NZDRA Northern Nationals Pro-Am Round, 23rd January 2005

Champion Dragway, Meremere, New Zealand.

The weather had finally turned to summer, with partly cloudy day dawning, which soon turned into a hot and sunny one. If you didn’t had sunscreen, you were gonna get burnt.

Six competition bikes fronted for the Northern Nationals, a round of the NZDRA national points score series.  Not so many bikes entrants in Superbike this time, starters being the Hays Racing Nitro Harley/Ross Buchanan, Ken Stolpmann on the A/Pro Suzuki, Chris Mackrell on the AA/DB laydown nitrous Suzuki, Ian Wilkins’ AA/DB laydown nitrous Suzuki, Trina Hilton on the A/PCB Buell, and out for the first time this season was myself (Ian Hilder) on board the dinosaur of New Zealand drag bike racing, the A/DB Rice Rocket/Flotech Suzuki. 

Qualifying was interesting………………….Ken Stolpman replaced last meeting’s crew (me) with Athol Williams, and ran a best of 8.752.  I had Tony Astell crewing for me, and my first run of the season produced a stunning 10.7 @ 126mph……it seems I still haven’t fixed the heavy misfire that reared it’s ugly head at the end of last season.  I later however managed to qualify with a 8.82 @ 141 on a misfiring engine, so pretty happy with that. Ian Wilkins was a happy man, still getting to grips with opening the throttle on a serious piece of equipment (I rode Ian’s bike at a test day last week and believe me, it’s gonna go like stink once Ian turns the wick right up), did his first full pass nice and straight, which was good to see.  Still being fairly careful on the accelerator, Ian qualified with a 11.747.  Chris Mackrell had been spinning spanners until 3 a.m. on race morning, fixing a head gasket that was leaking oil into #1 cylinder.  On startup at the track, the problem still persisted, so Chris and team were busy removing the head again.  Unfortunately, their efforts proved to be in vain, and they failed to run all day. Trina Hilton ran the Buell to qualify with a personal best of 12.147. Ross Buchanan and Team Hays Racing were last out, and wouldn’t ya know it…..Ross ran the Harley fueller to an off the trailer 7.696 @  just under 170mph!  A personal/team best,  #1 qualifier by miles (or is that quarter miles?) and a happy team were to rest up while the rest of qualifying was completed for all classes.

So the qualifying order was Ross Buchanan (above) # 1, Ian Hilder # 2, Ken Stolpman # 3, 

Trina Hilton # 4, Ian Wilkins # 5. 

ELIMINATIONS 

Round 1:

First pair out was Ken Stolpman and Trina Hilton.  Ken’s shifting woes had been taken care of with a new shifter ram, and some pneumatic lube courtesy of Ian Wilkins. Ken took the win with a

8.571 @ 151.52, against Trina’s second 12.1 of the day - 12.178 @ 108.37.     

Second pair was myself and Ian Wilkins.  I ran well and hard to almost half track, which is where engine misfire troubles began, but I still clocked a 9.35 @ a slowing106 mph to take the win.   Ian Wilkins took another easy run, again nice and straight, and carded a 12.02.   

Last out for a bye run was our #1 qualifier Ross Buchanan, on the Harley nitro burner.  After that sizzling qualifier, the team were expecting more of the same, but sadly a reversal of last meeting’s form struck, and on start-up the massive engine suffered a nitro explosion of the unwelcome kind in each cylinder, snapping head bolts and lifting both heads off the cylinders.

Major damage to the cylinder heads was obvious, and Rider Ross felt the explosions hard in the abdomen, but thanks to the safety straps which prevented the heads parting company from the engine completely, and the substantial safety equipment Ross wears, Ross was badly shaken but not seriously hurt, and was walking around just fine later in the day which is all that really matters.  Unfortunately the Hays Racing team has a lot of work ahead of them in the next three weeks if they are to run the fueller at the next meeting.  Best of luck for the repair work guys and gals-we hope the damage is limited to the top end and is repaired in time – we need the spectacle of Hays Racing at each and every meet!     

Round 2: 

First up was Ian Wilkins and Trina Hilton.  Trina ran 12.143 @ 108.13, taking the factored win against Ian’s steadily improving 11.828.

Second pair was Ken Stoplmann against myself, Ken ran a stout 8.581 @ 150.90mph.

When I started my bike, I noticed it was running on only  3 cylinders. I decided to run down the tack only to make the pass and hence get into the final, which I did, shutting it down at half track and coasting through the finish line so fast I recorded “no time”.  Now, I didn’t know it at the time, but my troubles had actually begun the run before – when I disconnected all the tricky electronics to try and find the cause of the misfire. With the removal of the rev limiter and auto shift modules, my misfire problems had disappeared completely, but the over revving (read “rider”) problems began, and unfortunately the head of a # 4 exhaust valve also disappeared completely (see photo below) which limited the revs quite nicely thank you. I was out for the rest of the day, and some late nights and repair bills headed my way in the next 3 weeks.

Oh by the way, surprise surprise – Ken won the race…………………………………………………………

Final:

Racing off for 3^rd and 4^th spots  were Trina Hilton and Ian Wilkins.  Ian ran a 11.188 to take the win and 3^rd  place against Trina’s slowing 13.426.  

The race for 1^st and 2^nd places saw Ken Stolpman drawn against myself, and funnily enough I decided not to show, by this time having a motor that only rotated about 340 degrees before coming to a sudden stop.  Ken soloed to take the win and what was probably another mid 8 second/ 150mph+ ride, although we don’t know for sure – Ken backed out of the beam before the starter had activated the tree, meaning no time card for Ken. Geeez  Ken, that “Learner” plate ain’t comin’ off any time soon is it?  Oh well, it just goes to prove that no matter how much of a learner you are, as long as your drive chain is new(ish), your bike may make it to the finish line each race including the final (unless you drop a valve before you get there). 

Ken burns out….	Ken “Learner” Stolpmann!

 All Photos courtesy of Mal Bain Photography