Chris Mackrell

Best time :- 8.83 sec and 148 mph or 238.18 kph

Chris started racing in 1993.A friend of his asked if Chris would like to go to drag racing at Thunderpark (Hastings).  Chris had never been to the drags before, not even to watch, so he went to the meeting for a look.  Both Chris and his fellow motorcyclist ended up entering the meeting, and Chris came runner up in DYO Bike on his 1978 GS1000. "The only reason that I didn't win was because I broke out, I couldn't understand it as I won the race" says Chris. Welcome to drag racing -and Chris was hooked.  

Chris attended every meeting at his local track Thunder Park, which unfortunately was sold in 1997 and is now a vineyard of all things.  

Then the second nationals that I raced at (still on the GS1000) had a pretty impressive turn out of bikes "with wheelie bars on them,” Ian Hilder, Ken Stolpman, Tony Astell, Mike Drennan just to name a few.  Chris simply had to have a set of them! 

Doing a bit of research, Chris decided the best way to go about obtaining his very own wheelie bars was to import a bike already set up from the USA.  Chris found one for sale in Texas - checked it out as best he could from over 7000 miles away, and imported his new bike -named Ascension - to Hastings, New Zealand, and started racing it at the end of the 1995 season.  

"I have been riding bikes all my life but this bike was totally alien to anything I had ever ridden before" Chris says. No surprise - 1428cc of screaming Prostock Suzuki engine in a lightened and not very long almost standard chassis with a 8.5" rear slick would scare most people fresh of a 12 second GS1000 on street rubber!  However Chris persevered and finally (Editor's Note: "finally" -yeah -like after about half a season!!!) got a handle on it. 

In Chris' second to last race in the 98-99 points series against Tony Astell, Chris "tried to pull it over the finish line in forth and threw a leg out of bed.”  That was the end of the season for Chris, but he still came second in the points series for the year.  The following winter saw Chris rebuilding the motor. 

The next season (99/2000) Chris' friend Darryl Benson join Chris' wife Mary as pit crew. The whole team was bigger, better, and faster. "We took out the point's series and won the nationals" said Chris. In fact, what Chris failed to tell us about, was he (and his team) we rein contention to win the year's pointscore series - but didn't have it won until they crossed the line first in the very last race of the last meeting of the season!  A great teamwork result--due not least to and definitely helped along by Chris' lightning fast (low .400's) reaction times!

Chris retired Ascension at the end of the 1999/2000 season.  He has kept the motor, but the rest is up for sale as a complete rolling chassis.

This will however not be the last we see of Chris - as we write this Chris' new lay down Chassis is under construction in a Wellington workshop - "we will be putting my old motor in it and we'll see how we go with this one" says Chris. Keep your eyes out for the new bike, due on the track in 2002. Guaranteed it will be a bike/team combo that's hard to beat!  To see the latest update on the new bike Click Here

Dragbike Details

Racing Achievements

1998/1999         Champion Dragway Superbike Pointscore Series         Winner 

1999/2000         Champion Dragway Superbike Pointscore Series          Winner

 2000                 New Zealand Nationals  - Champion Dragway              Winner