Oklahoma City to join Larry “Spiderman” McBride of Newport News, VA, and “Super Dave” Stewart of Mooresville, NC, as record-breaking winners of The Rock’s ManCup Fall Nationals.

 

Not to be outdone by the distaff side, in the semifinals Larry “Spiderman” McBride crossed the quarter-mile finish line at the fastest ever drag motorcycle speed of 255.20 mph.

 

More records fell and the full race report will be coming later. (Tom McCarthy photo)  [09/25/17]

Tera Graves drove John Hale’s “One Bad Texan” Camaro to win the DRO AA/FC Challenge at Tulsa Raceway Park on Saturday night, Sept. 23. Her opponent, Paul Romine in the “Man O’ War” Mustang, could not make the final-round call because the engine broke after setting Low ET of 5.79 in his semfinal.

 

Graves is the first woman to compete in the series. We’ll have the full race report tomorrow. (Jeff Burk file photo)  [09/25/17]

Ron Capps powered to the Funny Car victory Sunday at the 33rd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Bo Butner (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also victorious at the second of six playoff events during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

 

Capps secured his seventh victory of the season and 57th of his career with a 3.968-second pass at 326.48 mph in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to take down Courtney Force’s 3.993 at 311.70 in her Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro in the final round. Capps retook the points lead in the Countdown to the Championship with the victory.

 

Capps earned the third qualifying position and took down Jim Campbell, 2016 winner of the events Tommy Johnson Jr. and teammate Matt Hagan on the way to his tenth final round this season. Courtney Force qualified eighth and defeated Bob Tasca III, teammate Robert Hight and Jack Beckman as she reached her fourth final round of the season. She is still without a win in 2017.

 

Brittany Force took down Steve Torrence in the final round of Top Fuel action with a 3.756 pass at 326.24 in her Monster Energy dragster to secure her second victory of the season and first since the event in Epping, N.H. in June. Force has now reached the final round at Maple Grove Raceway three times in her career, including in 2016.

 

Force entered Sunday as the No. 4 qualifier before defeating Wayne Newby, Tony Schumacher and reigning world champion Antron Brown on her way to the third final round of the year. Torrence qualified third and was victorious against Terry Haddock, Leah Pritchett and Dom Lagana as he reached his tenth final round this season. Torrence retook the points lead with the runner-up finish.

 

In Pro Stock, Butner drove to victory with a 6.613 at 209.95 in his Jim Butner’s Auto Chevy Camaro to defeat Greg Anderson’s 6.660 at 206.95 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro in the final round. He reclaimed the lead in the Countdown to the Championship standings with his fourth win of the season.

 

Butner was the No. 1 qualifier and continued his strong weekend with victories over Val Smeland, Erica Enders and Allen Johnson before reaching his ninth final round of 2017. Anderson earned the sixth slot in qualifying and defeated Brian Self, rookie Tanner Gray and teammate Jason Line on the way to his ninth final round of the season.

 

Krawiec rode to the Pro Stock Motorcycle victory with a 6.852 at 196.70 on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to better LE Tonglet on his Nitro Fish Racing Suzuki in the finals. He earned his fifth victory of the season and third consecutive to improve his lead in the points standings.

 

“Things are definitely on the upswing since we switched back to last year’s chassis, it’s been huge for me and my team at the exact right time,” Krawiec said. “We didn’t start out as strong as we had hoped in qualifying, but we put it all together today and we’re pretty pleased with these results.”

 

Krawiec qualified fourth before taking down Kelly Clontz, teammate Andrew Hines and No. 1 qualifier Scott Pollacheck en route to the finals. Tonglet was the No. 7 qualifier and bested Angie Smith, teammate Jerry Savoie and Hector Arana Jr. as he finished as the runner-up for only the second time in his seven final rounds this year.   [09/25/17]

Robert Hight kept rolling on the first day of the NHRA Nationals on Friday at Maple Grove Raceway, speeding to the provisional No. 1 spot with the track-record for elapsed time as well as speed.

 

Hight made a run of 3.844 seconds at 339.02 mph to continue his hot streak. In addition to setting both ends of the track record, Hight’s speed was second only to his national record 339.87 mph speed set at Sonoma, Calif., in July.

 

Hight now owns the two fastest speeds in NHRA history, as well as four of the seven fastest speeds in NHRA.  (Ron Lewis file photo) [09/25/17]

Lancaster National Speedway & Dragway held a Thursday night show for the Franco's Pizza IHRA Drag Racing program as a special opening act for U.S. Open weekend. Thank You Thursday was the next-to-last drag race of the 2017 season.

 

In Top 8 Eliminator, Joe Masullo of Buffalo scored his first win of the season while denying Brian Hitchcock his third-straight Top 8 victory. Masullo took advantage of a breakout by Hitchcock to score the win.

 

Jeff Sobczysnki of Depew, NY, picked up the win in Top ET over class points leader Dale Eckert. Eckert handed Sobczysnki his first Top win of the season by breaking out by just .02 seconds. He now holds a slim 10-point lead over Jan Winkowski going into the final race of the season.

 

In Mod ET, Clay Ricketson of E. Aurora, NY, grabbed his second victory of the year. Ricketson defeated Jeff Kerl in the final round. Ricketson's brother, Reid Ricketson, clinched the 2017 Mod track championship as he extended his points lead to 90 with one race to go.

 

Mike Peters of Angola, NY, was victorious for the fourth time this season in Bikes & Sleds. Peters rode past the sled of Rob Brandel in the finals to earn the win. He holds a 50-point lead over Lucas Salemi going into next Friday's Season Championship Night.

 

Mason Fix of Amherst, NY, scored his second-straight win in Street to extend his points lead in the class. Fix went head-to-head with Lancaster National Dragway Wall of Famer DJ Raiser in the final round, but Raiser red lighted the race away. Fix leads Eddie Semlitsch by 40 points in the race for the Street ET title.

 

The 2017 season comes to an end Friday, Sept. 30, on Season Championship Night. The TNT Hot Rod Series joins the four weekly classes as track champions are crowned.   [09/25/17]