Competition Meeting # 2, 2nd January 2005
Champion Dragway, Meremere, New Zealand.
Author: Ian Hilder
Driving down to Meremere from Auckland, the sky was about a 50% cloud and 50% blue sky mix. Stopped in Pokeno for breakfast, the sun was hot, and sunglasses were essential equipment. Ten minutes down the road at Champion Dragway, the cloud was low, there absolutely no sun and a raincoat was essential equipment! Fortunately, the rain did not last long, the clouds quickly dispersed and qualifying got underway about 30 minutes late.
Six competition bikes fronted for the first meeting of 2005, with the welcome return of Orb Morbey on the V6 Buick powered drag bike - sporting a blower, which classified Orb in AA/PCB, along side the Hays Racing Nitro Harley with Brisbane’s Ross Buchanan in the pilot’s seat.
Trina and husband Allan Hilton turned out on the immaculately prepared A/PCB Buell, along with Ken Stolpman’s A/Pro Suzuki, Chris & Mary Mackrell’s AA/DB nitrous Suzuki, and the much awaited debut of Ian Wilkins’ brand new AA/DB nitrous beast finishing the
Superbike line-up.
First pair out for qualifying was Ken Stolpman and (Chris Mackrell). Ken decided to try letting go of the clutch AND the handlebar at the same time, which was a novel but unsuccessful approach, leaving Ken steering rapidly toward the centre line (didn’t he do that first run last meeting??), looking skyward and fearing if he was going to toss it down the track. Fortune smiled and Ken regained control, but the run was over a second off the pace. Shifter problems saw Ken do a best qualifier of 9.511 @ 150mph.
In the other lane Chris Mackrell’s NOS Suzuki was a totally different storey, carding an off the trailer 8.663 @ 152mph – smiles all ‘round in the Mackrell camp.
Orb didn’t show for the first qualifier, Trina ran an improving 12.363, getting to grips with those wheelie bars.
Next up was Ross Buchanan aboard the Hays Racing fueller. Doug Hays and the team had just fitted new pistons to their 2.7 litre Fast Cat V-twin engine, and were expecting good things. They were not to be disappointed. Ross did a short sharp burnout, the nitro crackle echoing in the surrounding hills. The last orange glowed and Ross nailed it…. carrying the front way past half track, and clocked a solid 7.861 @ a slowing 150mph or so……..easily good enough to qualify # 1, and have the luxury of resting the motor, the race team and himself until round 1 of eliminations.
Ian Wilkins was out last on his NOS Suzuki, and did a strong burnout. This was always only going to be a half track “petrol only” pass for Ian, and the first since his horrific accident last year. The bike launched straight, went through all the gears, and Ian cruised it to the finish line, happy to get the first one under his belt.
So the qualifying order was Ross Buchanan # 1, Chris Mackrell # 2, Ken Stolpman # 3,
Trina Hilton # 4, Ian Wilkins # 5, and Orb Morbey # 6.
ELIMINATIONS
Round 1:
First pair up was Ken Stolpman and Trina Hilton. Ken took the win with a 8.647 @ 150.58, to Trina’s 12.727 @ 103.10.
Second pair was Chris Mackrell and Ian Wilkins, with Chris being fortunate that Ian was only doing half passes all day. Chris had problems and only carded a 10.856 @ 116mph, two and a half seconds off his personal best. Normally this would mean a loss against the likes of Wilkins, but this time it was a win and advance to next round.
Third Pair was Ross Buchanan and Orb Morbey. Orb failed to fire in time, and Ross singled to a 7.896 @ 161.61mph. If you haven’t witnessed this Harley run, make the effort to do so, it is a drag racing spectacle. I had the good fortune to be able to watch it from behind the start line all day. It lifts the front on the green, and holds it there for most of the track, with Ross steering using body language. Absolute magic!
Round 2:
First up was Ian Wilkins and Trina Hilton. Trina ran a nice12.425 @ 105.65, taking the win against Ian’s half track pass.
Second pair was Ross Buchanan and Orb Morbey, with the gremlins sticking firm with Orb, failing to fire for the second time in a row. Ross repeated his flawless round one ride, carding
7.854 @ 168.53 - the Hays Racing team keeping their nitro burner under perfect control.
Last up was Chris Mackrell against Ken Stolpman, nitrous versus C14. This promised to be a good close race, with the handicapping working in Ken’s favour somewhat, although any handicapping advantage was going to be quickly whittled away by superb reaction times (in the low 0.400 s) which Chris had been cutting all day……..until now. Chris handed the win to Ken at the start, with a big red cherry showing on the tree in Chris’ lane. Just as well for Ken too, shifter problems that had bugged him all day meant he had to stab the changer several times to hook some gears, and he carded an off the pace 8.871 @ 148 mph,
to Chris’ 8.759 @ 145.28 mph.
Round 3:
First pair out were Chris Mackrell and Ian Wilkins. Chris took the win with a 9.047 @ 133.74….not enough NOS left in the bottle for this last run. Ian coasted through the finish line after his final half track pass for the day, happy his new race bike had completed it’s first day out with no problem.
Second up was Trina and Orb, but he was still unable to start the fire, unlike Trina who soloed to a 12.589 @ 106.19 mph win.
The Final race saw Ross Buchanan up against Ken Stolpman, a repeat of the final at the last meeting. Doug had leaned out the big Harley looking for more of everything, whilst Ken was just hoping his drive chain was going to hold together (it had been stretching considerable amounts all day, with chain tensioning required after every run). The lights came down, Ross and the thundering nitro machine left Ken for dead on the line – Ken’s drive chain had snapped as soon as he dumped the clutch. Meanwhile, Ross rode the Harley to another near perfect pass of 8.059 seconds @ 166.09 mph to take the meeting win. DragbikeNZ congratulations go to Ross and the slick team that is, Hays Racing.
Now, as a closing note, here’s a tip for all you up and coming dragbike racers: When your bike is producing over 200hp, and you are running regular mid 8 second passes, do NOT leave your drive chain on your race bike for TEN years (ie; a decade, one tenth of a century), or it may let you down badly when you really need it – WON’T IT KEN? Looks like that “Learner” plate has to stay on your bike a while longer……
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