|
 |
Romine
Racing News
See our Gallery for photos and our schedule to find where
we race next.
The three RMC stars sizzled at the truly hottest event on the AHDRA 2003 tour. Mike Romine, RMC team leader, consistently performed the quickest reaction times of the weekend. The Jack (Romine) Attack qualified number two. Drums Brancaccio raced Mike Romine in round one performing the closest side-by-side NitroHarley race of the weekend. There were two semi-final team appearances. It was HOT; Nuclear Tomato hot.
Team tall guy and big brother, Mike, qualified highest of the three team racers with a 6.975 at 199.29 miles per hour for 5th.
Romine wasn't ecstatic with his results Saturday. 'In the first round of qualifying everyone was spinning the tire. We were towards the back of the staging lanes from our other RMC team bikes. There in the lanes I changed some adjustments on the bike after watching Jack and Drums. When I ran, I just kind of eased out through there with a 6.97. That qualified us second because only Doug (Vancil) and I got down the track. After that round I was gradually putting more stuff in the bike trying to go quicker but we had trouble getting down the track.'
It was a similar story for New Jersey's most prominent Nitro Harley racer. Brancaccio said, 'Like everybody who was there will tell you, it was so, so hot. The sun was beating on the track and the oil was coming up to the surface, so there was little traction out there. In the first round, though it had a good sixty-foot time, the bike was shaking the tire badly. I could have probably ridden it out, but I didn't want to risk putting out a cylinder and possibly hurting it.'
'My second pass was a 7.0 on a good clean run at 199 miles per hour. The clutch was slipping so much I don't think it went one to one until 1100 feet. For the third round, we put some clutch back in it and ran a 6.80 flat. I?d run Doug Vancil that round and he was even shocked. He ran a decent 6.54. I was with him until the 1/8th mile when the bike started spinning the tire and pulling me to the centerline. At 1000 feet I yanked the bike over 2 feet but by then it'd put a hole out. The bike was on a good tear, possibly low 60 high 70 if it had stayed out of the marbles.' Drums ran a 6.805 at 189.95 for 4th. On an eight bike field, he would run the boss for the first round.
Sunday eliminations began earlier, and hotter, than Saturday's qualifying. Romine said, 'We just put both bikes the way they'd run the best the day before and went for it. I had a better light than Drums and outran him. I just barely outran him but it was a 6.89 against his 6.90. It was a pretty important round for our bike to try to maintain with Doug (Vancil) so we could stay in second place.'
Drums sang the same song. 'He put a light on me then won the race by about a foot. We probably had the best race of the weekend. He ran a 208 to my 201 and change. We didn?t know who won until I saw his light go on. It was an honest race and a good show. Mike was 'on,' man. He was cutting lights all weekend. He flabbergasted me. Not many people cut lights on me.'
Jack Romine had qualified second. 'I didn't get down the track at all the first two qualifying runs. It spun the first round. Second round the bike shut off. In the evening round I ran a 6.70 at 206 miles per hour qualifying second.'
In Sunday's first round of eliminations, Jack got a 'lucky' break and won though he'd broken the transmission on the run with a 7.098 170.77. The team fixed that. Then in the second round it lost fuel pressure in the burnout and he shut it off. 'It was running erratically with no fuel pressure, so Jack made the right call,' said Mike. Jack moved up from eighth to sixth in points. 'This weekend was his best qualifying position this year on the team,' said Mike. 'His bike is running real good, we just haven't gotten it consistent at all. Jack's is the newest bike and we know what the problem is but can't seem to fix it. We have all week together, before the big Harley 100th celebration, to work on it and race this weekend at Union Grove.'
In the second RMC semi-final appearance, Mike Romine raced point's leader Vancil. 'I was probably lined up crooked, because my bike always goes straight,' Romine said about his unusual run. 'I got over toward the center line a little bit, so I had to get in and out of the throttle. He beat me but I should have run better than I did.' Chopping the tree down with a .066, Romine cross the finish line .109 too late on a 6.80 at 206 miles per hour. Drums added, 'Mike did a hell of a job this weekend. He killed Doug in the lights on his run. It would have been nice to have Mike go to the final for our team.'
'It was tough in that heat for everyone racing this weekend, not just us and not just the Nitro bikes. Actually, I have to commend the racetrack crew. For the heat, the track wasn't really that bad. Jack ran real well. Drums gave a great race. It was just a survival game. We were glad to go a couple of rounds. With two men absent, the team worked well together. We stuck it out. We didn?t win the race, but we got points.'
Mike Romine, Jack Romine and Drums Brancaccio are sponsored by RMC Racing, Romine Racing, Oceans 11 sports bar in Hollywood, FL, Chromatic Inc, Performance Machine, Ross Racing Pistons, Fram, and Autolite.
|
|
