|
 |
Romine
Racing News
See our Gallery for photos and our schedule to find where
we race next.
Finally, Mike Romine made his way to the final round in his third IHRA 2002 outing. Considered early by many for such a new ‘team’ formation, one good pass led to another. Well, almost.
In eliminations round one Romine held the upper qualifying hand. Focused on reaction times, Romine dropped to a .487. Not the best of the pair, he made up the difference at the top end dropping into his first career forty pass at 6.467. Ecstatic with the performance, the team performed mostly between round maintenance – clutch, oil, fuel and some fine-tuning.
Round two proved tough. Romine faced his now two-year nemesis, Steve Stordeur. Finally, Romine gained the upper hand and it was a combination of reaction time and doing the potentially damaging move Nitro Harleys wince at - what the Top Fuel cars call ‘pedaling it’ to get through for the win. Both Stordeur and Romine fought tire spin. Fortunately, Romine’s tuner Rex Harris built in default switches that allow the rider to ‘over ride’ the fuel system to prevent detonation of the motor. Romine killed the timing and went with his skills – pedaling it into his first IHRA final of 2002. It wasn’t pretty. A 7.021 won it.
The final round made for exciting racing. Romine hole-shotted the pass with a .478 reaction time – five hundredths better than the “65” tour competitor. But the tune-up went the wrong way and Romine’s motor went fat. A 6.614 hasn’t been too shabby until this weekend at Shreveport, but the name of the game changed this weekend in Shreveport.
When it was all said and done and the team sat back for an end of the day summary, the Nitro Glass was the proverbial half full. Performance ground was gained. They went more rounds in one weekend than they had the entire IHRA season to date. A runner-up is better any day than going home after first round. Romine’s besting his best. With IHRA’s Cordova event in two weeks, look for another impressive appearance. Low altitude and conditions similar to 2001 could make for yet another “Quickest Nitro Harley field.”
Mike Romine is sponsored by Chromatic, Andrews Products, Saddlemen, Autolite, Silkolene and Romine Racing.
|
|
