<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/ChipAtlanta1.jpg" alt="ChipAtlanta1" align="right"borders="0"/>
Despite a week of personal tragedy, Chip Ellis rode his DRAG Specialties/S&S powered Buell flawlessly to the Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. Hubert Ellis, Chip's grandfather and the father of G2 Motorsports crewman Dale Ellis, was murdered earlier in the week in his South Carolina home. But throughout the race weekend in St. Louis, the Ellis's focused on the job at hand and even won the Full Throttle Pit Crew award for the event. Dale and Chip accepted the award, based on qualifying performance consistency, for themselves, chief mechanic Ken "Big" Johnson, and G2 president and crew chief George Smith. "I was very proud of the DRAG Specialties/S&S guys to pull off the Full Throttle Award," said G2's director of race operations, George Bryce. "That's twice in four races, so that's pretty good."
qualifying round 1
2nd Chip Ellis left lane 6.989 at 190.54 mph
qualifying round 2
2nd Chip Ellis right lane 7.007 at 186.95 mph
qualifying round 3
2nd Chip Ellis left lane 7.018 at 189.76 mph
Ellis shadowed former teammate Matt Smith throughout qualifying. Smith eventually won the race and set the new national record ET record on his own S&S powered Buell.
eliminations round 1
(W) Chip Ellis .030 7.002 at 188.12 mph
Wes Wells .028 7.230 at 180.77 mph
eliminations round 2
(W) Chip Ellis .097 7.001 at 191.00 mph
Chris Rivas -.199(red) 15.706 at 45.04 mph
"I was real consistent with my lights except when I ran Chris Rivas," said Ellis, who like most of the Pro Stock Motorcycle field has struggled at the tree this year. "I saw him take off as soon as I put my bike on the 2-step, and that threw me off a little bit. The rollout seemed to be a less in the right lane than the left. So when I got the right lane for the semi, I asked the team to line me up in the left tire groove. The rollout seemed to be a little better there."
Ellis was racing without the adjustable mechanical device the team has been developing to slightly slow down the bike's reaction time. "The clutch lever didn't feel good to me with it on, and we didn't seem to need it at this track."
"The rollout seemed different at Gateway, and we felt we didn't need to put a delay in," said George Smith. "In the three laps of qualifying, Chip had a couple of .020 greens and an .016 red, and we felt he could hit the tree pretty hard with no delay."
"It's really easy to redlight, and if they could make the rollout the same at every race, we'd redlight less," said Ellis, who along with Angelle Sampey nailed the tree hard in the semi.
eliminations round 3
(W) Angelle Sampey .008 7.017 at 191.27 mph
Chip Ellis .008 7.018 at 189.63 mph
Sampey's incremental times: 60ft-1.079, 330ft-2.915, 660ft-4.481 at 156.77mph, 1000ft-5.846
Ellis' incremental times: 60ft-1.092, 330ft-2.916, 660ft-4.471 at 156.94mph, 1000ft-5.840
The semifinal round between Ellis and Sampey was an awesome drag race. After identical, killer reaction times, Sampey led to the 330. Ellis drove around and led until Sampey slipped by just before the finishline for a .0017 margin of victory—about 6 inches. "The best race in any class of the weekend was the one with Angelle," said George Smith.
"Rick Maney (a former G2 chief mechanic and now the crew chief for Chris Rivas's Buell team) summed it up best—'It's a shark tank out there,'" said Ellis. "If you take Matt out of the equation, everybody else is right there together and we just got outrun. But we were right there and if we keep it up, we'll be OK."
"I want congratulate Matt for the national record and winning the event," said George Smith. "Matt's very good at surging and timing his launch and now has the best 60 foot times of anybody. He's now met and surpassed Angelle. He's really figured out how to make some bottom end power, and he's raised the bar for all of us. He's found something and we'll have to work hard to keep up.
"But we learned quite a lot on our own tune-up. This was our second event using the updated S&S EFI system, and we liked what we saw and we're ready to release it to the general public.
"It was also another good day for S&S power, and as distributor of the S&S Buell, we're happy. I'd like to congratulate Hector Arana, one of our customers. Hector went to the semis and had a great weekend."
"We're very proud of Hector and his performance," added Jackie Bryce, G2's vice president of operations. "And we're also proud of Matt for winning the race and running the record 6.901 on an S&S powered Buell, and the whole G2 team for winning the Full Throttle Award for the event. The Doc's Harley-Davidson of St. Louis people were there and they really enjoyed themselves, as did the DRAG Specialties people."
"We had a great weekend with the Doc's and DRAG Specialties folks," agreed George Smith. "The DRAG Specialties hospitality will be back out in Joliet (site of the next Pro Stock Motorcycle event), and the folks of SAP and itelligence will also be our guests at Joliet. We're welcoming the time out between then and now. There's several things we learned this weekend that we'd like to try out, and we've got some catching up to do."
"Overall, it was a good weekend," Ellis said about St. Louis. He'll be traveling to the Santa Pod race track in England in the next few weeks to work on a customer Buell, as well as working on his own bike back in Americus, Georgia. "We're just gonna keep chugging along and try and sneak up on 'em. Ken, Big George, my dad and myself are all coming together as a team, and I think it's really showing."
"Chip did a great job riding the bike, especially with the adversity," finished Jackie Bryce. "He and Dale were very strong through the weekend. It was good for them to be together, but towards the end of the day you could tell they were gonna have to deal with the reality of what happened."
Chip Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S Cycle team race next June 7-10 in the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois.
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 Initializing...., 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
NHRA/POWERade Point Standings
4. Chip Ellis 222
Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle
4. Chip Ellis 945
Full Throttle NHRA Pit Crew Championship Point Standings
9. Chip Ellis/George Smith/Ken Johnson 71
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.
Contact
Jackie Bryce at G2 Motorsports - [email protected]
Photo of Chip Ellis by Matt Polito, Untitled Document
Ellis to the Semis in St. Louis
Despite a week of personal tragedy, Chip Ellis rode his DRAG Specialties/S&S powered Buell flawlessly to the Pro Stock Motorcycle semifinals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. Hubert Ellis, Chip's grandfather and the father of G2 Motorsports crewman Dale Ellis, was murdered earlier in the week in his South Carolina home. But throughout the race weekend in St. Louis, the Ellis's focused on the job at hand and even won the Full Throttle Pit Crew award for the event. Dale and Chip accepted the award, based on qualifying performance consistency, for themselves, chief mechanic Ken "Big" Johnson, and G2 president and crew chief George Smith. "I was very proud of the DRAG Specialties/S&S guys to pull off the Full Throttle Award," said G2's director of race operations, George Bryce. "That's twice in four races, so that's pretty good."
qualifying round 1
2nd Chip Ellis left lane 6.989 at 190.54 mph
qualifying round 2
2nd Chip Ellis right lane 7.007 at 186.95 mph
qualifying round 3
2nd Chip Ellis left lane 7.018 at 189.76 mph
Ellis shadowed former teammate Matt Smith throughout qualifying. Smith eventually won the race and set the new national record ET record on his own S&S powered Buell.
eliminations round 1
(W) Chip Ellis .030 7.002 at 188.12 mph
Wes Wells .028 7.230 at 180.77 mph
eliminations round 2
(W) Chip Ellis .097 7.001 at 191.00 mph
Chris Rivas -.199(red) 15.706 at 45.04 mph
"I was real consistent with my lights except when I ran Chris Rivas," said Ellis, who like most of the Pro Stock Motorcycle field has struggled at the tree this year. "I saw him take off as soon as I put my bike on the 2-step, and that threw me off a little bit. The rollout seemed to be a less in the right lane than the left. So when I got the right lane for the semi, I asked the team to line me up in the left tire groove. The rollout seemed to be a little better there."
Ellis was racing without the adjustable mechanical device the team has been developing to slightly slow down the bike's reaction time. "The clutch lever didn't feel good to me with it on, and we didn't seem to need it at this track."
"The rollout seemed different at Gateway, and we felt we didn't need to put a delay in," said George Smith. "In the three laps of qualifying, Chip had a couple of .020 greens and an .016 red, and we felt he could hit the tree pretty hard with no delay."
"It's really easy to redlight, and if they could make the rollout the same at every race, we'd redlight less," said Ellis, who along with Angelle Sampey nailed the tree hard in the semi.
eliminations round 3
(W) Angelle Sampey .008 7.017 at 191.27 mph
Chip Ellis .008 7.018 at 189.63 mph
Sampey's incremental times: 60ft-1.079, 330ft-2.915, 660ft-4.481 at 156.77mph, 1000ft-5.846
Ellis' incremental times: 60ft-1.092, 330ft-2.916, 660ft-4.471 at 156.94mph, 1000ft-5.840
The semifinal round between Ellis and Sampey was an awesome drag race. After identical, killer reaction times, Sampey led to the 330. Ellis drove around and led until Sampey slipped by just before the finishline for a .0017 margin of victory—about 6 inches. "The best race in any class of the weekend was the one with Angelle," said George Smith.
"Rick Maney (a former G2 chief mechanic and now the crew chief for Chris Rivas's Buell team) summed it up best—'It's a shark tank out there,'" said Ellis. "If you take Matt out of the equation, everybody else is right there together and we just got outrun. But we were right there and if we keep it up, we'll be OK."
"I want congratulate Matt for the national record and winning the event," said George Smith. "Matt's very good at surging and timing his launch and now has the best 60 foot times of anybody. He's now met and surpassed Angelle. He's really figured out how to make some bottom end power, and he's raised the bar for all of us. He's found something and we'll have to work hard to keep up.
"But we learned quite a lot on our own tune-up. This was our second event using the updated S&S EFI system, and we liked what we saw and we're ready to release it to the general public.
"It was also another good day for S&S power, and as distributor of the S&S Buell, we're happy. I'd like to congratulate Hector Arana, one of our customers. Hector went to the semis and had a great weekend."
"We're very proud of Hector and his performance," added Jackie Bryce, G2's vice president of operations. "And we're also proud of Matt for winning the race and running the record 6.901 on an S&S powered Buell, and the whole G2 team for winning the Full Throttle Award for the event. The Doc's Harley-Davidson of St. Louis people were there and they really enjoyed themselves, as did the DRAG Specialties people."
"We had a great weekend with the Doc's and DRAG Specialties folks," agreed George Smith. "The DRAG Specialties hospitality will be back out in Joliet (site of the next Pro Stock Motorcycle event), and the folks of SAP and itelligence will also be our guests at Joliet. We're welcoming the time out between then and now. There's several things we learned this weekend that we'd like to try out, and we've got some catching up to do."
"Overall, it was a good weekend," Ellis said about St. Louis. He'll be traveling to the Santa Pod race track in England in the next few weeks to work on a customer Buell, as well as working on his own bike back in Americus, Georgia. "We're just gonna keep chugging along and try and sneak up on 'em. Ken, Big George, my dad and myself are all coming together as a team, and I think it's really showing."
"Chip did a great job riding the bike, especially with the adversity," finished Jackie Bryce. "He and Dale were very strong through the weekend. It was good for them to be together, but towards the end of the day you could tell they were gonna have to deal with the reality of what happened."
Chip Ellis and the DRAG Specialties/S&S Cycle team race next June 7-10 in the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois.
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 Initializing...., 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
NHRA/POWERade Point Standings
4. Chip Ellis 222
Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle
4. Chip Ellis 945
Full Throttle NHRA Pit Crew Championship Point Standings
9. Chip Ellis/George Smith/Ken Johnson 71
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.
Contact
Jackie Bryce at G2 Motorsports - [email protected]
Photo of Chip Ellis by Matt Polito, Untitled Document
