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Romine
Racing News
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Throughout qualifying at the IHRA Canadian Nationals, Mike Romine rode his new Nuclear Tomato Nitro Harley against Steve Stordeur, never expecting to be paired with him in the first round. But it did happen. Four of four passes during the Never Ending Weather event, Romine and Stordeur swapped lanes for their chance at the Screamin' Eagle show.
Going into eliminations, Romine was the underdog, qualified sixth. 'I'm totally confident in the motorcycle other than the fact that we're having a problem on the starting line.' The new Nuclear Tomato ran it's first six-second pass in Canada, setting it's seed in the Nitro Harleys garden. Romine's Flyin' Banana qualified first six weeks ago in Virginia with the same motor. 'This new chassis is just responding different than the other one. I have set the clutch up exactly like the yellow bike and it has smoked the tire where the yellow bike didn't. We need to find what this bike wants and go from there. I believe in the long run, you really only know what works when you find it when it comes to a Nitro Harley. It might take a couple of races or just one more pass. This will eventually be a better motorcycle.'
Romine focused on his strategy for defeating Stordeur for the first round instead of just running against him. The two competed in round one in Virginia with Romine as number one qualifier. Again, they paired for first round eliminations. This time, Stordeur had the advantage. 'I can't worry about anyone past the first round. We learned that a long time ago. Steve is either going to run a good pass or it's going to be terrible. He's not going to go out and run 6.70. He'll run 6.50 or 6.90. For him it seems like there's no middle of the road. That's IF he doesn't smoke the tire or break. We have to assume that he's going to run real good and we'll have to run with him. That means not rolling into the throttle.'
As the underdog, Romine did not have lane choice. As he'd estimated, he ran in the left lane. 'As it hit the bump, the front end slammed down because it spun the rear tire, which unloaded it and made it go rich. Mine was the one you probably heard go fat at about 330 feet. My 60-foot was 1.17. I rolled the throttle instead of snapping it because everybody in the left lane was all over the place.' Romine made a fishtailing gesture with his hands. 'Going into the round, we changed the sprocket. That's really about it. We also messed with the wheelie bar adjustments to try to get it to leave line without spinning the tire. After it went fat, I only got back into it to get to the end of the track. I didn't get back in it wide open.'
Next, Romine will go back to the shop and get ready to go to the AHDRA Buckeye Nationals at Norwalk. It's the home track of his main sponsor, Chromatic. For the first time in 2001, Romine will e running two bikes in competition. The Flyin' Banana will go back to a jack-shaft Pro Fuel bike. The Nuclear Tomato will remain as the Top Fuel bike. 'It'll be fun to be in competition with the Pro Fuel. For the Nuclear Tomato, we'll be getting ready for Cordova.'
Mike Romine is sponsored by Chromatic, Andrews Products, Saddlemen and Romine Racing. Keep up with Mike and his garden of Nitro Motorcycles at www.mikeromine.com or the Mike Romine home page at www.nitroharleys.com
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