Motorcycles and news

Romine beat Tommy Grimes in the final round of the Nitro Harley-Davidson exhibition series at the NHRA POWERade national event. It was the second of three exhibitions for the nitro-burning motorcycles this season as the AHDRA Screamin’ Eagle championship chase had the weekend off.

Romine rode his nitro-burning Salt Lake City Harley to a 6.360-second pass at 220.15 mph to beat Grimes’ 6.388 at 219.65 on the Ray Price-owned Harley entry.

“I think we all underestimated how good the track could get and it was even better than we anticipated,” Romine said. “We didn’t have a lot of time between the semifinal and final round, which just got us more hyped up to race. The track cooled off a bit and it helped us run even quicker. It was very exciting to be able to run quicker each round.”

Going back to the fall event in Chicago last season, Grimes had won the last two NHRA events for the nitro Harleys. Romine, however, has won the last three consecutive events at Bristol Dragway including last season’s exhibition event at this track last year, followed by the AHDRA event victory in August.

“It’s a great facility and the fans are knowledgeable about drag racing and they are always glad to have us race here,” Romine said. “We come back here in August (12-13 for the AHDRA event) and hopefully we can win that one too. They have great fans in Bristol and they were already talking about coming back for the AHDRA event.”

Romine has already posted a victory in AHDRA action this season, earning the win at the Screamin’ Eagle Bike Week Nationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway in March.

“It’s important that we were here this weekend because we made some good runs and we didn’t get to the first NHRA event (in Phoenix) earlier this season,” Romine said. “It’s important for our team and our sponsors like Salt Lake City Harley-Davidson to be able to run well in front of these great crowds. We’ve won at least one NHRA event for four consecutive years now. It’s nice to have a win this season with one race left. We’ll be in Virginia in the fall and try to go after that win too.”

Grimes earned the top qualifying position going into final eliminations, posting a 6.428 pass at 221.63 for the No. 1 qualifier spot. Doug Vancil was second in qualifying with a 6.448 at 213.77 while Romine was third with a 6.478 at 216.00.

“We weren’t sure if we were even going to race today because when we looked up in the sky the weather didn’t look like it was going to stay dry long enough for the entire race,” Harley-Davidson Racing Manager Anne Paluso said. “Given the way the day started out, we couldn’t be happier with the performance of these nitro Harley-Davidsons. They put on a great show for the Bristol fans and we capped the day with a quick side-by-side race to the finish line.”

Romine beat Dean Comunal (6.450 at 217.07 to 26.707 at 113.54) in the first round before topping Vancil in Round Two (6.391 at 224.62 over 6.962 at 156.90).

Grimes posted a 6.484 at 215.48 in his bye run in the first round before beating Takeshi Shigematsu in the second round (6.433 at 220.33 over 6.493 at 210.11).