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May 28, 2008-Corrales, New Mexico - The Desert Dawgs- Greg Krenik, Karen Raffa, Steve Allstaedt and Justin Lail regrouped on the East Coast for the Eastern Swing which kicked off at the Stone Mountain Harley Davidson Southern Nationals in Atlanta, GA then leaving the rig in the East for the upcoming Ohio and Maryland All Harley Drag Racing Associations National events.
Packing the rig for 3 events and not having the bikes in New Mexico is tough, all around. You have to bring EVERYTHING! Every clutch plate, belt, shifters, and every spare part you have in stock, you just never know what you will need! The drive East was ‘windy’, again, they love the tail winds but those side winds just beat Greg up-especially with those ‘new elbows’. They stopped for the first time in Amarillo, TX to photograph and explore Cadillac Ranch. It was way windy and super cool and ‘graffiti’ was encouraged, hmmmm.
Steve and Greg got the bikes ready for Friday’s test and tune. They had their work cut out for them, they were putting a new clutch in the Pro Stock. Not just a new clutch but one made out of a different material. They had no data what-so-ever to set it up. They ran in the right lane and the Pro Modified ran very good, so good that they blew the MPH record away on both passes. It was odd that the ET didn’t get faster also. The Pro Stock only made one pass, they missed the clutch setup and drove through it, but the bike shifted and even with all the problems they still broke the mph record...odd, once again, that the ET was so slow and the mph was so fast. Maybe for race day things will be figured out. They were happy with the speeds but still questioned them.
Saturday’s qualifying was good and also frustrating. The Dawgs were about to find out how fast the left lane was, because Greg drew the left lane for the first and third runs for both classes. The Pro Mod was first, Krenik ran an 8.64 at 151 mph, that put him in the #1 spot. OK, a faster ET but almost 6 mph slower from Friday in the right lane.…interesting. The Pro Stock was next and he ran an 8.36 at 163.93 mph which was good enough to be #1. The 163 was very close to the AHDRA National record.
The second round was in the right lane and the PM broke loose and ran an 8.65 but at 153 mph. Greg still held the #1 spot. On the PS it also broke loose pretty bad shoving Greg close to the wall, he backed out of it to run a 12.69. He was in the #2 qualifying spot.
The third round of qualifying got worse. In the staging lanes just before Greg was to go to the water box on his PM he noticed cuts in his rear tire. Apparently the chain had been rubbing on the side of the tire and had rubbed it almost through. They opted to not do their last qualifying run with Greg holding on with the #1 Qualifier position. Once again, the Pro Stock had the tire break loose and Greg was off the pace with an 8.42. He had to settle for the #3 Qualifier spot. “Man, the track was a moving target.” said Krenik. “We’d make a run, get the data, make changes and the track would deteriorate and it would be like we did nothing. We have a really fast bike, but you’d never know it by watching us today.” he added.
Sunday, the day that counts. “We made our clutch changes for today based on best guesses.” said Allstaedt. “After the last two races we now know you have to account for less than adequate track prep. Many questions go through your head before the elimination rounds begin…Did they prep before the Pros start? Did they do a better job than Saturday? We have a narrow window with the PS clutch…with a good consistent track, we will be hard to beat. One that is not, you see what has happened these last three events. We slip the clutch to avoid breaking the tire loose but either we go through the clutch or the fingers lock up too fast and we spin the tire. A very fine line. Also, if we break the tire loose at the hit of the throttle the tranny won’t make the first shift, it gets bound up until the rpm drops.” said Steve.
The Pro Stock is up first on Sunday and Greg took the first round win and set the ¼ Mile MPH record at 165.48 mph while running an 8.39…in the left lane! In Pro Mod, Greg had a bye run because of there being an odd number of bikes. The Dawgs used the bye run as their 3rd test run. Greg got out of the groove a bit and broke the tire loose before going into second gear finishing with an 8.70.
The second round of PS had Greg racing against the current points leader. They really needed the win. With the latest adjustments to the clutch they thought they were on track. At the hit of the throttle Greg broke the tire loose, thus giving Bruce the win as Greg missed the first shift. On the PM, Greg ran an 8.71 due to breaking the tire loose again but he took the win advancing to the semi finals.
In the semi’s Greg was against Randy Borho. Randy beat Greg on the tree by a hundredth and pulled him at the top end for a 0.03 second win. The Dawgs would not go to the finals at this event.
“We did well but others did better. We set a record in PS and also broke the PM record but so did Randy by a little more so it’s his, congrats to him!” said Greg.
Up next for the Desert Dawgs:
Roeder Harley-Davidson Ohio Bike Week Nationals in Norwalk, OH June 13 – 15
Northeast Nationals in Cecil County, MD June 28 -29
Desert Dawg Sets the Pro Stock National ¼ Mile MPH Record and is Pro Modified #1 Qualifier!
May 28, 2008-Corrales, New Mexico - The Desert Dawgs- Greg Krenik, Karen Raffa, Steve Allstaedt and Justin Lail regrouped on the East Coast for the Eastern Swing which kicked off at the Stone Mountain Harley Davidson Southern Nationals in Atlanta, GA then leaving the rig in the East for the upcoming Ohio and Maryland All Harley Drag Racing Associations National events.
Packing the rig for 3 events and not having the bikes in New Mexico is tough, all around. You have to bring EVERYTHING! Every clutch plate, belt, shifters, and every spare part you have in stock, you just never know what you will need! The drive East was ‘windy’, again, they love the tail winds but those side winds just beat Greg up-especially with those ‘new elbows’. They stopped for the first time in Amarillo, TX to photograph and explore Cadillac Ranch. It was way windy and super cool and ‘graffiti’ was encouraged, hmmmm.
Steve and Greg got the bikes ready for Friday’s test and tune. They had their work cut out for them, they were putting a new clutch in the Pro Stock. Not just a new clutch but one made out of a different material. They had no data what-so-ever to set it up. They ran in the right lane and the Pro Modified ran very good, so good that they blew the MPH record away on both passes. It was odd that the ET didn’t get faster also. The Pro Stock only made one pass, they missed the clutch setup and drove through it, but the bike shifted and even with all the problems they still broke the mph record...odd, once again, that the ET was so slow and the mph was so fast. Maybe for race day things will be figured out. They were happy with the speeds but still questioned them.
Saturday’s qualifying was good and also frustrating. The Dawgs were about to find out how fast the left lane was, because Greg drew the left lane for the first and third runs for both classes. The Pro Mod was first, Krenik ran an 8.64 at 151 mph, that put him in the #1 spot. OK, a faster ET but almost 6 mph slower from Friday in the right lane.…interesting. The Pro Stock was next and he ran an 8.36 at 163.93 mph which was good enough to be #1. The 163 was very close to the AHDRA National record.
The second round was in the right lane and the PM broke loose and ran an 8.65 but at 153 mph. Greg still held the #1 spot. On the PS it also broke loose pretty bad shoving Greg close to the wall, he backed out of it to run a 12.69. He was in the #2 qualifying spot.
The third round of qualifying got worse. In the staging lanes just before Greg was to go to the water box on his PM he noticed cuts in his rear tire. Apparently the chain had been rubbing on the side of the tire and had rubbed it almost through. They opted to not do their last qualifying run with Greg holding on with the #1 Qualifier position. Once again, the Pro Stock had the tire break loose and Greg was off the pace with an 8.42. He had to settle for the #3 Qualifier spot. “Man, the track was a moving target.” said Krenik. “We’d make a run, get the data, make changes and the track would deteriorate and it would be like we did nothing. We have a really fast bike, but you’d never know it by watching us today.” he added.
Sunday, the day that counts. “We made our clutch changes for today based on best guesses.” said Allstaedt. “After the last two races we now know you have to account for less than adequate track prep. Many questions go through your head before the elimination rounds begin…Did they prep before the Pros start? Did they do a better job than Saturday? We have a narrow window with the PS clutch…with a good consistent track, we will be hard to beat. One that is not, you see what has happened these last three events. We slip the clutch to avoid breaking the tire loose but either we go through the clutch or the fingers lock up too fast and we spin the tire. A very fine line. Also, if we break the tire loose at the hit of the throttle the tranny won’t make the first shift, it gets bound up until the rpm drops.” said Steve.
The Pro Stock is up first on Sunday and Greg took the first round win and set the ¼ Mile MPH record at 165.48 mph while running an 8.39…in the left lane! In Pro Mod, Greg had a bye run because of there being an odd number of bikes. The Dawgs used the bye run as their 3rd test run. Greg got out of the groove a bit and broke the tire loose before going into second gear finishing with an 8.70.
The second round of PS had Greg racing against the current points leader. They really needed the win. With the latest adjustments to the clutch they thought they were on track. At the hit of the throttle Greg broke the tire loose, thus giving Bruce the win as Greg missed the first shift. On the PM, Greg ran an 8.71 due to breaking the tire loose again but he took the win advancing to the semi finals.
In the semi’s Greg was against Randy Borho. Randy beat Greg on the tree by a hundredth and pulled him at the top end for a 0.03 second win. The Dawgs would not go to the finals at this event.
“We did well but others did better. We set a record in PS and also broke the PM record but so did Randy by a little more so it’s his, congrats to him!” said Greg.
Up next for the Desert Dawgs:
Roeder Harley-Davidson Ohio Bike Week Nationals in Norwalk, OH June 13 – 15
Northeast Nationals in Cecil County, MD June 28 -29
