Super Streetbike Shootout Results

Super Streetbike magazine, in conjunction with the ECTA, was on a quest to find the fastest street bikes in America. We now have our answers, at least for another year. At our September 2006 meet, Super Streetbike offered really cool jackets to the fastest speeds turned in six classes: 600cc all motor; 600cc plus one power adder (nitrous, turbo or supercharger); 1000cc all motor; 1000cc plus one power adder; Unlimited cc all-motor; and Unlimited cc plus one power adder. To encourage the hot-rodding spirit, rules allowed virtually any modifications, as long as it was street legal. The class displacements referred to the engine cases only — so if you could get 800ccs out of a 600 motor and keep it together you were eligible for the 600cc class. In addition, there was a target mph contest with an award to the rider who came the closest to the 150.000 mph mark, making virtually anyone with a sport bike able to get involved in this contest. Winners got an “ECTA/Super Streetbike Fastest Streetbike in America” riding jacket from Joe Rocket, and, of course, the undeniable bragging rights the go along with owning one of the indisputable fastest bikes in the country.

My favorite quote of the weekend came from Super Streetbike editor, Aaron Frank, who was racing but had disqualified himself from the Shootout competition. At the starting line as he waited for his next turn on the concrete, I asked him how his runs were going so far. He said “It’s a lot harder to go really fast than I thought it would be.” It’s easy to be smug, as a semi-experienced LSR racer myself, but I think Aaron hit it on the nose. I know I found out the hard way. Now that the results are in, I find it interesting that with 30 or so new, never before LSR racers with hot machines at this meet, all the prizes were taken home by people who had raced with the ECTA before. Sorry rookies, but take Aaron’s words to heart.

 

Here are the results:

  • SSB-600 All Motor - Diane Marshburn, 130.330 mph, Suzuki GSX600F, #9381
  • SSB-600 Power Adder - Jon Wennerberg, 31.3 mph, Honda Elite 80cc, #436
  • SSB-1000 All Motor - Doug Uminn, 176.498 mph, Suzuki GSX-R1000, #9277
  • SSB-1000 Power Adder - Don Hass, 211.426 mph, Turbo Suzuki GSX-R1000, #9280
  • SSB-Unlimited All Motor - Dave Owen, 215.9464 mph, Suzuki Hayabusa, #9244
  • SSB-Unlimited Power Adder - Rich Yancy, 233.936 mph, Turbo Suzuki Hayabusa, #8
  • 150MPH Index Class - Rick Roberts, 149.735 mph, Suzuki Hayabusa, #9269

Here are some of the stories.

Diane “Micki” Marshburn brought her Katana 600. She struggled with some undiagnosed problems that kept her well below the 100 mph mark on her first two runs. In true hot-rodder spirit, she didn’t give up and, with a little advice from other racers, she worked all of Saturday, did her own wrenching and finally diagnosed the problem as a clogged fuel filter. On Sunday, she finally turned in a very respectable 130+ mph run to get the 600 All Motor Class win.

Late in the day on Sunday, Jon Wennerberg, who was pitted next to the Super Streetbike trailer, noticed on their blackboard that no one had reported a time for the 600 Power Adder Class. Being ever the opportunist, Jon discussed the matter with the SSB folks, and prepped his Honda Elite pit scooter for racing. With a blistering 31.3 mph, Jon won the jacket for 600cc Power Adder Class. Shame on all you GSX-R-600 owners who stayed home!

Doug Uminn, a regular at ECTA events since last year, took home the 1000cc Motor Only Class at 176+ mph. Don Hass, another ECTA veteran and 200 MPH Club member, took the 1000cc Power Adder class on his Gixxer at 211+ mph.

In the “big boys” classes, there were no surprises, at least to us who follow ECTA racing. Master tuner, Dave Owen, took the Unlimited All Motor class on his Hayabusa at 215+ mph. That was a “walk in the park” for a bike that is, according to our information, the fastest sit-on all motor bike in the world and has been 222+ mph at Maxton.  And to no one’s surprise, Rich Yancy took the Unlimited Power Adder Class with his famous No. 8 Budweiser Turbo ‘Busa at a leisurely (for that bike) 233+ mph.

The 150 MPH Index Class was anybody’s game. Rick Roberts won the honors with a 149.735 mph run on Sunday afternoon. Ironically, Rick had bracketed the index speed on the other side with a 150.777 run on Saturday afternoon (and no one got closer on that side). I have to mention, that our buddy Thomas Cronan hit 150.000 mph on the nose on Kevin Umphlett’s ancient 750cc Suzuki, but because it was a borrowed bike it did not meet the rules, and he could not claim the prize. I am sure the green hat he later won for his 200 Club membership salved the wounds.

 

Pictures from top to bottom are:   

  • Super Streetbike promo pic (Courtesy Super Streetbike)
  • Keith Turk (left), ECTA Race Director, hams it up with Aaron Frank,
        Editor of Super Streetbike Magazine (Photo: Scott Odell)
  • Micki Marshburn with Starter, Al Freitas, at the start line on
        her Katana at the June meet (Photo: Mark Amrhein)
  • Jon Wennerberg on his Honda Elite (Photo: Scott Odell)
  • Rich Yancy takes a break and contemplates his next run (Photo: Scott Odell)