Saturday-Live Update Reports

Update from qualifying- ET and SEP classes completed and were followed by Dragmasters Hot Street entries. Rick Cathcart leads the Syn3 ET qualifying and with the “best”- Greg Best leads the SEP round after one.

Mike Roberts led off his Hot Street season with a record pass of 10.154 at 125.66mph-bettering his own records from the 04 season.

The S & S 124 class debuted with a pair of entries with Jim Fagan up front with a 10.923 at 126.79mph. Clay Wilwert had a shaky start with a 16.510 at 76.43mph

More to come..

First pair of bikes are in the burnout box and we are off and running at the Screamin’ Eagle Performance Bike Week Nationals Presented by Gainesville Harley-Davidson.

Good morning from Gainesville Raceway. The season opener is in full swing with the Syn3 ET class underway with round one qualifying. Racers are still checking in at tech and we expect well over 200 for the weekend.

The temps are forecasted in the mid 70’s today with lots of sunshine.

Stay tuned for qualifying results right here on ahdra.com.

Friday Test and Tune session has concluded- The rigs are still rolling in and setting up for tomorrow’s kick off. We are set to begin at 9:00am with the Sportsman and the G2 Street Pro class will lead the Pro qualifying off at 11:00am.

Join us here for all the action.

Back from a short trip to the pits with more info:

I made a visit to the staging lanes and found Tom Bradford getting ready for a big weekend. “We will be busy beavers this weekend”, he commented. Bradford and the Hal’s H-D team will enter three bikes into the competition this weekend including a V-Rod, Pro Stock and Pro Gas bike. Rob Schopf will give the S & S 124 class a try this weekend.

Turns out George Bryce was testing a brand-new ride for customer Chris Rivas on that 7.09 pass from Chip Ellis. Bryce is here to deliver the new first-time-down-the track- bike to Rivas who will be the rider in this weekends Pro Gas competition. In fact, Bryce says they delivered several new bikes to customers here this weekend that include several

S & S 124 -class bikes and a Street Pro bike. “We’re here to make sure they run”, Bryce added with much excitement. “That 7.09 was way beyond our expectations. We expected a 7-something, but that was fantastic”.

I gathered more info on the Timmons-Romine pairing. The Nitro Harley team will be sporting the H-D of Salt Lake City Racing title this year. Dennis Paul of Chromatic will still have his part in Romine’s motor and throw in a little consulting. Romine says he has a new bike underway that he hopes to have on the track in Phoenix.

Team Mancuso is here and reports no changes were made to the championship teams entries for the 2005 season.

Drums Brancaccio grabbed a passenger seat in Tracy Kile’s truck for the ride to Gainesville. Kile plans to keep his same set-up from the 04 season, while Brancaccio plans to ride multiple DJ Johnson prepped machines. Brancaccio says he will be pulling Top fuel bike known from “Freddy Goes Racing” history that was first in 7-second zone from years ago and possibly ride it in the Pro Fuel class this weekend.

More coming soon.

The latest from Gainesville- Chip Ellis piloting a bike here for Pro Stock competition- His first test run (moments ago) lit the scoreboards with a 7.09 at 187.03mph. Obviously the track is prepped and ready for plenty of action!

Welcome to the 2005 Screamin Eagle Performance Parts Championship Series Season Debut!

We are at Gainesville Raceway for the season opener and the skies are shining brightly at the Screamin Eagle Bike Week Nationals presented by Gainesville Harley-Davidson.

Temps are in the high 60’s and very pleasant conditions are hovering over the track as the pits fill with trailers holding two-wheels of excitement.

No doubt the race teams are ready to get back at if for the 2005 season. The eagerness is evident with the competitive grins entering the gate.

A test and tune is underway by the Gainesville Raceway staff and runs until 5pm.

Straight to the eights (8.98) was where the Gene Lummus ride piloted by Travis Lummus went on the first quarter mile ride of the season. Sporting a new blue color scheme and touting new sponsor JIMS- the Lummus team anxiously awaits to start the competition on Saturday.

Other observations during test and tune- Famed bike builder, Kendall Johnson is here with a brand new bike “completed last night” according to the Discovery Channel star.

Johnson will enter the bike in the G2 Street Pro competition this weekend and it will be his son taking on the riding duties.

In Screamin Eagle Nitro Harley news- You never know who holds what secrets in the performance circle. Time will tell when the trailers are unloaded and they roll up to the line.

Joe Timmons of Salt Lake City is here and he has a newly announced teammate-Mike Romine. Romine and the Chromatic Racing bike is certainly not a new name in Nitro Harley-with two consecutive national runner-up titles and a blistering record pass from last years NHRA exhibition show. I plan to catch up with Joe, Mike and Dennis Paul from Chromatic later today for a little sneak scoop on the 05 season. Stay tuned for that.

Doug and Julie Vancil arrived with the Vance and Hines/Drag Specialties entry-however; it arrived under slightly different shelter. The tractor-trailer rig is still undergoing final preparations for the season, but the temporary U-Haul transport did the job of getting the bike and equipment here safely. We will all be watching to see what they have in store on the track.

It is still quite early and the gates are flowing nicely. We will follow up with more from the AHDRA 2005 season debut later.

Thanks for tuning in..