NHDRO at Indianapolis

Kevin Adams  (Tim hailey photo)

Saturday’s Street ET win also went to an Ohio racer, Kevin Adams, who caught Gateway Big Money winner Ron Arnold asleep at the tree. Arnold ran dead on his 9.33 dial, but that .067 light though.... Adams’ .027 set the stage for his win.

Adams also beat John “Spooky” Markham in Penske Racing Shocks Street Fighter, nailing an .012 light to Spooky’s .056 in a double breakout 9.50 index race. Jeremy England was number 1 qualifier.

Ohio wasn’t through with the winning, and neither was the Teasley family. Jeremy’s younger brother Cameron broke through for his first McIntosh/Grayson Machine & Fabrication Pro Street win and the first for Nem Beltran’s iconic “Lucky” turbo ‘Busa.  (Tim Hailey photo)

Cameron’s win grew more likely as the day wore on and the top qualifiers fell. Number 1 qualifier Gabe Frederick (6.718 at 216.97 mph) struggled occasionally through the weekend with a chassis pulling to the right, which is how he fell to Gateway winner Gaige Herrera in round 2 on raceday.

Atlanta and Indy winner Frankie Stotz led through the first two rounds of qualifying with a 6.75 run on Friday. But his Honda pulled up lame with a broken fourth gear against Scott Grady on Al Mart’s “Twisted” in E1.

Third qualifier was Sweden’s Patrik Borgh, competing in his first U.S. Pro Street race. A veteran of the similar Super Street Bike class in Europe, Borgh made his first passes in 9 years at the August NHDRO race aboard the former NHDRO champion turbo ‘Busa recently purchased from Bud Yoder. He ran personal bests of 6.92 at 213 to qualify third and advanced past James Hendricks in E1 before wheelieing and losing to Quicktime Motorsports boss Rudy Sanzottera in round 2.

So when number 5 qualifier Cameron met fourth qualifier Luis Hornedo in round 2, they were the two highest qualified bikes left in the field. When Hornedo’s bike bogged so bad it seemed to be in sixth gear, and Cameron ran a personal best 6.90 for the win, the young Teasley suddenly seemed like a surprise favorite.

Cameron offset Hererra’s .032 starting line advantage in the semi by improving his personal bests by .001 and some 3 mph to make the final.

Sanzottera faced another underdog having a big day in the other semi—Derrick Riffell on Josh Franklin’s bike. Neither of these two seemed to want to leave the starting line: Rudy with an .097 and Derrick with a .107.  Sanzottera’s ET was also about a hun quicker and he advanced to the finals to face Teasley.

Perhaps overcompensating for his slow reaction in the semis, Rudy went too far in the other direction in the final and lit the redeye. Cameron kept the coals on in the other lane and improved the personal bests for him, tuner Beltran, and the M2.shocks equipped “Lucky”: 6.879 at 208.55 mph.

“I’ve been to 21 finals in both cars and bikes and never won!” noted Sanzottera.

It was a great day for the class, proving that anyone who’s invested in the right set-up and worked hard on all aspects of their game can win a Pro Street race at NHDRO.

Ditto for Performance Racing Products Grudge, where all eyes turned towards big name bikes and riders while the other lane flourished.

Richard Long rode 8 Below’s “OMG” nitrous ‘Busa past Gabe “Petey” Oldfield on the AM Performance nitrous GSXR1000 after the smaller bike lost bottle pressure in the Shootout final. That was worth 5 Grand to Lane and the 8 Below crew. (David Beaver photo)

Joe Rodney (Tim Hailey photo)

So now Fast Times’ hopes were on the Kawasaki of Smokin’ Joe Rodney, who nailed a .010 light to skate past Johnny Bond in round 1. Ohio and August Indy winner Jimmy Muntain returned the favor with a .012 on Rodney in E2, but slid out of the groove and didn’t run the number.

Rodney had the bye to the final while Gateway winner Dan McCarten advanced past Les Stimac in the other semi. Smokin’ Joe smoked McCarten at the tree and won the double breakout final.

Andy Frame  (Tim Hailey photo)

Winners other than the usual suspects continued through some of the Sportsman classes. Former class champ Markham had the chance to reverse that trend in Millennium Trailers Super Comp, but a tough day of racing for the usually spot-on Spooky continued with a double breakout loss to Andy Frame.

Shane Stevens Jr. and Canadian Murray Lonsbary faced off in the M2.Shocks Crazy 8s final, but neither seemed too anxious for the win with .123 and .126 lights—advantage Lonsbary. Then came the finishline: 8.945 and 8.988—advantage and win to Stevens.