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Milestone win for Adams Performance, Jeremy Teasley, nitrous oxide, and Kawasaki
Video clip of interviews at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImAEXwk-bLc
AMA Dragbike’s MTC Elmer Trett Nationals proved to be a milestone event
for Kawasaki, 19 year-old rider Jeremy Teasley, the power-adder nitrous
oxide, builder/tuner Coby Adams of Adams Performance, and bike owner
Roger Starrette.
Neither a nitrous bike nor a Kawasaki has won an Orient Express Pro
Street race since the class added an inch of ground clearance and
changed its name from Streetbike Shootout several years ago. The last
Shootout win for a Kawasaki came with the Rob Muzzy-built turbo ZX12
ridden in 2004 by Rickey Gadson. The last win for a nitrous bike was
with an old-school Suzuki GSXR built by Adams and ridden by Ryan
Schnitz in 2002. Adams now fields a turbo Kawasaki ZX14 for Gadson and
a Roger Starrette-owned nitrous ZX14 for Teasley in Pro Street.
What everyone in the class found in Friday testing was a green Atlanta
Dragway racetrack. An unseasoned surface is typical for the early April
event in northern Georgia, and openly hostile to the 550 horsepower
turbo bikes, especially in the back half of the track where turbo power
really shines. Nitrous bikes, with a slider clutch and a little extra
wheelbase, have the advantage down low. So in a class that is preparing
for a 6 Second Club, Teasley was able to nail his first Pro Street win
with sharp lights and a 7.40 in the final over Jason Dunigan.
The team blew up the A motor on Teasley’s nitrous bike in the second
round of qualifying on Saturday, settling for seventh place in the
order but getting the new bullet in and taking an eighth mile shut-off
pass in Q3. “We didn’t know what broke the other one, so we just wanted
to play it safe with the back-up motor,” said crew chief Garron Miller.
Gadson qualified fifth on the turbo bike, but only after a crowd
pleasing, half-track wheelie. “Man, we’re not throwing any boost to it
and it’s wheelieing out there,” said Miller. “I mean, the crowd
yesterday was crazy for 10 minutes when Rickey rode that eighth mile
wheelie. As big as a crowd as we had yesterday, that was awesome. So it
was a good show that he did that, but it wasn’t good ET-wise. We
changed motors and it‘s making more power than it ever has. We kept
taking power out and taking power out, but we still can’t stop the
wheelies. No matter how much power I’m taking out, feeling I’m taking
TOO much out, I’m still not taking out enough. It’s still wheelieing.
I’ll have to look somewhere else, I guess.”
And so Gadson lost to Dunigan in round 1. “We definitely need to have
Rickey come down, stay a week, work on the front half, work on the 330,
and get that part down again and go back to the basics where we were
going .20’s,” continued Miller. “Now we’re going .34’s at 204 on the
back tire and he’s only in it the first 100 feet. After that he’s 50%
throttle and he’s riding these wheelies that he shouldn’t have to ride.”
Teasley’s nitrous bike is hooked up, however, and never seems to spin
or take off skyward. “We shortened it up an inch when we got here to
get it to hook up, and it stayed down,” said Jeremy. Teasley beat Mike
Kovacevich in round 1 and champion Mike Slowe in 2 with a 7.37 holeshot
win over Slowe’s 7.30. Jeremy then faced Victor Gotay, who broke the
MPH record on Saturday with a 209 lap. Gotay may have been going for it
a little too much against Teasley on Sunday and had a bad pass, while
Jeremy ran 7.40 to advance to the final against Dunigan.
Teasley is race-tested week in week and week out on everything from
Street ET bikes to flyweight grudge bikes. And on Sunday, Jeremy was
shuttling back and forth from the timing shed to the starting line in
Pro Street and Supersport all the way to the finals and into the Street
ET semis. So even though still a teenager, Teasley is veteran beyond
his years. But he was going up against Dunigan’s ubiquitous and
powerful turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa combination. Jeremy would have to
take the tree and make a flawless lap. Check on both accounts for
Teasley, while Dunigan reached too far and overpowered in the other
lane. In only the second Pro Street race for both Teasley and the bike,
the win was theirs. “It’s not the fastest guy that always wins,” said
Jeremy. “It’s good lights and consistent passes. I didn’t think we were
gonna win this fast, but I’ll take it.”
“I think it’s pretty awesome,” said Adams. “I really didn’t think we
were gonna win a race this year. I thought we’d be mid-pack, hanging in
there and going a couple rounds. But winning is pretty cool.”
“It’s good for Kawasaki, good for Roger Starrette and Adams Performance, and good for Jeremy Teasley,” said Miller.
“The main thing is Roger,” said Teasley, a lot more talkative than he
used to be but still not up to Miller’s standards. “He’s the owner and
the only reason this bike’s sitting here right now. After Saturday’s
second qualifying pass, Roger ripped it apart and put it back together.
As soon as they put the new motor in it started running away. The other
motor was old and tired, I guess. They switched a fiber in the slider
and it went from .090 lights to .020’s and .030’s, so that helped a
lot. That’s how we won second round. You gotta leave first on a nitrous
bike, that’s expected, and that’s the only way I’m gonna win.”
“The rules have always been there for nitrous bikes, and I’m surprised
no one’s taken advantage of it before,” said Starrette. “It’s not like
we ran away with it, but I knew we’d be competitive, but not this
quick. The bike was good, but not great, and Jeremy did his job. That
was just a back-up Real Street motor that we put in after the other one
blew. There’s nothing special about it. Coby built it, but it doesn’t
have all the Coby tricks. It doesn’t have the Pro Street head, isn’t
making the horsepower the Pro Street motor is. In typical Coby fashion,
though, we just sprayed it a little more. What better combination is
there than Coby Adams and nitrous? And a lightweight pilot?”
Supersport
Making Teasley’s accomplishment all
the more remarkable was the constant switch between the violent nitrous
bike and his nearly stock Supersport ZX14, also built and tuned by
Adams. But the unflappable Teasley also won Dragbikelive.com Supersport
as well, a rare pro class double. Jeremy beat Fun For All Motorsports’
D.J. Payton in the Supersport final, one of four Fun For All riders in
Atlanta finals. “It’s been a long time coming for Supersport,” said
Adams. “Jeremy definitely showed a lot of improvement this weekend over
the first race of the season. He definitely felt more comfortable and
didn’t let things get to him.”
Real Street
The Adams Performance / RS Motorsports
stable also fields an array of ZX14’s in BST Wheels Real Street, with
Adams piloting one and Richard Gadson the other at Atlanta. Adams lost
in round 3 to eventual winner Chip Ellis. “In about the first two feet
I blew the tire off and the bike was aiming for Chip,” laughed Adams.
“I shoulda kept it pinned and took him out. I told him ‘If I kept it
pinned I was gonna hit your back wheel.’ I had an .027 light. That
light was an accident, but it happened.”
Gadson rode a great race for the team, carrying the black and copper ZX14 all the way to the final.
So it was a busy day for the Adams Performance/ RS Motorsports
compound. “We’ve got a good system down and I’ve got good guys helping
me,” said Starrette. “So we’re getting the system down where it’s not
stressin’ anybody out.” Except for their opponents.
Adams Performance races next at the FBG Spring Bike Classic & Swap
Meet, May 1-2, 2010 at Maryland International Raceway in Budd’s Creek,
Maryland.
Adams Performance would like to thank Kawasaki, Monster Energy Drink, Muzzy’s, Adams Performance, Precision Turbo, Catalyst Racing Composites, Innovate Motorsports, AEM, GPR, Vortex, Litz Racing, Michelin and Richie’s Tires, World Wide Bearings, Carillo, JE Pistons, IMMI Cargo Buckles, Roost MX, NGK, Schnitz Racing, XXX Racing Fuel, Marine Crankshaft, K&N Filters, Motul, Fuelab, Speedcell and Gale Speed .
contact: Coby Adams, Adams Performance 501 Performance Road, Mooresville, North Carolina 28115, (704) 662-0992 CobyAdams@windstream.net , http://www.adamsperformance.net
For media inquiries: Tim Hailey (718) 554-3866 timhailey@earthlink.net
For more information about Rickey Gadson go to
http://www.kawasaki.com/Racing_DragRacing/RacingTeamMemberDR.aspx
For more information about Jeremy Teasley go to http://www.eatmyink.com/jeremyteasley/index.html
For more information about AMA Dragbike go to http://www.amadragbike.com
This team report was prepared by Tim Hailey, http://www.eatmyink.com
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