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Romine
Racing News
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Destined for second from his number two qualifying position, Mike Romine made his final AHDRA 2003 pass in 6.59 seconds at 207.56 miles per hour. "It ran good. I think I hurt piston earlier today. That's why it was smoking terribly. We didn't have time between rounds to change it with the rush of three bikes and quick rounds today. The 6.59 is pretty good for the condition of the bike. It did its job."
Romine improved each round during eliminations. He began the day with a .479 reaction time, 6.682 at 207.78. "I just backed it of a little bit from last night. Evidently it backed off a little more than I thought, so I put about half of it back in. We'll see. We dad a good top end and a sluggish front half."
Round two was a close start for Romine. With a .456 to a .455 reaction time, spinning the tire, he got the win light with a 6.664 at 199.79. "It was loose, but we got the win light. For the next round I will probably run it about the same and try to keep it from spinning." Improving yet again in the semi-final, Romine clocked a .448 reaction time on a 6.622 run at 209.40 miles per hour. Unfortunately, he'd lost lane choice.
Drums Brancaccio, who'd led the team in points and results until Vegas, didn't have a great day at the track Sunday after qualifying third, behind Romine. "Competition, Inc.'s Lonnie Isam was lining me up and I wanted to land right where he led me. So I didn't pay attention to the tree. I pre-staged and staged before I was ready. I paid attention to his foot and didn't see the tree. When I looked up I had both bulbs on. I wanted to back out and I couldn't because I would red light. It screwed my procedure up. I got myself frenzied. I should have just stayed calm and not worry about it. When we left on the line, he cut a light on me and I spun the tire and chopped the throttle all the way. I didn't want to blow the motor. I tried to roll it and didn't have a handful of throttle. I couldn't find my throttle position. I never really got it fully wide open. It was a great disappointment for me. The bike was running good. What are you gonna do? It's not the first time I screwed up and it won't be the last. 90% of the time I'm on the ball. Of course, I have to thank Mitch Marlowe for this opportunity. It's a great shot. The team did great and we'll look toward next year."
Little brother Jack Romine had the toughest day of all, never really getting to run the bike through the impressive Las Vegas quarter mile. "We spun the tire at the hit of the throttle. I tried to get into it but it acted like it was gonna hurt the motor so I got out of it."
At the end of the day, Mike Romine was looking at the bright side. "We came here ready for an incredible battle for second place. Four different riders could taken it. We ended up second, so we're happy. First place has been impossible for the last four or five races. We've just been concentrating on getting the bike second, and keeping Drums and Jack in the top ten. It's been a pretty good year. Drums is fourth. Jack is probably 7th or 8th. The Flyin' Banana Pro Fueler that we run from time to time ended up second in points winning five out of six races. Mark Conner just didn't run enough races with that bike to earn the championship. He was out by 10 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.
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