All Bikes at the Dragstrip

[Cliffy777]

Yee - hah. Closed the store early Saturday and scooted out to US 131 Motorsports park to watch nothin' but bikes, oh and snowmobiles race the quarter mile.
It was great to not have to wait and wait and wait to see some fast bikes. There were no cars racing that day.
Fast? I saw a street legal, pretty much out of the box Hyabusa shoot down the track at 169 mph

It was all bikes:

[Cliffy777]

Les Lynema is shown here. He has been the overall bike champ at the track for the last 4 years. He doesn't have the fastest bike, but he is a smart racer. He has been drag racing since 1969.

Here he is preparing to blast off on his '81 Kaw 1000.

[Cliffy777]

are a husband and wife racing team. Here is Doug in the muscle shirt with leathers next to Mary on her yellow flying machine.

[Cliffy777]

Since my reflexes (and those of my camera) are not so good at shooting targets moving at 120-160 mph, I like to get them at the starting line!
Here is Doug warming his tires.

[Cliffy777]

Heeeere's Mary:

[Cliffy777]

This is Mike Lynema on his bike. His goal this season is to take the track champ honors back from his dad. Mike was on top for the '97 and '98 seasons.

[Cliffy777]

you guys in Californy don't race these on your dragstrips...
This is Terry Tolan on the line with his '99 Polaris XER. They have the sleds race against the bikes at 131. (I think the sled riders would rather take on the cars.)
Terry puts it down the track at 120 mph or so.

[Cliffy777]

Here is Terry with his son Travis. Travis is looking to take the Snowmobile Safety Course this fall so he can start chasing his dad down the track soon.

[Cliffy777]

SInce we didn't have any in July (thank God), they have to use some extra-ordinary things to cool down the sleds.

[Cliffy777]

It was a great day of racing. No rain. Not too hot and the bikes kept on going and going and going. There was a pretty good selection of bikes in the lot and racing.
No beemers but mine!
I had a great ride home (50 miles of my favorite back roads) in great temp and lighting. By that I mean there was a gorgeous sunset - and we don't get those all the time in Michigan.
Here is Mike Lynema inspecting his ride between rounds:

[lorazepam]

Great report Cliffy. It is nice to see dry pavemant at the track.

[BradfordBenn]

To quote Bill Murray

"I wanna party with you!"

[motofranz]

What do the Snowmobiles run on ..
rubber tracks ? or do they have wheels?
Must be a rough ride at 100+

[cgarr]

What do the Snowmobiles run on ..
rubber tracks ? or do they have wheels?
Must be a rough ride at 100+


I have to second that question cliffy........

[Cliffy777]

I don't believe it is a rough ride at all. I am not basing that on a riding experience, but watching them blast down the track the other day it did not seem as if they were getting the stuffing jarred out of themselves.
The tread is a kind of a slick - it is thicker than you might expect and smooth like a slick instead of studded or cleated like you run in the snow. They get a good amount of traction because there is a lot of surface contact area because the treads are three feet long or so. The snowmobiles seem like they get the power to the pavement.
Now that I think about it....I have ridden sleds on ice - just about as hard as pavement! The suspension is very good and the ride is smooth, especially on the new machines.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Cliffy777
There was a pretty good selection of bikes in the lot and racing.
No beemers but mine!


So, like, how did you place?? We're all hoping you put in a good showing for BMW.

:D

[Cliffy777]

Sorry to disappoint, but my visit to the dragstrip was in my capacity of cub reporter for the world famous weekly; The Penasee Globe. I was not there as a racer.