<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/C_Ellis.jpg" alt="C_Ellis" align="left"borders="0"/>
Chip Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S Cycle team carried the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship fight right down to the final finishline at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, California. "The last two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster," said G2 crew chief and co-owner George Smith. "We had a chance to win the race in Las Vegas and we didn't get the job done. So we knew going into Pomona that we had a tough row to hoe. We were down 39 points to the leader Andrew Hines, which meant we had to win two more rounds than him. We knew we had to qualify ahead of Andrew."
Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S powered Buell have practically owned the number one qualifying position the last half of the season, so staying ahead of Hines didn't seem a daunting task. And by the second round in Pomona, Chip was back on top of the qualifying order.
qualifying round 1
4th Chip Ellis left lane 7.010 at 188.46 mph
qualifying round 2
1st Chip Ellis right lane 6.965 at 191.46 mph
But a technical glitch in the third round set the team back. "We were on a 6.93 run when the crank position sensor went out around 4.1 seconds into the run," said Smith. "We still had a 4.42 eighth mile."
Indeed, Chip's TV interview after the run showed a confident rider who'd put up a stout run despite the bike shutting itself on and off several times. "But it over revved pretty hard," Ellis said later. "So we had to take that motor out and that was our best motor."
"The engine didn't shift because of the missing and over-revved badly, so we knew we had to take number 25 out," agreed Smith. "In our experience, that causes either the rods or pistons to fail in pretty short order. So we put in number 23, which had seven runs on it. We were lowest for the round in 4, which showed we had most of our performance back, but not quite as strong as 25 would have been."
qualifying round 3
3rd Chip Ellis left lane 7.044 at 178.42 mph
qualifying round 4
3rd Chip Ellis right lane 6.972 at 191.97 mph
When qualifying was finished, Ellis and the team had captured the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award for 2007, a huge honor for the whole team. "We were real proud of that," said Bryce. "George Smith started tuning on the bike in 2006 and we won the Full Throttle award. He took over tuning this year and, with stiffer competition, was able to defend the title with his tuning and guidance."
The Full Throttle award was great, but the team fell further behind number one qualifier Hines going into eliminations. "Andrew's lead went from 39 points to 41, so now we had to win three more rounds than him, which at that time seemed to be very highly unlikely," said Smith.
Ellis faced one of motorcycle drag racing's all-time characters in round 1 of eliminations-AHDRA champion Junior Pippin. In his first ever NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle appearance, 54 year-old Pippin qualified an S&S powered Buell solidly in the field. "I'm really happy, and get great personal joy and satisfaction from seeing our customers do well," said Smith. "In particular, to have Junior go out to his first NHRA appearance and qualify in a very, very tight field at the finals really made me smile."
And Junior responded by nailing Ellis to the tree before slowing on the big end. Chip escaped his first bullet of the day.
eliminations round 1
(W) Chip Ellis .110 6.996 at 189.50 mph
Junior Pippin .027 7.263 at 180.94 mph
eliminations round 2
(W) Chip Ellis .037 6.979 at 190.30 mph
Eddie Kraweic .203 7.053 at 187.08 mph
The reaction times reversed for Ellis in round 2, and it wasn't just Eddie Kraweic who blundered at the tree in the round. So did his teammate Hines. Andrew rolled the beams and the table was laid for Ellis to win a championship. "We took out Kraweic and low and behold, Andrew has a freak redlight," said Smith. "Now we've got a chance again. But we've gotta beat Angelle Sampey and whoever emerges on the other side of the ladder."
eliminations semifinal round
(W) Chip Ellis .074 6.987 at 191.02 mph
Angelle Sampey broke
Ellis caught another break in the semis when Sampey's bike failed to start because of a broken ground wire. But the breaks ended there. Chip faced pre-countdown points leader Matt Smith in the final. And while Ellis has shared erratic starting line performance with most of the riders in the class, Smith has been a machine. Matt took the tree by almost 7/100ths, then out 60-footed Chip 1.055 to 1.085. "The race was over in the first second," said George Smith. And Matt Smith, who bought his S&S powered Buell from G2 after spending last year under the G2 awning, was the new POWERade champion.
eliminations final round
(W) Matt Smith .033 6.944 at 191.08 mph
Chip Ellis .101 6.957 at 192.17 mph
"It's good to have a G2 customer win the championship," said Bryce. "You really can buy a bike from us and beat us with it. Good job Torco race team!"
"Matt Smith has proven to be one heck of a racer," said George Smith. "He's cutting good lights and he's figured out how to get away from the starting line better than anyone else, and that's how drag races are won. He proved that again this weekend, even though we were making more power with Chip's bike, showed by our back halves and trap speeds. My hat's off to him. Congratulations to him and his team for a job well done."
"He's got something figured out," agreed Ellis. "He's a good racer and he did a good job, that's why he's the champ. I just didn't stick to my program. I was worrying about redlighting. I had a bike that was capable of winning, but I've had that all year."
"We were very fortunate to be in a position in the last round of eliminations in the last race of the season to win a championship," said George Smith. "The race gods were certainly smiling on us. The crew back at G2 in Americus and the S&S gang in Viola (Wisconsin) gave us the horsepower, but we were not able to finish once again, and we are all very disappointed."
You can bet that G2 is keen on redesigning the sensor that cost them use of their best motor in Pomona. "We're gonna have to try a different sensor, 'cause that happens too much," said Ellis.
"We know we have to fix it and it's on the top of the priority list," agreed George Smith.
That kind of engineering effort points to the value of the G2 program and its ongoing development of the S&S powered Buell. Seven of Pomona's sixteen bike field were Buells, and Pippin's instant success is not an isolated incidence. Angie McBride, out of Pro Stock racing for a few years, put Matt Smith's team bike solidly in the field with only one qualifying pass! "The good news is that in addition to our team and the new national champion, Hector 'The Hammer' Arana, Matt Guidera, Peggy Llewellyn and Chris Rivas all had great seasons on S&S powered Buells," noted George Smith. "The S&S powered Buell program, exclusively distributed by G2, is alive and well."
"It's been really neat to have the class grow as much as it did this year with the addition of all the S&S V-Twins," added Bryce. "So many customers enjoy the performance and reliability of the S&S Pro Stock engine, and we look forward to continuing with all of that. We're going home and going back to work at the G2 plant and build new S&S powered motorcycles for new teams for next year. We're looking forward to having Junior and others joining the tour.
"This was our second year partnering with DRAG Specialties. I hope they learned a lot about the NHRA and want to continue with it, because we sure enjoyed having them and their dealers at the races. I hope they enjoyed that as much as we did. I think we did a great job introducing them to the sport in a way that they see a future in it, so that's pretty exciting."
The 2008 NHRA POWERade Championship Drag Racing Series begins for pro stock motorcycles at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, March 13-16, 2008 at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida.
G2 Motorsports Sponsors
Everyone at G2 thanks DRAG Specialties Drag Specialties, S&S Cycle S&S Cycle Home Page - Welcome, Doc's Harley-Davidson of St. Louis Welcome to Doc's Harley-Davidson, MAC Tools Init...!, Gates Corporation The world's most trusted name in belts, hoses & hydraulics | Gates Corporation, Itelligence, Inc. Homepage itelligence Inc. | itelligence, Mazak Corporation Mazak Committed to Manufacturing Excellence, RK Racing Chain Welcome to FTM Enterprises, SAP SAP - Business Software Solutions Applications and Services, Andrews Products Andrews Products - Main Page, Vanson Leathers Vanson Leathers - Textile and Leather Jackets, Racing suits & riding apparel for men and women: Vanson Leathers America's leading producer of motorcycle clothing., and Carley Foundry Aluminum Castings Carley Foundry, Inc..
G Squared Motorsports can be seen on the web at G2 MOTORSPORTS
Final NHRA Countdown to the Championship point standings
3rd Chip Ellis 3204
Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle
1st Chip Ellis 700
Final Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship standings
1st Chip Ellis/George Smith/Ken Johnson 700
G2 Motorsports History
Named for the two George's, George Bryce & George Smith, G2 Motorsports was initially formed in 2003 as a collaborative effort between the pair to field an S&S Cycle powered V-Twin NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle. The company has since evolved into the development of late-model hot rod V-Twins for both the street and strip. G2 Motorsports also stocks a full line of S&S Cycle engines and support parts for drag racing enthusiasts, as well as for other motorcyclists, dealers and distributors. The G2 Motorsports web site (G2 MOTORSPORTS) is continually updated with the latest race press releases, photos, engines in stock and information on complete turnkey motorcycles.
Ellis Takes Championship Fight to the Final Finishline
Chip Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S Cycle team carried the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship fight right down to the final finishline at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, California. "The last two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster," said G2 crew chief and co-owner George Smith. "We had a chance to win the race in Las Vegas and we didn't get the job done. So we knew going into Pomona that we had a tough row to hoe. We were down 39 points to the leader Andrew Hines, which meant we had to win two more rounds than him. We knew we had to qualify ahead of Andrew."
Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S powered Buell have practically owned the number one qualifying position the last half of the season, so staying ahead of Hines didn't seem a daunting task. And by the second round in Pomona, Chip was back on top of the qualifying order.
qualifying round 1
4th Chip Ellis left lane 7.010 at 188.46 mph
qualifying round 2
1st Chip Ellis right lane 6.965 at 191.46 mph
But a technical glitch in the third round set the team back. "We were on a 6.93 run when the crank position sensor went out around 4.1 seconds into the run," said Smith. "We still had a 4.42 eighth mile."
Indeed, Chip's TV interview after the run showed a confident rider who'd put up a stout run despite the bike shutting itself on and off several times. "But it over revved pretty hard," Ellis said later. "So we had to take that motor out and that was our best motor."
"The engine didn't shift because of the missing and over-revved badly, so we knew we had to take number 25 out," agreed Smith. "In our experience, that causes either the rods or pistons to fail in pretty short order. So we put in number 23, which had seven runs on it. We were lowest for the round in 4, which showed we had most of our performance back, but not quite as strong as 25 would have been."
qualifying round 3
3rd Chip Ellis left lane 7.044 at 178.42 mph
qualifying round 4
3rd Chip Ellis right lane 6.972 at 191.97 mph
When qualifying was finished, Ellis and the team had captured the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award for 2007, a huge honor for the whole team. "We were real proud of that," said Bryce. "George Smith started tuning on the bike in 2006 and we won the Full Throttle award. He took over tuning this year and, with stiffer competition, was able to defend the title with his tuning and guidance."
The Full Throttle award was great, but the team fell further behind number one qualifier Hines going into eliminations. "Andrew's lead went from 39 points to 41, so now we had to win three more rounds than him, which at that time seemed to be very highly unlikely," said Smith.
Ellis faced one of motorcycle drag racing's all-time characters in round 1 of eliminations-AHDRA champion Junior Pippin. In his first ever NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle appearance, 54 year-old Pippin qualified an S&S powered Buell solidly in the field. "I'm really happy, and get great personal joy and satisfaction from seeing our customers do well," said Smith. "In particular, to have Junior go out to his first NHRA appearance and qualify in a very, very tight field at the finals really made me smile."
And Junior responded by nailing Ellis to the tree before slowing on the big end. Chip escaped his first bullet of the day.
eliminations round 1
(W) Chip Ellis .110 6.996 at 189.50 mph
Junior Pippin .027 7.263 at 180.94 mph
eliminations round 2
(W) Chip Ellis .037 6.979 at 190.30 mph
Eddie Kraweic .203 7.053 at 187.08 mph
The reaction times reversed for Ellis in round 2, and it wasn't just Eddie Kraweic who blundered at the tree in the round. So did his teammate Hines. Andrew rolled the beams and the table was laid for Ellis to win a championship. "We took out Kraweic and low and behold, Andrew has a freak redlight," said Smith. "Now we've got a chance again. But we've gotta beat Angelle Sampey and whoever emerges on the other side of the ladder."
eliminations semifinal round
(W) Chip Ellis .074 6.987 at 191.02 mph
Angelle Sampey broke
Ellis caught another break in the semis when Sampey's bike failed to start because of a broken ground wire. But the breaks ended there. Chip faced pre-countdown points leader Matt Smith in the final. And while Ellis has shared erratic starting line performance with most of the riders in the class, Smith has been a machine. Matt took the tree by almost 7/100ths, then out 60-footed Chip 1.055 to 1.085. "The race was over in the first second," said George Smith. And Matt Smith, who bought his S&S powered Buell from G2 after spending last year under the G2 awning, was the new POWERade champion.
eliminations final round
(W) Matt Smith .033 6.944 at 191.08 mph
Chip Ellis .101 6.957 at 192.17 mph
"It's good to have a G2 customer win the championship," said Bryce. "You really can buy a bike from us and beat us with it. Good job Torco race team!"
"Matt Smith has proven to be one heck of a racer," said George Smith. "He's cutting good lights and he's figured out how to get away from the starting line better than anyone else, and that's how drag races are won. He proved that again this weekend, even though we were making more power with Chip's bike, showed by our back halves and trap speeds. My hat's off to him. Congratulations to him and his team for a job well done."
"He's got something figured out," agreed Ellis. "He's a good racer and he did a good job, that's why he's the champ. I just didn't stick to my program. I was worrying about redlighting. I had a bike that was capable of winning, but I've had that all year."
"We were very fortunate to be in a position in the last round of eliminations in the last race of the season to win a championship," said George Smith. "The race gods were certainly smiling on us. The crew back at G2 in Americus and the S&S gang in Viola (Wisconsin) gave us the horsepower, but we were not able to finish once again, and we are all very disappointed."
You can bet that G2 is keen on redesigning the sensor that cost them use of their best motor in Pomona. "We're gonna have to try a different sensor, 'cause that happens too much," said Ellis.
"We know we have to fix it and it's on the top of the priority list," agreed George Smith.
That kind of engineering effort points to the value of the G2 program and its ongoing development of the S&S powered Buell. Seven of Pomona's sixteen bike field were Buells, and Pippin's instant success is not an isolated incidence. Angie McBride, out of Pro Stock racing for a few years, put Matt Smith's team bike solidly in the field with only one qualifying pass! "The good news is that in addition to our team and the new national champion, Hector 'The Hammer' Arana, Matt Guidera, Peggy Llewellyn and Chris Rivas all had great seasons on S&S powered Buells," noted George Smith. "The S&S powered Buell program, exclusively distributed by G2, is alive and well."
"It's been really neat to have the class grow as much as it did this year with the addition of all the S&S V-Twins," added Bryce. "So many customers enjoy the performance and reliability of the S&S Pro Stock engine, and we look forward to continuing with all of that. We're going home and going back to work at the G2 plant and build new S&S powered motorcycles for new teams for next year. We're looking forward to having Junior and others joining the tour.
"This was our second year partnering with DRAG Specialties. I hope they learned a lot about the NHRA and want to continue with it, because we sure enjoyed having them and their dealers at the races. I hope they enjoyed that as much as we did. I think we did a great job introducing them to the sport in a way that they see a future in it, so that's pretty exciting."
The 2008 NHRA POWERade Championship Drag Racing Series begins for pro stock motorcycles at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, March 13-16, 2008 at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida.
G2 Motorsports Sponsors
Everyone at G2 thanks DRAG Specialties Drag Specialties, S&S Cycle S&S Cycle Home Page - Welcome, Doc's Harley-Davidson of St. Louis Welcome to Doc's Harley-Davidson, MAC Tools Init...!, Gates Corporation The world's most trusted name in belts, hoses & hydraulics | Gates Corporation, Itelligence, Inc. Homepage itelligence Inc. | itelligence, Mazak Corporation Mazak Committed to Manufacturing Excellence, RK Racing Chain Welcome to FTM Enterprises, SAP SAP - Business Software Solutions Applications and Services, Andrews Products Andrews Products - Main Page, Vanson Leathers Vanson Leathers - Textile and Leather Jackets, Racing suits & riding apparel for men and women: Vanson Leathers America's leading producer of motorcycle clothing., and Carley Foundry Aluminum Castings Carley Foundry, Inc..
G Squared Motorsports can be seen on the web at G2 MOTORSPORTS
Final NHRA Countdown to the Championship point standings
3rd Chip Ellis 3204
Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle
1st Chip Ellis 700
Final Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship standings
1st Chip Ellis/George Smith/Ken Johnson 700
G2 Motorsports History
Named for the two George's, George Bryce & George Smith, G2 Motorsports was initially formed in 2003 as a collaborative effort between the pair to field an S&S Cycle powered V-Twin NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle. The company has since evolved into the development of late-model hot rod V-Twins for both the street and strip. G2 Motorsports also stocks a full line of S&S Cycle engines and support parts for drag racing enthusiasts, as well as for other motorcyclists, dealers and distributors. The G2 Motorsports web site (G2 MOTORSPORTS) is continually updated with the latest race press releases, photos, engines in stock and information on complete turnkey motorcycles.
