Sportbike motorbike racing involves motorcycle racing, often imported from Japan. Many sportbike like Suzuki Hayabusa, Kawasaki ZX-14, or BMW S1000RR can drag race 1/4-mile in 9-second range with little or no modification. The 1/8-mile race is also popular in some parts of the country.
Video Sportbike motorcycle drag racing
Racing organizations
The largest drag racing organization is NHRA, which has over a hundred different tracks where motorcycles can be raced in seven different divisions across the country.
"AMA Dragbike is the world's largest drag racing drag body" (About AMA Dragbike). AMA Dragbike is an eight-race series that travels throughout the region with 3 races in Georgia and the race in each of the following states: Tennessee, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. This is the most popular racing series with motorcycles, some of which cover more than 250 mph in a quarter mile race. There are five classes of racing dedicated to sportbike drag racing. Some of these classes feature a bracket racing format while others head up the racing class where the first rider at the finish line wins. Most fans feel that the most exciting class to watch is the Pro Street class, where the sport can reach over 200 mph in a quarter mile.
The MiRock racing series are all motor drag racing series at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina and Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, Maryland. This series runs eight races per year between these two tracks. Their main focus is racing drag racing and they have eight different racing classes available by racers with the right equipment.
Maps Sportbike motorcycle drag racing
Racing class
The most basic racing class is the bracket racing class, Street ET. Every motorcycle in this class should have a street tire and do not have a wheelie bar. Some of these bikes have minor modifications as they are lowered or show an air shifter to change gears. Each rider asks for a "race" time before the race (the time he predicts he will run), and the rider who runs closest to their dial and reaches the finish line first without running under their lap in victory. The reaction time is important, especially the closer the racer gets to the final. Racing bracket is a relatively inexpensive and easy way to get into sportbike drag racing. "This is a great class to start and once is the stomping reason for many races from today's" Pro "racers" (Series Information).
The other popular class is "Pro Street", which features several bikes as fast as the top six seconds range, motorcycle tire streets without wheelie-bar traveling on track at over 200 mph. "Pro Street class is a professional head-up class that competes with street-legal motorcycles" (Information Series). This bike looks similar to ordinary street bikes, but it has a large number of performance-enhancing products, turbo or nitrous oxide for example. Pro Street motorcycles are often just as fast as pro-motorcycle bikes but more like street appearances with work lights and taillights along with street tires.
People in this sport
Rickey Gadson has won most of the races at AMA Drag Racing in sports history. He is a medium-sized rider at 5 feet, 11 inches and weighs 165 pounds. He has lived in the Philadelphia area since he was little and his love for racing started when he was 13 years old. In 1998 he became the first factory-backed rider throughout the history of the sport. He is the champion 9 times and is considered the king of drag racing motorcycles. He won his last championship in 2005, in the AMA Dragbike 1000 Super Sport class.
Other big names in the sport are Mike Slowe, Keith Dennis, Richard Gadson, and Nick Mazeika. Each rider has his own riding style and is considered a star in this sport. Mike Slowe has won 7 championships in 6 years of professional sportbike racing racing. Keith Dennis won the 2008 AMA Dragbike Super Sport championship and became the 3rd person in 7 years on a tire motorcycle. Richard Gadson is Rickey Gadson's niece and has ridden almost all kinds of sportbike bikes on the track. And Nick Mazeika is the 2008 AMA Dragbike Super Street Champion, the 2008 AMA Dragbike Rookie of the year, and the 2008 AMA Dragbike Sponsor rider this year and has proven that he is a growing force.
Brock Davidson was the first to place a street legal motorcycle into a 7-second zone.
In recent years, the sport has attracted a number of female dragracers. Some of them to note; Elyse McKinnon, Crystal Dickerson Jackson, Dystany Spurlock, Petey Vee Verrett, Kelly Clontz, Traci Lewis, and Edythe Decker to name a few. This list is not at all comprehensive from all competing women.
Note
References
- "About AMA Dragbike." AMA Dragbike. 01DEC2007. AMA Dragbike. 12 Apr 2009.
- "Rickey Gadson." Kawasaki Drag Racing. 2009. Kawasaki Motor Corp. 14 Apr 2009.
- "Series Information." Mirock Racing. 2008. Mirock. 13 Apr 2009.
- "The Star of the Show." 2 Wheel Tuner Dec2008: 50-53. Print.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments