Comeback King Makes Trip Pay

story and photos by Tim Hailey

With the powers that be all warm and fuzzy again, the Exoticycle/Roaring Toyz Manufacturers Cup Spring Cup at South Georgia Motorsports Park was as packed and flush as you’d want it to be. Here’s a sampling of what went down, with full-on reports to follow.

British star Ian King shipped his bike over for a 3-way battle for the last spot in the MTC 5 Second Club. King’s run several 5s in Europe, but the Club only admits American passes, strangely. King had a stout run wasted on Saturday when the clocks appeared to have not been reset. So on Sunday, he won the Pingel Top Fuel race and posted a stunning 5.87 in the final. Much more on this—including video—soon.

Larry McBride boils the hide before boiling the SGMP track with a 5.79 on Friday night. McBride hates losing, but seemed pleased with King’s entry into the 5 second club and successful trip across the pond.

Why was McBride suddenly losing grip this weekend? Brother/tuner Steve (above) explained it this way—”We found 200 extra horsepower(!!) this weekend. That narrowed the range where the clutch would work from here (holds his hands about 2 feet apart) to here (his fingers now a quarter inch apart)”

“Maybe if I close my eyes I can visualize a 5″…..is that would Ian is thinking? It worked!

Dave Vantine recovered from a mid-week, frame-damaging explosion to go down swinging. He spun badly against King in E1.

Pingel Top Fuel results

It took a lot of DME horsepower for Terence Angela to overcome this E1 starting line deficit to Keith Dennis. Angela went on to beat Ryan Schnitz in the Orient Express Pro Street final, as HTP struggles back from their Rockingham debacle.

Watch this video of action and interviews from Valdosta:

DME’s Joey Gladstone qualified #1 in Pro Street with a 6.905, and on Sunday ran 215.51 mph—both records

Frankie Stotz also ran a 6.90, a 6.908 to take out poor Jason Duniganin E1—making his first 6 second pass with a 6.97

The Mouth of the Mid South, Keith “Shine” Dennis, notched a 6th place 7.13 on this turbo ‘Busa

MORE ABOUT PRO STREET AT VALDOSTA

Orient Express Pro Street results

It was “AO Time” for McKinney Motorsports as Ashley Owens won the APE Pro Comp final against a -.009 redlighting Billy Vose

“It’s A.O. Time,” Eric McKinney said on his way to the South Georgia Motorsports Park winners circle. His McKinney Motorsports teammate Ashley Owens (A.O.) had just won APE Pro Comp at the Exoticycle/Roaring Toyz Spring Cup and it was time to celebrate. It was the second win in two weekends for the Hamersville, Ohio-based team, after Eric collected the hardware at the first ever PDRA race at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina the previous Sunday.

Mark Paquette’s turbo Kawasaki led APE Pro Comp qualifying by a mile with a 4.05. His handful-of-a-motorcycle went down to Vose in the semis.

Owens win avenged Eric McKinney’s loss to Vose in round 2. MORE PRO COMP PHOTOS

Paul Gast qualified #2 in APE Pro Comp and lost to Owens in the semis. MORE PHOTOS

Billy Vose and the MPS ‘Busa. MORE PRO COMP PHOTOS

Making Owens’ win even sweeter for the McKinney team was the opponent in the other lane—multi-time champ Billy Vose. Owens’ winlight avenged McKinney’s round 2 loss to arch-rival Vose, who redlit against Ashley.