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Halloween Bonfire Burn Up 2012
This weekend was a chance do some runs and finish my competition with Louis. First run out of the van was a 10.2 with a lot of wheelspin as well as a red light. We went back to the pits to try and solve the wheelspin by raising the front end of the bike to help the weight transfer to the back wheel quicker as we thought there may be a wheel spin problem. Out for another run and a 10.8 despite trying the burnout in second gear to get more heat into the tyre. Back to the pits once more and a little baffled, when we spoke to some of the other people riding two strokes we where advised to lean out the main jet which we did and the bike still lost MPH indicating that the power produced had gone down! So even more baffled we looked at the weather station and the adjusted altitude was at around -360, terrible air for racing and a sign that the bike should be made rich not lean. We put a bigger main jet in and went out and ran a 9.8 and back to 66mph, we think we could have...
Extreme Performance Bike Weekend 2012
I arrived at the track late and as usual thanks to the great team everything was ready to go in the morning. Saturday morning, after Lizz’s first qualifier me and Lou wend out for a straightliners RWYB pass down the full ¼ mile. We had some very close runs, even a few where our 330 ft times where identical! As the bike is not set up for the quarter we decided to change the front sprocket to a 17 tooth instead of a 15.Despite all our work, the bike actually went slower! Running around 17 seconds instead of the previous 16’s making me and Lou even and all to play for at Halloween!As usual thanks to Dad, Lizz and my newest crew, Jordan Clark for all their help, and to my sponsors “uncle” Steve Wood at Motorshack and Alan Young At RCP TrainingIf anyone had told me back in May when I had two broken wrists, that I would run two 7.7's and be in the Final at the Extreme Performance Bike weekend, I would have put a lot of money on it !What an bitter sweet end to what has been quite a frustrating season.The problems we had beforehand,...
National Finals 2012
In their own words……After a very busy afternoon getting loaded up and meeting up with Gipp and Crew, we set up the Nitrous Junkie/Team Gipp pit space, complete with MPM branding. All looked very impressive. Four bikes in 4 different classes. Jake in Junior Drag Bike, Brendan Young in 9.50, Lizzy in Comp Bike and myself in Pro Stock, we were set on a pretty busy weekend!Saturday came, and down to the start line for Comp and Pro Stock, with Juniors a few classes behind. I helped Lizzy get set and run, then donned helmet and gloves on for my run. First pass for the PSB was a 7.80 @ 170mph, that gave me number 2 slot. Although we were still not getting data from the logger, and the 60 foot times were down. Towed back to the pits, Chris, my Crew Chief was helping Lizzy get her bike ready for another run.Gipp and Nige set about getting the PSB turned around and made some more changes to get out 60 foots back, while I went off to the line again, this time with Jake!Qualifier 2, same deal, set Lizzy off, back to the Stocker, did the burnout and the...
European Finals 2012
As we battle with a press release, and look out and see it's pouring down with rain again, we can only be thankful how very lucky we were with four days of fantastic weather over the European Finals.......Kev writes..... Q1 Straight out of the trailer, first round, on a bye, 7.87 @ 167.9 mph, and a 1.23 sec 60 foot. This was not a bad starting run for me, and had me at number 1 qualifier for a least 30 seconds ! The bike is still not 60 footing, and the data logger is not helping by showing corrupt data. At present we are trying to tune the bike by what I feel and what Gipp and Chris see. Back to pits, serviced the bike and make a few tiny changes to help me and the bike hopefully get some better 60's.Q2 Left lane against Elvira Karlsson. My reaction time was not as good as the first, launched ok, but the bike has some smoke escaping, which we initially thought was from the rocker cover. Shifted into 2nd gear, and realised that I did not have the bike on full throttle - my bad! Back on full throttle for the...
The Open Sports Nationals 2012
After a while of downtime since the last official meeting I was looking forward to some competitive racing, we arrived at Shakey on Friday and it was already raining! But spurred on by the previous rain offs we went ahead and put the awning up, got the bikes out etc.Saturday certainly didn’t set a good mood for the weekend, even despite the track crew’s efforts to dry the track only a few classes actually got out sadly not including Junior Bike!Photo Thanks Lizz McCarthy Sunday began with Comp Bike out first and glorious sunshine! Junior Bike where out a few classes later and we decided on a dial of 9.87 and I ran 10.11 which we put down to rider error as for some reason (still don’t know to this day!) I didn’t ping the clutch, I just dumped it! So, next run out we used the same dial in but despite a correct launch I ran 10.11 again, so we put in a new spark plug and dialled a 10.12 for the final qualifier. Now, I don’t know how much power a new plug makes, but I pinged the clutch and the chain broke! Back to the pits, repaired...
Lizz McCarthy: Person Of The Week!
Nitrous Junkie's very own comp bike rider Lizz McCarthy has recently been named Dragbike.com's person of the week well done Lizz!Click Here to see her write up.Photography Thanks Angus Pulley
The Bulldog Bash 2012 - Lizz does the double!
This year as Kev was not going to be doing demonstration passes at the Bulldog Bash, I was invited instead. It was more track time before the Open Sports, and will give us a chance to test a few things that we had been meaning to, but unable due to the terrible weather we have suffered this season, and the fact I broke my wrists in May! This weekends crew was Kev and his Crew Chief Chris Pyke. They have a weath of experience and an amazing rapport, and certainly put me at ease......The first demo I was quite nervous. From watching some of the run what you brungers going up the strip, it looked a bit slippery. I was assured that the track would be prepped so went and got changed, and did the last checks on the bike with the boys. We were called so went and got ourselves situated against the wall. Kev started me, and burnout done, I forgot to stop and wait for him to get me back into first gear, and rolled towards Chris who was spotting me, and looked quite surprised to see me there so soon! Gears sorted, purged nitrous, and went...
TOTB Demos 2012
After some cracking runs at Avon Park last weekend we decided to do some test runs at totb at Elvington. When I arrived I was expecting to do my usual, 1/8 mile and roll the rest. But as usual, there was a problem. Elvington doesn’t have 1/8 mile timing, so this meant I would have to run my first ever quarter and on an unfamiliar track too! There was a huge headwind, but with much anticipation (new track nerves as dad says!) rolled up to the line. It launched beautifully and ran well too! I ran 17.56 @ 59 mph despite having to shut off before the finish due to the wind getting under my chest and trying to blow me off! Back to the pits maintenance done and out for another pass. I went down to the line with my demons put to bed knowing what to expect. I went up to the light ready to launch but must have gone slightly past it as when I pinged the clutch the bike bogged slightly running a 17.39 @ 70mph. Next run was a pretty textbook pass, spun the tyre a tad but still ran a 17.52 @ 68mph. As...
For Ladies That Launch 2012
After being picked up from Don Kennedy on Friday afternoon we loaded my bike into the van and set off for shakey where we wanted to try out a few new things. The first of the changes was using a launch light, which despite making the bike look like a Christmas decoration really helped my launching. On my first run out I managed to pull a .070 reaction and after Don’s tuning I ran a 9.9 @65MPH. Despite the better times, the rear tyre was still struggling to recover after spinning off the line, so that afternoon we changed the rear tyre. The new tyre helped to get my time down to a 9.8 @67MPH. My next run I bought the revs up to the launch light but took them too high so it hit the limiter and started to die.As always I would like to thank Dad and Lizz and also my sponsors Uncle Steve at Motorshack and Alan at RCP Training.After racing at Ladies that Launch, this was the first time back on the bike since breaking both her wrists in a car accident in May. Lizz McCarthy has got back on the bike nervously at first, using...
Summer Nationals 2012
Met up with Richard Gipp, his crew Nigel and the Pro Stock bike at the track on Friday, set up as per normal, and bike all prepped, scrutineered and ready for Saturday. Lizzy was keeping an eye on the weather forecast, as it was changing hourly, from terrible to not so bad but windy!Saturday, we were not disappointed, weather was dry but terribly windy, but nothing we couldn't handle.Qualifier #1 7.88 secs @ 166 mph - Spun off the line hurting only the 60 foot, the rest of the run was fine, not too bad a start for an opener. #2 QualifierQualifier #2 - We had to sit out, as the clutch switch stopped working just as we were about to leave for this qualifier. We had no time to fix it.Qualifier #3 - 7.83 secs @ 166 mph - Left the line ok, the 60 foot was a bit better, but still had some spin. I thought had double shifted on 2nd shift, but video evidence proves different. There was a slight improvement on time.Qualifier #4 - I was made to sit this one out too, as last time I over ruled the Boss, I damaged the bike !...