Racer Profile: ECTA’s First Woman Over 200 MPH on a Motorcycle
Update: Since this article was written in 2006, Trillium returned to Maxton, and in May 2007 she ran a stunning 218.34 MPH. This, by our reckoning, makes her the world’s fastest woman on an open wheeled motorcycle. Congratulations, Trilly. Read on, and have fun.
In September 2006, Trillium Muir made the 20-some-hour drive to Maxton from her home in Canada thinking she was going to be a spectator. Never having been to Maxton before, she and her boyfriend,
Jody Leveille, were lured to the Super Streetbike Shootout. Jody is a sometimes drag racer and thought he’d try his hand at the mile, so they had Jody’s 2003 turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa in tow. Having read the Shootout rules, Trillium believed that she would not be able to compete because it was not her bike, so she had left her riding gear at home.
Since she got out of college four years ago, Trillium has been working counseling young offenders in an open custody facility in her home town of Sudbury, Ontartio. It has only been about three years since she first got on a motorcycle, but she credits her confidence and ability as a rider to her “very forgiving” Suzuki GS500, her first bike, and frequent jaunts on Jody’s bikes. She says she has always liked motorcycles and recalls riding in her dad’s truck as a youngster, seeing motorcycles and saying to herself, “Some day that will be me.”
Only after she got to the track did Trillium learn that the “owner-must-be-the-rider” rule was a Shootout rule, not an ECTA rule, and she became determined to ride. She began looking to borrow the gear she would need, and it was not long before she was awestruck at the cooperative and generous spirit of the other racers. Minutes into her quest, an offer of a helmet came from veteran ECTA-racer, Tim Holder. She then followed a pointing finger a short walk across the pit area to the SNART Racing compound, which yielded gloves and full leathers that fit almost like custom made. Finally came a pair of boots from Lee Shierts. With full gear carrying with it a lot of good karma, she was good to go. “I was pretty pumped about this,” she says with her characteristic youthful enthusiasm. ”I couldn’t believe how nice and supportive everyone was.”
Because the treasure hunt for riding apparel had set her back a bit, she was late getting started on Saturday and only got in her first licensing run.
Meanwhile, Jody got in four runs to get his licensing chores out of the way. On Sunday morning, Trillium marched through the rest of her licensing runs in good order, and with her Category B license in hand, she had her eye on 200 MPH. She ran 193 MPH on Jody’s bike, but it was suffering a bit of clutch-slip, and it was becoming clear that it was not up to the task that day. “Next year,” she thought to herself. Then up stepped John Bullock, a seasoned land speed racer and long time member of the ECTA 200 MPH Club. As Trillium recounts the story, “John said, ‘You should ride my bike. It is a proven 200 MPH bike. I watched your runs, and I have every confidence you can do it. I’d like to see you crack 200 MPH.’”
Trillium says she thought about it for only a moment and then took John up on his gracious offer. Just to be sure, she mounted the bike and rode it up and down the return road to gain some confidence.
With John’s guidance and coaching, and with encouraging words from lots of other riders at the starting line, she took one easy pass down the track on John’s bike at 163+ MPH to get the feel of the bike at speed. She says she thought to herself, “I can do this,” and returned to the start line ready to make history.
Trillium recounts that back at the start line “I did not talk to anyone;
I just focused on what I needed to do.” With that, she turned in a run of 204.778 MPH to become the first woman at Maxton over 200 MPH on a motorcycle. She was somewhat surprised at the bit of hoopla when she returned to get her time slip. “There were smiling people lined up all along the return road by the pits. There was a guy holding a sign with my speed on it. There was an approving nod from Scott Guthrie and a high-five from Rich Yancy,” she recalls.
Trillium offers her profuse thanks to all the other racers who made her historic run possible — to all who lent her gear and guidance and support; to Dave Owen for his help safety wiring and with diagnosing the slipping clutch on Jody’s bike; and, most of all, to John Bullock for giving her the seat that made her run possible.
So what’s on for next year? Trillium says she and Jody are planning lots of modifications on the bike over the winter, including a major engine overhaul and likely a new turbo from Ontario’s Richard Peppler. Next year, if all goes well, Trillium and Jody plan to make three or four of the Maxton meets. By our research, she is now the second fastest woman timed on a motorcycle anywhere. When asked the obvious question, she replies, “Yeah, I’d like to be the fastest woman on a motorcycle.”
We’re rooting for you, Trilly!
(10/07/06)
Photos (from top):
- Trillium enjoys a Saturday night out in Laurinburg (Photo by ??, but thanks anyway)
- Trilllium at speed on Jody Leveille’s bike (Photo by Shaun Kennedy)
- Trillium and bike owner, John Bullock, at the start line (Photo by Scott Odell)
Editor’s note: They were my leathers that Trillium borrowed that weekend. Far too many people have volunteered to me that she looked way better in them than I do. I am a little offended by these gratuitous remarks, but cannot disagree with the truth of the statement. — MM