PennGrade1 AMRA Biker Rally & Drags
Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA
September 20-22, 2024

Romines Double Up at AMRA’s Beech Bend Biker Drags

The PennGrade1 American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) Biker Rally & Drags at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green will be remembered for many reasons—some decidedly not related to racing. This annual, last-of-the-summer carnival of Harley-Davidson culture along the wooded banks of Kentucky’s Barren River sometimes qualifies for the phrase “It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.”

But there was nothing stupid about the tuning calls made by legendary Michigan builder/tuners Mike and Jack Romine, as they put two nitro bikes into the Beech Bend winners circle.

Circle M Ranch/Dove Fuels Top Fuel

When the actions of an apparently drunken spectator followed by rain showers canceled Saturday night’s third round of Sunday’s Circle M Ranch/Dove Fuels Top Fuel qualifications, some shuffle of eliminations expectations might be expected.

So while it was surprising for number one qualifier Ryan Peery to lose to number eight Tim Kerrigan, it wasn’t shocking for Kerrigan to drop a lap much quicker than his position indicated and advance past reigning champion Peery.

Seventh qualifier Jay “Bulldog” Turner only had one pass on Saturday, so it wasn’t unexpected that he didn’t have a winning tune on Sunday. But it’s always a surprise to see the Hall of Famer lose in E1—as he did to 2023 Rockingham Finals winner Jordan Peterson.

Finland’s Juha “Sushi” Hintukainen not only advanced out of round one, his ProCharged bike went A-B in round two when Kerrigan didn’t in the other lane. Peterson and John “JT” Toth both coasted to the finishline in their pair, with Jordan crossing first and setting up the final with Sushi.

Already down .119 at the tree, Sushi’s bike started shedding blower belts and Peterson thundered to the finals round win on the Romine-tuned, Mike Henry-owned mount.

“I’d like to thank Blue Fire Racing, owned by Mike and Pam Henry,” said Peterson. “Mike has really been committed to making changes to improve the bike all season long. If there was a chance a part could gain performance, then the bike got it. Mike is the one doing the behind-the-scenes work.

“When someone is doing all that work, not to mention the investment. all you want to do is your part and get them a win. We got it done just in time. With this bike going up for sale at the end of the season and we only had Beech Bend and Rockingham left, I really wanted to get at least one win before Mike was all done. I can’t then Mike enough for the opportunity.

“As always, I need to thank the girlfriend Casey Jo “Sluggo” for her efforts and willing to do anything to help.

“And as always, the Romines. They just flat-out kick ass. I’m a guy who asks a lot of questions, trying to take in as much knowledge as I can, whether it’s the riding aspect or the mechanical side. Mike, Jack, and Patty always make time to explain any questions I have in a way I can understand. That’s not just for me either. They do that for anyone.

“I say it all the time. If you’re in the nitro game and you’re not associating yourself with Romine Racing, you should be. It’s been a fun season, and I can’t thank everyone involved enough. Here we come Rockingham!”

Nitro Funnybike

The Romines fielded the combination of long-absent rider Rebel Glover and the beautiful, US 131-winning bike owned by Phil Lower in Nitro Funnybike. The final boiled down to the top two qualifiers, and number two Glover put .058 on number one Cameron Gunter at the tree and held on for a 6.96 at 183 mph to 6.94 at 196 holeshot win against the Bad Apple Racing rider.

“Cameron was running great and I knew I had to cut a light if we were going to win,” said Glover. “Hats off to my Bad Apple family. Tracy Kile was one of the first people to introduce me to nitro.

“All in all great to come back and start with a win. It’s been a little over a year since I’ve been on a nitro bike. Felt good to be back at the track and seeing the race family again.

“I’d like to thank Mike Romine for giving me the opportunity to ride with Romine Racing Team. Also Patty and Jack Romine for all their hard work.

“Was the first time riding this bike. We had a few issues but in the end we adapted and overcame.”

Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel

Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel racer Curt Sexton could consider himself lucky that the Romines didn’t have a bike in the carbureted nitro class, but Norwalk winner Sexton was feeling anything BUT lucky at Beech Bend.

Sexton was unable to get any data out of his datalogger, even after replacing the unit. Flying blind, the veteran racer was forced to resort to intuition and wasn’t feeling confident.

But he also had starting line skills upon which to rely, and won round one on a big holehot. Another big starting line advantage in round two was supplemented when opponent Jason Leeper struggled on track. Racing luck kicked in for the semi when Jim Martin broke while staging. And finally, a stunning .012 light against number one qualifier Sam White’s .168 paved the way for his 7.55 at 165 versus 7.41 at 170 massive holeshot final round win.

“Well what a weekend and all leading up to it,” said Sexton. “I guess I’ll start by saying we had all the motor back together and fresh crankshaft in the bike on Monday before Bowling Green. All I needed to do was to machine backup pistons before Wednesday to have ready to go for Thursday night to leave for Greg’s house.

“That all changed on Wednesday afternoon when I was supposed to pick up the cylinders to be able to size pistons to bores. I found out we had a light flame cut on the front cylinder and the motor was tore back apart so I could weld the head and let it cool overnight.

“I went to work the next day for about two hours and then I decided to go home to machine the head. That turned out to be a 3-1/2 hour project and I still had to pack for the trip and then head to Greg’s to get the motor assembled and load up the trailer.

“We had to send the Racepak off a couple of weeks before to try and get repaired due to the fact it just quit recording. So we got it back in time to go but didn’t test it or fire up the motor for third heat cycle

“We got up at 4:00 am to make the trip and got to bowling green about 3-4:00 pm Friday, then got some stuff unloaded and ready for the next day. Saturday morning we get the last heat cycle done and prepare for round one qualifying.

“Water grains were very high due to a early morning rain shower—around 125 water grains. We looked at some other data and factors and put a few changes into the bike that should have made a 7.40-7.30 pass. Bike made a 7.58 pass, very lazy on the 60 foot and 330 times.

“Got back to the trailer to service the bike and was checking the data and found the data recorder didn’t work, so we had no data again. We made a jet change and light clutch adjustment for next round. Bike got worse and slowed down even more. It ran 7.78—way off pace of where we normally would be.

“Got back to the trailer and tried to download the data again and still got nothing. So we backed up and went the other direction and changed a jet again and went back the other way on clutch for third round Very disappointed that the bike only ran 7.55 and the 60 and 330 were way off still. This put us at qualified seventh—not where I was expecting to be.

“So that put me against number ten (Michael Blair). Luck was on our side for the whole weekend. First round I got the win even though he outran me.

Second round, I should have probably had Mary (Dangrow), but she had her first redlight in Pro Fuel and lost first round. I got the win (against Jason Leeper) and picked back up a little to a 7.58—still not strong.

“Third round put me against Jim Martin. This was gonna be a very close match-up. Jim went 7.582 in the round before and I went 7.581, so I knew I was gonna have to be on the tree. Unfortunately something happened to Jim’s bike at the tree and he broke, so that gave us a bye run with a 7.55. We picked up just a little bit more, but still way off and no data to work with.

“That put us against Sam White (in the final), who was running really good all weekend. With him and his team, this was going to be hard to beat. We changed a couple other things but didn’t get time to change clutch and had planned to, but they called us to the lanes so it didn’t get done. I knew I had to be on the tree and at my best to even try to beat Sam since the bike just wasn’t there for me.

“And sure enough I somehow managed to be on the tree. It was like I was so focused on the tree I forgot everything thing else around me and had a stellar light (.012) to take the win over Sam’s 7.41 to my 7.55 on a holeshot.

“Somehow I managed to get a win with all the competitors that were able to outrun us all weekend, and what a weekend it was! Sometimes things just go your way when you’re fighting so many other problems.

“Definitely couldn’t have did it without Greg Janosik. Thank you everyone for being such great friends, family and competitors. We’ll see you all in Rockingham.”

Outlaw Street

Charley Douglass set eighth (4.917) and quarter mile (7.663) Outlaw Street records before flipping his turbocharged, no-bar, street tire bike over backwards while unopposed in the final. Charley broke one wrist and was pretty banged up on all corners, but he and the bike will race again.

“I went from breaking records on Saturday to breaking my wrist on Sunday,” said Douglass. “I want to thank everyone that has reached out to me and prayed for me. Thank God for protecting me. My Dad for driving us home. My wife for supporting me, taking care of me and praying for me. Thanks to My family. Thanks to Greg Baugh, the safety crew, Frank Velasco, the ambulance crew. Thanks to Simpson helmets and Vanson leathers.

“Thank you to everyone that supports Douglass Racing. Thanks to Jesse Brown for tuning on the MaxxECU. Thanks Kent Foltz of Energy One Clutches, H-D of Lynchburg, Chad Hart, Steve Allstaedt, Andy Simon Sr., the Ken Browne family, Tom Stevens, Dave Fernandez, and everyone at the track that had positive words to say.”

Axtell Cylinders Hot Street

Clayton Danford had enough power in the bank to play the tree pretty safe, taking the Axtell Cylinders Hot Street final round win 9.39 to 10.13 after giving up .101 to opponent Steve Lacy at the tree. Number one qualifier Jason Crisp broke in E2.

“Going in Bowling Green wasn’t the same without Jeff Workman,” said Danford, referring to the veteran Kentucky Modified racer that passed away suddenly in the spring. “Been pitted with him at Bowling Green since 2006. I’d like to dedicate this weekend to him.

“I was happy to put up a decent number this weekend and qualify second. The Axtell Engine carried me to another winner circle.

“Thank you Kevin and Licia Danford, Bill Harper, Dan Bennet, Dan Daffner of Axtell. Phil Darcy, and Tim Daffner of Hog Werks.

Zipper’s Performance Pro Bagger

The Zipper’s Performance Pro Bagger final featured the turbo bikes of number one qualifier Rick Hunnicutt and transmission guru Bert Baker. Hunnicutt took .098 at the tree and ran 8.14 at 172 to Baker’s 8.20 at 168 for the win.

“Had a catastrophic engine failure at Michigan,” said Hunnicutt. “Caught on fire, had to completely rewire the entire bike, build a completely new engine.

“Testing went good on Friday, considering the new combination only had three full passes. We qualified number one, with Bert Baker second only .01 sec behind us, riding the record holding bike originally out of the Jeremy Williamson stable (winning last year’s series).

“So it was no surprise when we ended up against Bert in the finals. Knowing the capabilities of the Baker team, we knew this had to be a very fast pass in order to get the win. Jeremy keyed up a very aggressive tune, and we were able to get the win.

“Huge Thank you to Jason Clasquin of C&S Speed for the rewire, Brian Murray, Stanley Gardner aka ‘Crank Daddy, GRC boys, Dan Daffner and Axtell Cylinders, Frank Drago, BBP turbo pistons, Jim Libonati, Megaflo, Jimmy Light and guys at HPI, Eric Hochstetler and MTC Clutch, Steve Nichols and Maxx ECU, and Marcus McBain of M2Shocks. We appreciate all your help!”

Thundermax Street Baggers

Like Danford in Hot Street, Jimmy Maikranz was able to ease away from the starting line and still score the Thundermax Street Baggers win. Number one qualifier Maikranz’s .490 light was still good enough for his 9.77 at 141 to drive around runner-up Thomas Boone’s 10.23 at 132.

“Glad to be back at the track and see all the AMRA people again, especially Jim Van Fleet and how well he is making his recovery,” said team member Jeff Boudreaux.

“Mutant Motors by Wolf had a good weekend with minimal malfunctions, minus Jimmy’s 17 speed infinity transmission. Came out on top with a new MPH record, Bowling Green champion, and regained points lead.

“Jimmy is always on point when riding and racing,” said teammate David “Paco” Cartwright. “He’s so focused, and riding SD1 is a handful for sure.

“It has been a long process for Wolf (Grasser) and Jimmy to achieve their goals. It’s definitely coming, but a process for sure. As for the team it will come down to the last race, but I feel confident Jimmy will be the 2024 champion in AMRA Street Bresser.”

“Big thanks to AMRA and Tom for the great shots as always!” added Boudreaux. “Also, this would not be possible without the great support of our sponsors: Axtell, Wood Performance, Darkhorse, Chris and Meg Mann (VP), Mom and Pop Boudreaux. See all you fools at The Rock!”

Zippers Performance Modified

Perhaps distracted by son Charley’s spectacular accident, Gary Douglass spotted Russ Johnson a .303 head start in the Zippers Performance Modified final. Johnson had the performance advantage as well, running 9.14 at 141 to Gary’s 9.20 at 142 for the win.

“The bike ran good and it’s for sale,” said Johnson, who thanks bike owner Jeff Flora, Flora Racing Heads, Candy Flora and Big Rich.”

“We put the bike back together as a Mod rather than a Pro Mod,” said Flora, who reiterated that the good-looking bike is for sale. “The engine is R&D parts from back in the early 2000s. The bike is capable of resetting the national records, as we out ran Gary Douglass, who has the quarter mile records. The bike still holds the AMRA Pro Mod MPH record we set in 2005 at Bowling Green at 160.73.”

Pro Modified

Lake Charles, Louisiana H-D dealer Billy Doherty took the Pro Modified win in a good race with Jason Adams. Doherty had a .018 advantage at the tree and an 8.44 at 155 to 8.57 at 152 upper hand on track.

“Let me just start off and say I have a great crew,” said Doherty. “Bimbo and I tune my bike and we work great together.

“The bike didn’t like the weather all weekend and we kept working on it and kept getting faster. In the finals we ran our best time all weekend. I am extremely proud of what we accomplished so that we can move forward toward to the finals and clinching my 24th national championship.”

Top Eliminator 9.30 index

It was another Top Eliminator 9.30 index win for David Doremus, whose .076 light helped his 9,37 take the final over number one qualifier Chris Hoppe’s .147 and quicker 9.34.

“The race weekend went good in Top Eliminator,” said Doremus. “Q1 I ran 9.299—close but on the wrong side.

“Second (eliminations) round, (Chris) Lanktree and I always have a great race. In the final, Hoppe is always a tough competitor too. Reaction time got that one.

“Thanks to David and Cori.”

BK Electric Super Pro 10.30

Hoppe rebounded for the BK Electric Super Pro 10.30 win against John Shotts, his .013 light pushing Shotts (.050) to break out with a 10.24. Number one qualifier Heather Jendruch lost in round two.

“The weather held off and I found my way to the winner’s circle for the first time in Kentucky!” said Hoppe. “I had family from out of town that came to their first race and had a great experience.

“Thanks always to Greg Dahl for his work on these bikes and to my father who supports me at the track.”

Super Gas 9.90

Shotts also rebounded, and not just from the 10.30 loss. The veteran V-Rod racer sported a new tail on his wheelie bars after striking a squirrel on Saturday evening. “Yeah, that squirrel was something else,” said Shotts. “I tried to miss him and didn’t know I hit him until I got back to the pits and saw it broke the radiator cover.”

Crew and fans presented him with his track-kill trophy.

Shotts took the Super Gas 9.90 win despite a .041 starting line advantage by final round opponent Andy Horn, who inexplicably broke out with a 9.81 to Shotts’ .97. Number one qualifier Donnie Huffman lost to Horn in E2.

“It was a good weekend for Shotts Racing,” continued John. “Winning Super Gas was great. Went a little too fast (.060) in 10.30 in the final and put me 10 points away from first in Super Pro and 130 points from first in Super Gas.

“Everything is going to come down to Rockingham—the last race of the year—for the championship

Pro Eliminator 10.90

Illinois racer Matt Hawkins scored the Pro Eliminator 10.90 final round win when Dan Kurtz fouled at the tree. Number one qualifier Ben Sheppard lost to Hawkins in E2.

“It was a long, hot weekend for me and did not have the fastest bike, but rode it hard for the win,” said Gateway racer Hawkins. “Was not going to let up. Stoked to win at Bowling Green. Think I have more laps there than my home track.

“Have to thank Dick Goodall Motorsports, and my girlfriend for putting up with me when I’m in race mode. Love racing with the AMRA. Great racing family, too.”

Thundermax Street Eliminator 11.50

Terry Mason took the tree by a scant .005 against number one qualifier Donnie Huffman in the Thundermax Street Eliminator 11.50 final, but lost the finishline game against Huffman and broke out with an 11.46. Score another win for Huffman!

“Off the trailer, Q1, 9.901 (Super Gas) and Q3,11.502 (Street Eliminator),” said Huffman. “Got beat on a holeshot in Super Gas with a 9.904.

“My second win of the season against the champ, Terry Mason.”

Eliminator Dial-in

After six rounds of build-up, the Eliminator Dial-in final was over quickly when Chad Traynor redlit by -.021, handing the win to Michigan bagger racer Sean Clarke.

“Saturday qualifying, my optimism for Sunday was not great,” said Clarke. “It was hot and I was not riding well.

“Saturday night came with an early 30th birthday celebration for me put on by my team. Thanks to Jim and Austin and everyone who stopped by.

“Sunday was a new day and it was going to be a long one once I seen the size of the field. ‘Just take it one round at a time,’ I thought to myself.

“Fifth round I was paired up with my dad, Jim Clarke. Up to that point he had taken me to school every time we lined up in eliminations. Winning that round was a milestone accomplishment for me.

“Final round, I knew I’d have my hands full racing the reigning national champion and friend, Chad Trayner. Emotions ran high after seeing my winlight come on and realizing I finally did it! I got my first AMRA national event win!

“Thanks to my dad teaching me everything I know about racing, Austin Hughes for helping keep the bike prepared every round, my wife for all of her support, Hyde Trucking & Excavating, and CJ’s Cycle and Marine.”

PennGrade1 AMRA’s Greg and Julia Baugh, and John “JT” Toth and Marianne Miller look forward to welcoming the whole Harley-Davidson family to Rockingham Dragway for the Jim McClure All-Harley Nationals on October 25-27 in beautiful North Carolina.

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For more information visit www.amralive.com / info@amralive.com / Facebook

2024 Schedule

• • April 5-7 / No Problem Raceway / Bella Rose, LA
  • April 26-28 / Cecil County Dragway / Rising Sun, MD
  • May 17-19 / Summit Motorsports Park / Norwalk, OH
  • June 14-16 / US131 Motorsports Park / Martin, MI
  • August 16-18 / Bristol Dragway / Bristol, TN
  • September 20-22 / Beech Bend Raceway Park / Bowling Green, KY
  • October 25-27 / Rockingham Dragway / Rockingham, NC

ABOUT AMRA
The American Motorcycle Racing Association was formed over 30 years ago and is the only officially sanctioned association that is exclusively dedicated to American made, V-Twin based motorcycle drag racing in the world. Whether you’re interested in E.T. based racing, set index racing, heads-up or Top Fuel Nitro Bikes, we have a class for you. Membership is easy and the events are carried out in a way that makes it easy for beginners and veterans alike. All class designations and rules for each can be found here as well as the membership application. We are happy to welcome new racers and offer help to get you started. Join today and we’ll see ya at the track.

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