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Nitro Harley Lightning Strikes Twice for Peterson and Stewart Racing PennGrade1 AMRA Ohio Nationals May 16-18
National Trail Raceway, Hebron, Ohio
This report was prepared by Tim Hailey. Enjoy everything there is to read, see and watch about motorcycle drag racing and more at https:// www. eatmyink. com
When the Nitro Harley-Davidson thunder subsided at National Trail Raceway following the PennGrade1 AMRA Ohio Nationals on May 16-18, towering rider Jordan Peterson was celebrating two wins and team owner Chris Stewart was thrilled by an all- Stewart Racing Top Fuel final – " What an incredible and unexpected weekend!" said Stewart. " The Romine( tuning / building brothers Mike and Jack Romine) team, along with Samu( Finland ' s Samu Kemppainen, the Top Fuel runner-up) and Jordan, absolutely crushed it."
Circle M Ranch Top Fuel Peterson didn ' t start off setting National Trail on fire, qualifying fifth behind number one Chris Smith, his teammate Kemppainen, multi-time champ Ryan Peery, and Michael Balch. The same strong winds that wreaked havoc on the NHRA race in Joliet and sent cars into the air at Indianapolis were blowing across National Trail. The second round was run all in the left lane on Saturday, with a morning round in the right lane on Sunday. Even in round one of eliminations, Peterson was second slowest of all round winners. Louisiana winner Peery was quickest and seemed to be the favorite, given his career record of consistency and raceday improvement. But Paul Anderson was second-quickest and then took Peery out in E2 despite giving up. 056 at the tree. Peterson beat Balch and the day was shaping up to be
anybody ' s race. Kemppainen advanced when Tim Kerrigan was unable to shake the gremlins that had plagued him all weekend. Peterson then beat number one qualifier Smith in the first semi with Kemppainen racing past Anderson in the second to set up the all-Stewart final. Samu held an. 053 to. 068 advantage at the tree and a great sideby-side race was on. Peterson lit the winlight with a 6.51 at 211 to Samu ' s 6.53 at 212, but the Finn ' s excitement was just beginning. " On the final run, I lost all air and could not shut off the bike and pop the ' chute," said Kemppainen. " I was so close to the wall, where the pavement is rough and channeled, that I couldn ' t
Jordan Peterson- Winner of Circle M Ranch Top Fuel
hit hard brakes right away- so it was sandpit dirtbiking at that stage." Samu ended up on Refugee Road SW at the northern end of the strip- which we ' re told was NOT blocked- placing himself between asphalt and bike to protect the motorcycle [ not good, check it out on Google!].
Nitro Funnybike Peterson added the Nitro Funnybike win to his weekend- his second straight on the Romine Racing prepared, Phil Lower-owned mount.
The Funnybikes seemed to struggle in Ohio, with Peterson qualified number one at only 7.02 / 185. He finally ran in the sixes with a 6.83 in round one of eliminations, then a 6.91 to take the final round win over defending champ Cameron " Flash " Gunter of the Bad Apple Racing team. Like his Top Fuel mount, Peterson ' s Funnybike is owned by Phil Lower and also tuned by the Romines. Jack Romine said that with his brother Mike " getting a handle on the clutch, with the changes he made, we picked up the
Samu Kemppainen- Runner-up of Circle M Ranch Top Fuel
Cameron Gunter- Runner-up of Nitro Funnybike