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-ofthe-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 winner ' s circle . 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 elimination expectations might be expected . So , while it was shocking for number one qualifier Ryan Peery to lose to number eight Tim Kerrigan , it wasn ' t surprising 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 although it wasn ' t unexpected that he didn ' t have a winning tune , 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 to E2 , his ProCharged bike went A-B in round 2 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 win on the Romine-tuned , Mike Henry-owned mount . 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 . Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel racer Curt 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 on 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 . Charley Douglass set eighth ( 4.917 ) and quarter mile ( 7.663 ) Outlaw Street records before flipping his turbocharged , 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 . 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 . 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 . Like Danford in Hot Street , Jimmy Maikranz was able to ease away from the starting line and still score the Thundermax Street Baggers win . |