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Romine
Racing News
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Beginning the end to the AHDRA Screamin' Eagle Nitro Harley season, Drums Brancaccio thrills RMC Racing fans with yet another final round appearance. One week after an RMC Racing win at NHRA's Chicago event, Drums made his way through the Rockingham Dragway quarter mile runner-up.
"It's a shame to end such a great weekend with a red light, but that's what you saw." With a 6.83 at 203.60, it was his least impressive run of the weekend. "The motor is making good steam. We're getting our clutch worked out. Look for three very strong bikes at Vegas."
In the semi-final round, Brancaccio took out Rookie Tii Tharpe. "I caught a light on him. Tii can always run good. He's got a lot of horsepower. He was with me until about 330 feet into the run and I just started walking away, plugged high gear. I was on a pretty good pass. I'm fortunate to still be in for my team."
Steve Moore was first round competition for Brancaccio for the fifth event in a row. Drums won with a 6.69 at 209 miles per hour. "I knew he would put more power in it than the track would take. He's a great friend and racer." Moore's motor detonated on the competition pass. "I'm very sorry that he got hurt. I know that his safety system worked and he's gonna be fine. I actually heard it go boom. I was about to pass him when it went bang."
Brancaccio qualified fifth and highest on the RMC Racing team at The Rock. "Mike put more power in the bike, obviously, because it broke the belt on the second run. It felt good when I hit the throttle through the track. I ran flawlessly. 6.59 at 211. I couldn't be happier."
With his back healing, team leader Mike Romine was in the groove again, qualified seventh with a 6.629 at 200.38. Taking it easy on his bike, Romine had no trouble winning round one, with a 6.816 at 204.23 miles per hour. "We were real soft with it. I saw everybody else spinning. So I made a couple of changes right before we ran it. I didn't figure it would run better than 6.60 but it went the other way and ran 6.80."
For the round of eight, Romine ran good buddy and points leader Doug Vancil. Running his best e.t. of the weekend, Romine was bested and put on the trailer with his 6.53 at 210 miles per hour. "Doug made one a little better. He tends to do that sometimes. Darned guy."
Little brother Jack Romine had the toughest weekend. Though he won the first round with a 6.707 at 191.73, "It broke a belt again." Romine continues to sing the same song as the season comes to a close.
In his final eastern quarter-mile pass, Romine clocked an 8.297. "I couldn't keep the bike in the groove. Once I got out of the groove, it smoked the tire a couple of hundred feet out there. Jay spun his. I saw him spin it as I was trying to hold in the groove and couldn't."
Romine was satisfied having qualified well at sixth, bumping his older brother in the final round. "I got down the track, finally. We didn't do anything different than when we broke the belt earlier in the day. I was petty cautious on the throttle because I didn't want to smoke the tire. The sixty foot time was a 1.11. I ran a 2.90 330 foot time. It's not quite as good as last time. I didn't have my shift point quite right and I think it slowed the bike down. All in all, I think we landed well."
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.
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