The AHDRA All-American motorcycle drag racing series gave Atlanta Dragway a flaming , thundering , nitro Harley send-off as the AHDRA opened its 2021 campaign at the soon-to-be-razed Commerce , Georgia speed facility on April 17-18 .
TKR & Associates Top Fuel Harley Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel
The biggest thunder in Georgia was brewed up by the big nitro V-twins of the TKR & Associates Top Fuel Class . Ryan Peery ' s quickness nailed down number one Top Fuel qualifier on Saturday , and remarkable consistency carried him all the way to the final on Sunday . " We were the quickest on qualifying day , which paid off and gave us a bye run in the first round ," said Peery - his 6.55 was third quickest of the round . Jay Turner ' s path to the final included low ET ( 6.412 ) and high MPH ( 224.28 ), but The Bulldog chewed up a cam in the semi and couldn ' t make the final against Peery - guaranteeing Ryan the win . " We weren ' t the quickest on elimination day , but we ran consistent , and consistent passes will win races ," said Peery . Peery had the opportunity to ease up or go for broke in the final , and broke is what happened . " We still wanted to put on a good show for the fans , so we left a good tune-up in it , but unfortunately we ended up torching the front head ( at about half track ) on our finals pass . All in all , it was a great weekend . The last TFH race at Atlanta became my first ever TFH win ."
Preston " President " Bartlett started his Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel championship defense with a win in a stout seven bike field for the carbureted nitro class , but his name wasn ' t at the top of the charts until the final round win . Kirby Apathy qualified number one with a 7.32 , but " experienced a catastrophic mechanical failure in the semis " against Bartlett , who beat champion Rocky Jackson in round 1 . Preston faced steady Jim Martin in the final , where Martin ' s back tire kicked towards the wall at about 150 feet . Jim was forced to back out and Preston - already with a . 120 advantage at the tree - ran his best of the weekend ( 7.391 ) for the win . " It was a tough weekend ," reported Bartlett . " We hurt the motor during the third qualifier , so we scrambled till 2:00 in the morning , then stopped ' cause everybody was tired . We finished up in the morning , then went one round at a time ."
GMS Racing Pro Open
Hawaya Racing Nitro Funnybike
Red Rhea ' s bike took the Hawaya Racing Nitro Funnybike win with brand new rider Mike Baulch aboard . Number one qualifier Armon Furr " Just got beat ," according to Furr , when he met Baulch in the final . " It was absolutely perfect ," Baulch said about his first win . " I just kept the throttle open and stayed in it . The tune-up Red put together gave me the ability to look good with a poor (. 256 ) reaction time . That win belongs to Red ."
www . AMDchampionship . com
Last year ' s Extreme Gas and Outlaw Street are now the GMS Racing Pro Open . Mike Motto won both of those last year and started this one-off with a win in the new class . But before Sunday ' s win came perhaps Motto ' s biggest win of the weekend - a match with Richard Gadson , who was on hand to make laps on Mike Beland ' s turbocharged Meth Beth bagger . " We made some new changes for this year ," said Motto . " We needed some runs to test , so we got down to business . We were not sure what the bike would run with the new changes , but we were hoping for 7.60s at 175-180 mph . The bike ran great , but fell a little short of the numbers we expected ." Then came the race with Gadson - a huge rivalry between Mottos ' builder GMS and Beland ' s A1 . " It was a great race !" said Motto . Gadson was on hand
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