McBride Scores Big in Brainerd
The Pingel NHRA Top Fuel Motorcycles came to Brainerd International Raceway in Northen Minnesota on August 15-17, looking for a break from previous round Virginia's blazing heat. They eventually found it, but the first round of qualifying was unseasonably hot and humid for Brainerd.
Larry 'Spiderman' McBride and his tuner/builder/brother Steve thrived in the heat of their home state Virginia, setting an NHRA 1000 foot record of 242.93 mph there. Ditto on Friday in Brainerd, where they rolled off the trailer with a new NHRA 1000-foot ET record 4.812 at 242.67, once again delivering in the heat.
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| Larry 'Spiderman' McBride |
That was considerably quicker than anyone else, with Elmeri Salakari in second with a 5.91 at 152. Bob Malloy had new tire blues and didn't post a representative time. Mitch Brown's team began what would be a weekend-long test of perseverance by pushing the head gasket out on all sides.
Micah Fenwick started the round off by spinning the tire, but also getting no time when the NHRA apparently forgot to switch the timing system after the sleds ran.
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| Bob Malloy |
Q2 was postponed to Saturday and there would be no Q3. When the bikes got to the track that afternoon, Larry ran 4.84 at 239. Fenwick rebounded with a 5.21 at 183, and Malloy seemingly put his problems behind him with a 5.08 at 208, Salakari rani 5.17 at 204, and Brown made another slow pass with a Frankensteined back-up head
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| Mitch Brown |
Malloy's weekend ended early in first round of eliminations when he apparently spun at the hit against Brown. His grip on second in points dropped to only 25 ahead of Mitch.
As for Brown, his round win in the other lane was spectacular as his engine flashed brightly at the hit and pumped fuel out of one pipe and the head as he stayed on it to the stripe.
That was followed by a great race between Fenwick and Salakari. Micah took the tree .128 to .161 and both had identical 1.070 60 foot times. Fenwick was then quicker at the 330 and eighth mile before his bike wouldn't shift, leaving him at 5.19 at 196 to Elmeri's winning 5.12 at 222.
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| Micah Fenwick |
McBride had the bye and ran another 4.84 at 242 - the world's quickest, fastest bracket bike.
Brown borrowed an engine from Sam Wills and had the bye in E2. But the result was another flash two and a half seconds into the run, another engine failure.
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| Elmeri Salakari |
Salakari then put up a good fight against McBride, who took the tree by .007 and won with a 4.77 at 245 to 5.10 at 221-setting both ends of the record.
With no motors left, Brown was unable to make the final. Running solo in the left lane, Larry flashed out a head gasket for his first mechanical failure in nearly two full seasons of racing.
A cost worth the result of McBride's second straight Pingel NHRA Top Fuel Motorcycle championship-secured this year after only three of four races.
