The Xtreme Dragbike Association’s 2nd Annual MTC Engineering Bike Bash at Virginia Motorsports Park was nothing short of legendary.
The world-renowned facility owned by Tommy and Judy Franklin, along with VP Tyler Crossnoe, welcomed the XDA for what was to be a record-smashing weekend. With 791 racers, it was the largest motorcycle drag racing event in Virginia. Record class turnouts also included an all-time high of forty-five entries in Vance & Hines 4.60. Orient Express Pro Street and DME Racing Real Street produced world record numbers for a weekend now known as the quickest in XDA history.
Orient Express Pro Street
Winner – Jeremy Teasley / Runner-up – Chris Moore
#1 Qualifier – Jeremy Teasley 6.346
ET Record – Jeremy Teasley 6.346
The Orient Express Pro Street class started dropping low ET’s in Friday’s test session with Chris Moore laying down a 6.43 and Jeremy Teasley a 6.38 sending the message that it would be a quick weekend of racing.
In the first round of qualifying on Friday night, all eyes were on the two liter bikes. Moore had issues leaving the starting line and aborted his pass. Jeremy Teasley on the Andy Sawyer/Steve Nichols tuned GSXR hauled ass off the starting line and threw a 6.346 on the board to break their 6.384 record. On his turbo Hayabusa, Jason Dunigan put a 6.65 on the board to make him the quickest turbo Hayabusa at the track and taking the #4 spot of qualifying for the weekend. Ricky Wood also ran his personal best in this round with a 6.78 at 217 mph.
In round two of qualifying Teasley would need to run at least a 6.40 to back up the 6.346 to make it an official record. With rain overnight, the temperature and humidity of the day was elevated, and with a race surface that was struggling to completely dry out, it was questionable if we would see any big numbers in this round of qualifying. Despite less than ideal conditions, Teasley was able to back up his record with a 6.348 ET to keep his place as top dog in Pro Street. Richard Gadson showed up and entered the class on the DAS Supercharger Hayabusa, and with no shakedown runs, ran an impressive 6.69!
In the final qualifying session, Richard Gadson lowered that ET to a 6.570 to put him in the #3 qualifying spot. Chris Moore ran his best in qualifying at 6.424 to take the #2 spot in qualifying. Ryan Schnitz on the HTP GSXR entry would round out the top of qualifying in the #5 spot with a 6.68.
In round one of eliminations, Gabe Fredrick and Jordan Haase would not be able to make the call with hurt motorcycles sending Moore and Dunigan on to round two. Teasley ran a 6.489 but would be shown up this round with Rodney Williford running a 6.457 as a personal best on his GSX-R1000 entry. Ryan Schnitz and Richard Gadson would run 6.628 and 6.601 respectively to move onto round two. Shakir would drop too much power for the track to hold and send Rickey Wood to round two. And Darion Payne would take out Ehren Litten with a 6.855 to move on.
In round two, Teasley on his Pro Street bracket bike ran a 6.416 to take out Williford. Ryan Schnitz and Richard would run their best ET of the weekend at 6.563 and 6.522 respectively to move on. And Chris Moore would finally show his performance from testing with 6.380 to make the Moore Mafia bike the second bike to officially enter the 30’s.
In the semi-final Schnitz and Gadson had no chance of advancing with both Teasley and Moore flexing. Teasley ran a 6.45 and Moore threw down a 6.36 to show he was there to stay.
The final didn’t come until the sun was setting, and you could feel the tension in the air as these two titans sat on their bikes under the tunnel waiting for fresh track prep. A lot was at stake with Moore wanting to keep a wide gap on Teasley with his new points lead he gained after Greg Wallace took a first-round loss. And Teasley needed the win if you wanted a chance at the championship with only one race to go.
Teasley’s tuners loaded all their weapons into their MaxxECU with the mission to win at any means possible. Teasley was given the order to blow the motor and let the rods hang out if that’s what it would take to win. So Teasley rolled into the beams with the override button at the ready. When the bulbs dropped, Teasley left first, but when Moore unleashed his power, the track couldn’t hold it, and he spun off the line as Teasley sailed down the track to win with a 6.502 and a motor still intact!
With three riders not qualifying into the sixteen-bike field, XDA allowed them to race in the Pro Street B class to get competition runs in. Kenny Brewer and Ryan Bonitatis faced each other in the final to both run their first six-second passes. Brewer took the win on a holeshot running 6.909 to Bonitatis’ 6.888. With these two passes, we now have a total of fifty riders in the six-second zone.
DME Racing Real Street
Winner – Brandon Teasley / Runner-up – Jeremy Teasley
#1 Qualifier – Jeremy Teasley 7.525
ET Record – Brandon Teasley 7.516
DME Racing Real Street Royal Rumble paid out $5,000 to win and featured a 32-Bike field at this event. The smack talk amongst the riders leading up to the event was out of control. And to add fuel to the fire XDA offered up a bounty of $100 to any racer that could take out the class leaders of Brandon Teasley, Spencer Claycomb, and Ben Knight. And just in case that wasn’t enough, Jason Miller lite the fuse by offering up a one-of-a-kind award for the first rider to run in the forties.
A record number of Real Street riders showed up on Thursday before the event for testing ready to tear the tack apart to get into the forties. When qualifying came around on Friday night, most racers struggled to make clean A-to-B passes because they had thrown so much into their tunes. Spencer Claycomb who hands down has more hours into his bike than any other racer in the class took the #1 qualifying position with a 7.668.
In round two of qualifying, Jeremy Teasley ran a 7.525 to break the ET record held at 7.531 by Spencer Claycomb and took over the #1 qualifying spot.
In round three things started to heat up when Brandon Teasley, one of the heavier riders in the class, ran a 7.587 to take the #2 qualifying spot on his nitrous Kawasaki ZX-14. Going into eliminations, the Teasley’s would have a hold on the top qualifying positions. The only thing that was missing was brother Cameron. Cameron Teasley sat this event out to welcome his new baby girl, Sawyer Vivianne, into the world with fiancé Sierra Stoops.
Ben Knight qualified #3 with a 7.607 on his Hayabusa Supercharger, teammate Claycomb was behind him with a 7.643 to keep the ‘Shake and Bake’ team on opposite sides of the ladder. Mark Hylton qualified #5 with a 7.705 on his all motor Hayabusa to give us a little of everything in the class’s top spots.
A schedule change landed the last qualifier for Real Street on Sunday morning, only a few hours before their first round of eliminations. This would be an advantage for the entire class to tune to the track conditions going into round one.
Husband and wife of Michael and Ashley Sweeney made up for not racing at the last event by taking wins in round one. The Royal Rumble brought out Pro Street legend Rodney Williford who took a first-round win over Brittany Bohne. Ralphie Navarro returned to his first event since his accident last year with Shane Stubbs on riding duty. Stubbs took out Hylton in round one. Class champions Anibal Merced and Claycomb both took round one wins as well. The lowest ET of round one went to Jeremy Teasley running a 7.531.
In round two of eliminations, Merced earned $100 in bounty money, taking Ben Knight out on a holeshot win with a 7.57 to his 7.53. Brandon Teasley, Claycomb, and Stubbs would get easy wins when their competition broke and was unable to run. The highlight of round two would go to the faceoff between Jeremy Teasley and Rodney Williford. These two have faced off many times, but never in Real Street. Teasley had the advantage with Williford only having a handful of passes on his bike and winning over him with a 7.620.
Jeremy had an earned bye in round three, automatically sending him the semi-final. Class champions Claycomb and Merced met in round three, giving Merced a chance and winning another bounty. Unfortunately for Merced he broke traction about 70 feet out and fought with his ZX-14 the rest of the pass but couldn’t catch back up to Claycomb, who took the win with a 7.64. The standout pass went to Brandon, who took the ET record away from his brother running a 7.516. The fans went crazy when the board lite up!
Round four is usually the final for Real Street; however, the larger field size gave the class an extra round of competition to earn a win. Brandon had an earned bye this round while brother Jeremy had to earn the win and attempt to take back his record. Jeremy could not get the record back, but he took out Claycomb with a 7.535 to earn some extra cash on the bounty for him.
Going into the final, the sibling rivalry was at the forefront. Brandon, who has watched his brother win thousands of races and break hundreds of records, wanted this win and record for himself. And Jeremy had every intention offing taking it all from him. Father and the crew chief for the boys, Crow Teasley, got both bikes set at the line and then stood in the middle of the track, knowing that the family would ultimately celebrate any outcome together. Brandon cut his best light of the day while Jeremy cut his worse light. And as they raced side-by-side down the track, it was a nail biter waiting to see the win light come one. When the right lane win light came on, the starting line crowd went wild for Brandon, who ran a 7.554 to his brother’s losing 7.599. Brandon Teasley took the win, the record, and the points lead.
“It was great to see such a massive turnout for the inaugural Royal Rumble,” affirmed class sponsor Dimey Eddinger. “We appreciate so many racers showing up to make this a big event. A class’s performance can only improve if the competition is there to push each other to work harder. And even though we didn’t see a 7.4x pass this race, there is a good chance someone will run that number next month at the DME Racing Fall Nationals in the cooler temperatures at Maryland International Raceway.”
Pro Xtreme
Winner – Travis Davis / Runner-up – Shane Eperjesi
#1 Qualifier – Shane Eperjesi 3.977
ET Record – Rob Garcia 3.961
MPH Record – Shame Eperjesi 188.15
The Pro Xtreme class had its largest turnout since its inception last year with eleven riders. This was the first race for four new riders who all had turbo entries. Billy Vose, Ronnie ‘Pro Mod’ Smith, Tommy Saxon, and Mike Chongris made an impressive entrance in XDA’s Pro Extreme class.
Shane Eperjesi replicated his last event by taking the number one qualifying position in round one with a .3977 and held that spot until eliminations. Not only did this pass give him the top spot, but it also yielded him the MPH record running 188.15 mph to take over the 187.00 mph record that had been held by Kevin Clarke.
Travis Davis and Kevin Clarke ran the only other three-second passes in qualifying at 3.984 and 3.986, respectively.
In round one of eliminations Clarke, Chongris, and Travis Davis took easy wins with their competitors broken. Billy Vose who has faced Ronnie Smith before in Pro Mod races took him out with a 4.277 to his 4.952. Rob Garcia took the win over Chris Cutsinger with a 4.064 as Cutsinger fought to keep his bike inline running a 4.170.
In round two, Travis Davis ran a 4.032 to take out Vose on Ehren Litten’s recently sold Pro Xtreme bike. Shane Eperjesi ran 3.993 to end the weekend for Chongris who ran a 4.064. Class champion Clarke lost the round to Rob Garcia on a holeshot running a 3.969 to his 3.991.
The semi-final awarded Davis with a bye to the final. Meanwhile, Eperjesi took down Garcia on the other side of the ladder on another holeshot win for the class running a 3.988 to Garcia’s quicker record-setting 3.961 pass. It’s not too often you lose while setting a record as Garcia edged out the record of 3.962 set by Rodney Williford over a year ago.
The final round produced another holeshot victory when Davis cut the best light the class saw all day with a .015 to win with a 4.008 over Eperjesi’s quicker 3.978 pass. Travis has deflated the chance at the championship for half of the class going into next month’s event with his back to back wins. Davis is now the points leader at both XDA and PDRA with a potential at two championships this year.
Pro Xtreme is presented by Ace Motorsports, Billy Vose Racing, Dunigan Racing, DME Racing, Grothus Dragbikes, Harley Haul, MaxxECU, Rob Bush Motorsports, Robinson Industries, Schnitz Racing, Timblin Chassis, and Worldwide Bearings.
HTP Performance Super Stock
Winner – David Fondon / Runner-up – Jeremy Teasley
#1 Qualifier – David Fondon 8.834
Record – David Fondon 161.96 mph
The MTC Engineering Bike Bash was the second event for the newly added HTP Super Stock class, and their attendance increased by six to qualify an impressive thirty-one riders. Dustin Clark from Indiana recently qualified #1 at an NHDRO event and decided to make the ten-hour trip to Virginia to see how he would perform with XDA. Clark qualified in the #2 spot with an 8.848 behind points leader David Fondon’s 8.834. Fondon also reset the MPH record on his first qualifying pass running 161.96 mph.
We also welcomed our second competitor from Puerto Rico, Pablo Gonzalez, he qualified with a 9.04 on his 2019 Kawasaki ZX-14. This was not Brandon Pryer’s first event; however, at the last event, he ran a 2018 Suzuki GSX-R1000. For this event, he entered the first BMW into the class aboard a 2020 S1000RR. Unfortunately for Pryer, he found himself paired with Jeremy Teasley in round one, who ran an 8.88 to his 9.53 ending his weekend early.
In round one of eliminations, Jyrec Givens, who runner-upped at the last event, took a round one loss to Russell Dennison, opening up the #2 spot in points that he no longer holds. Dustin Clark ran the quickest lap at 8.783, while the session’s fastest lap belonged to Ryan Schnitz at 160.12 mph.
Because this class is all about the rider’s clutch hand control, this class has the worst reaction time average of all of the other classes held at XDA. For example, riders were winning rounds with .176, .196, and .200 reaction times. In two events, we have only seen eleven passes with reactions times under .100, demonstrating how hard these riders are working to control their horsepower at the starting line. The best reaction time of five rounds of competition came from Chris Moore, who had a .052 but unfortunately lost to Richard Gadson running an 8.896 to his 8.985 in round three of eliminations.
Points leader David Fondon took out Schnitz, Dennison, and Richard Gadson to reach his second final round appearance. On the other side of the ladder hand clutch master Jeremy Teasley took out Pryer, Gonzalez, Curtis McDougald, and Clark to meet Fondon. At the last event, Fondon took Teasley out in round two of competition. Going into the final, Teasley had just won Pro Street, then lost the Real Street final, and would now be looking for another win, not another loss.
In two events, David Fondon has always held the quickest pass of every session, however, in the semi-final, Teasley was quicker with an 8.919 when he took out Dustin Clark. Fondon ran a 8.994 when he sent Richard Gadson to the trailer. So, for the final Teasley had hoped to outrun the points leader. Teasley cut a better light, but Fondon threw down his quickest pass of the weekend running an 8.756 to Teasley’s 8.895. We might need to check Fondon’s bike for an override button. The rider from Puerto Rico has a stronghold on the points lead and taking the championship from him now will be nearly impossible.
APE Nitrous Bulls
Winner – Lavar Delee / Catch 22
Runner-up – Jeremy Teasley / Nipsy Hustle
The APE Nitrous Bulls featured five quick riders looking to take home the 5K payday. But the hungriest competitor of the night was Lavar Delee on ‘Catch 22’. Lavar showed up for Thursday testing with HTP Performance to get his testing in and make sure all the bugs were worked out before Saturday. Round after round ‘Catch 22’ made perfectly straight passes as he left the starting line like a bullet. In the final, he met his toughest competition of the night, Jeremy Teasley on ‘Nipsey Hussle’. Teasley was looking to make ‘Catch 22’ easy work, however he would quickly get put down when he spun leaving the line.
Monster Bulls
Winner – David Page / Pickin Pockets
Runner-up – Michael / Thyen The Prisoner
For the second event this year David Page on ‘Pickin Pockets’ won Monster Bulls making consistently fast straight passes while his competition struggled to keep up. Page took out Dave Martin on ‘Gobstopper’ and Michael Thyen on ‘The Prisoner’ in true Williford Racing fashion, making it look easy.
DMV Bulls
Winner – Kevin Johnson / Quick Money
Runner-up – Cody Lowe / Shonuff
Kevin Johnson on ‘Quick Money’ threw down a repeat performance from the last race remaining undefeated this year at XDA. Johnson took out Cody Lowe on ‘Shonuff’ in the final for the second time this year after defeating the ‘5th Street Bully’ ridden by Jermaine Proctor in the semi-final. Johnson made easy work of the competition and is looking forward to defending his winning streak next month at the DME Racing Fall Nationals.
Vance & Hines 4.60
Winner – Boo Brown / Runner-up – Mac McAdams
#1 Qualifier – Wes Hawkins 4.604
Vance & Hines 4.60 had historic attendance with forty-five riders attempting to qualify for the thirty-two bike field. A top-notch list of thirteen riders did not qualify, including former champions Kenny Cornell, Eran Pielert, and multi-time race winner Richard Gadson.”
In qualifying, all qualified riders would run in the sixties, Wes Hawkins and Michael Thyen would run identical 4.604 passes, but Hawkins MPH would reward him the #1 qualifying position. Ron Bonitatis, Tyler Cammock, and Douglas all qualified at the top with a 4.60x pass. Jim Jordan held the bottom of the field in the thirty-second spot with a 4.692, making this the quickest 4.60 field in history.
NHRA Pro Stock champion Matt Smith entered on his Buell EBR and qualified seventh with a 4.610 pass. His presence quickly made waves and class champion Boo Brown publicly called Smith out over the PA to race him for $1,000 during qualifying. Smith accepted and Sunday morning during the final round of qualifying the pair lined up. The ET’s never became a factor as Brown got that 1K at the hit when Smith turned on the red light. Despite this loss, Smith would win the first three rounds of competition until he met Boo Brown in the semi-final. Smith would get the starting line advantage with a .017 to Brown’s .030 reaction, all green lights this time. But Matt would misjudge the 660 and breakout running a 4.597 to Brown’s winning 4.638 pass. Brown is now 2-0 against Smith in XDA 4.60 competition. Come on back anytime Matt!
Mac McAdams was cutting incredible lights on the other side of the ladder and taking win after win on his way to the final to meet Brown. McAdams cut a .006 light in the semi-final to get a holeshot win running 4.732 against Harvey Hubbard’s 4.616 pass. His improving reaction times would reach a threshold and become his downfall in the final. Like Matt Smith, McAdams would deliver Boo Brown a win on the tree when he cut a -.014 red light.
The FBR Shop 5.60
Winner – Jimmie Miller / Runner-up – Shayne Proctor
#1 Qualifier – Robert Johnson 5.604
The FBR Shop 5.60 class was on fire at the MTC Engineering Bike Bash featuring the most consistent runs by racers the class has ever seen. Robert Johnson qualified on top with a 5.604 leading the forty-one bike field.
Routine winner circle patrons Jimmie Miller and Shayne Proctor fought through five rounds of competition to meet each other in the Sunday night final. Miller won against Michael Rankin, Wes Brown, Jim Mauro, and points leader Dustin Lee by cutting great lights and never straying far from that 5.60 index. On Proctor’s side of the ladder, he defeated Tom Miceli Jr., Evan Melson, Carson Fields, and Brian Dale. Proctor’s performance was equal to Miller’s, making them an excellent match-up for a final-round battle. However, this final would not feature any sort of battle as Proctor cut a red -.023 light to give away his chance at the win to Miller.
Crazy 8’s
Winner – Robert Parker / Runner-up – Spencer Claycomb
#1 Qualifier – Ben Helland 8.88
Ben Helland led the Crazy 8’s class on Saturday earning the #1 qualifier position with an 8.880. Points leader Tylan Beckelheimer showed up at VMP ready to defend his win and keep his points lead. However, Beckelheimer started the weekend running off the number to qualifying last with an 8.722 in the thirty-four bike field. In round one of eliminations, he was able to get slowed down to run an 8.814, but Carson Fields got a holeshot win on him to end his reign over the class.
DME Racing Real Street standout Spencer Claycomb and Floridian Robert Parker had the 8.88 index mastered on race day to meet in the final round. Parker cut the better light, .076 to Claycomb’s .116 and as the two raced to the finish line side-by-side, Claycomb couldn’t resist the urge to take the stripe first and broke out running an 8.850 while Parker ran an 8.885 to take the win.
Mickey Thompson Performance Top Sportsman
Winner – Michael Parsons / Runner-up – Art Lawrence
#1 Qualifier – Wes Hawkins 7.182
The Mickey Thompson Performance Top Sportsman competition was more formidable than ever, with 143 riders attempting to earn a spot in the thirty-two bike field. The conditions were rough on Saturday during qualifying as the after-effects of overnight rain had higher temperatures than expected with 90% humidity. The combination saw many regular qualifiers struggling to manage their power for the track, causing them to miss the field and sending them back to Pro ET.
Wes Hawkins, who missed the field last event lead the class at the MTC Engineering Bike Bash qualifying #1 with a 7.182. Michael Parsons was racing on Sunday with deadly accuracy to get him to the final round on his Suzuki Hayabusa. When he arrived, Art Lawrence, who had been cutting double-o lights, was ready for him. As the pair went through their starting line checks to roll into the beams, Lawrence suddenly couldn’t get his bike into gear, and the starter sent Parsons on a solo run to the winner’s circle.
MPS Racing Pro ET
Winner – Stephen Knight / Runner-up – James Farmer
With a schedule adjustment to manage the rain delay from Saturday morning, the ET classes ran only one race to double the payout for a 6K payday on Sunday.
One hundred and sixty-seven racers competed in MPS Pro ET on Sunday, making the day long with eight competition rounds. At the PFR Bike Fest, James Farmer took the win on Saturday, and Stephen Knight the win on Sunday. Going into this event James Farmer was leading the class with 20 points over Stephen Knight who held the #2 spot.
So here we are a month later, and the top dogs of the class are chomping through the field to meet each other in the final. With Farmer not wanting to lose his points lead and Knight wanting his spot, it was the most significant sportsman final of the weekend. As both racers rolled into the beams, neither looked over at the other as they kept their full focus on the tree. Knight was dialed an 8.72 and Farmer a 9.12, so Farmer left first cutting a .030 light. And as he launched Knight’s arm dropped as he cut his best light of the day at .008 to catch up to Farmer by the eighth-mile. As the two approached the stripe side-by-side watching either other, neither rider was lifting. Farmer finally lifted the throttle right before the stripe, but it was too late; he broke out running a 9.112. Stephen Knight ran 8.713, sending him to the winner’s circle.
Brock’s Performance Street ET
Winner – Derrick Milbourne / Runner-up – John James
Brock’s Performance Street had a .00 Racing takeover as Derrick Milbourne was an unstoppable force no Sunday. Going into the MTC Engineering Bike Bash, Milbourne was tied for first with Montrell Johnson. Johnson lost in the fourth round, and Milbourne kept winning to keep gaining points over the class. With 124 competitors at the ready, Milbourne and John James would each take on half the field until they meet in the seventh round for a final battle. Milbourne dialed 8.90 and James an 8.87. With near-identical reaction times, the pair would take the race to the stripe. As they both played with the throttle at the end of the track trying to judge each’s performance, they would run identical 8.916 passes, meaning James was well off his dial and the win light lite up Milbourne’s lane.
The XDA season concludes in a few weeks at Maryland International Raceway for the 28th annual DME Racing Fall Nationals on September 18-20, 2020. Mark your calendars now as this event will also feature the 8th annual Orient Express Pro Street Battle Royale paying $10,000 to win and a 32-Bike Field! Records will be dropping like the leaves in the Fall air, come out and witness history for yourself.
Go to www.xdaracing.com/results for more information.
