ManCup Races At The Rock

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he weather was abo ut perfect

for mid-September when the Manufacturers Cup National Motorcycle Racing Series competed at The Rockingham Dragway. The Corona19 virus reduced the fields to some extent since many of the foreign teams couldn’t be in North Carolina for the 39 th Annual 190Hookup.comNationals presented by Robinson Industries. But that didn’t stop my buddies in the sportsman classes from having a great time at the dragstrip.

ManCup races feature the quickest and fastest motorcycles in quarter mile competition. All brands race and often my Harley drags buddies kick ass against the foreign machines. Yeah, Ken’s big ole chopper whooped the field in ET class on Sunday.

Sam White, Chapin, SC, was there with his High Gear Pro Fuel machine to thrill fans of big motor fuel bikes. He also competed on his Pro Dragster and finished runner-up in that class. I love the 120 inch Nitro Bikes and so do the fans.

ManCup action continued down through the classes from Pro Mod to a couple of ET Dial In classes. Lots of Carolina racers were at The Rock looking for records and wins. I saw Keith Browne, Semora, NC, make some quick passes on his

too cool turbo Harley. I love seeing that machine run well.

Lumbee Racing and Team Mad Monkey were well represented at The Rock. Paul Watson, Greensboro, NC, looked great, as always and put on a show for the folks. Paul Uricchio, Charleston, SC; Travis Groff, Hopkins, SC and Brian Peterson, Archdale, NC, beat up on the Jap Bikes all weekend. They ran personal best times and went rounds for their Carolina fans.

Mitch Dibble, Laurinburg, NC, is back on the strip and making better passes every time he brings the wife’s Sportster out to beat on it.

Chris Rasile, Greensboro, NC, is a longtime Harley drag racer. His Fast Lane Cycles entries from some restored antique race bike to the XR-1200 he runs now are always impressive.

He already held the Super Eliminator Class HD/S record with a12.14 second elapsed time at 109.21miles an hour for last year’s race. From the time Chris hit the strip he was busting his old records getting down to a 12.03.

“I said to a few guys all I want to see is a 11.9999 pass to confirm that I ran an eleven second pass on this stock 2009 XR-1200 Sportster”, Chris said. “Well I did it on my third and final qualifying run. I blew right past the 11.90 zone with a killer 11.89 run. So here it is, folks, my new HD/S Class

World Record is now officially in the 11 Second zone and I picked up 2.5 MPH with my 111.44 top end speed record.” This was a great early birthday present, only 8 days away from tonight while Fastlane Keeps On Rockin’

So, Carolina racers showed up and did well at The Rock for the ManCup race. Bikers and racers don’t always need the top fastest classes to have fun.

One thing I dig about ManCup races is the variety of bikes. Some of the quickest street machines you can imagine are there. And some old style race bikes, too. That single cam Honda 750 was built to win rounds. There were some Kawasaki KZ 900’s and 1,000’s from back in the day when those were bad ass street racing machines. I saw a real clean Suzuki GS 1100 making passes. And there were even some old two stroke race bikes for the folks who dig that ring a ding ding sound and the smell of oil in the air.

Sorry I didn’t get all the racer’s and winner’s names this time. But I know y’all had a good time at The Rock for the 39 th Annual 190Hookup.com Nationals presented by Robinson Industries and the ManCup. I hope to see y’all at the dragstrip again cheering for your favorite teams.