NHDRO Season Opener at Gainesville, Florida

Dustin Lee (near lane) won both Street ET races at Gainesville. Here Norwalk racer Kevin Adams redlit by -.003 on Saturday, while Duane Schmidt did Lee a similar favor by -.012 on Sunday.

“This is the toughest bracket field—ever!” Dan Rudd said. The long-time racer and owner of Motorcycle Performance Specialties (MPS) was on his way to the Buy Back window on Saturday morning so he could take another licking. “Whoever wins this event has really accomplished something.”

So, when NHDRO regular Chad Isley put BOTH of his entries into the MPS Pro ET final of NHDRO’s “Welcome to the Swamp” season opener at Gainesville Raceway on April 12-14, you could say the feat was other-worldly.

The Midwest’s largest all-motorcycle drag racing series went south to race on the world’s newest, best racing surface against the Florida legends. The result was a meeting of the world’s toughest motorcycle drag racers.

Chad Isley

And there was Chad Isley, who you might say beat the field TWICE on Saturday.

The Midwest reigned again in Sunday’s MPS Pro ET race. Iowan Steve Klemme’s .028 starting line advantage paved the way for his final round win over Floridian Gary Russell, who broke out with a 9.043 on his 9.06 dial trying to even it up. Klemme ran .003 over his 8.71 dial-in.

When you talk about Florida legends, Tony Mullen is right at the top of the list. Mullen’s Pro Ultra 4.60 winlight came on early when Broderick Jackson lit a -.010 redeye. “We’ve loved racing this event,” said Mullen. “The NHDRO people have made us feel so welcome. They really cater to the racer, and that’s what I am — a racer. I live a quarter mile from Bradenton Motorsports Park and that’s why I live there; to race against the toughest racers in the world.”

It wasn’t just Florida and Midwestern racers battling it out at Gainesville. Puerto Rico’s Ricardo Marte left the line a scant .002 quicker than opponent Cory Washington in the Hardcore Cycles Top Gas final. In a double breakout, hell-bent battle at the stripe, Marte took the win with an 8.17 to Washington’s 8.16.

But that wasn’t the best race of the day. Kentuckian John “Spooky” Markham and John King achieved that honor in the M2.Shocks Crazy Comp final. Markham’s .006 advantage at the tree was what won it for him, as the scoreboards lit up identical breakout 8.862s in the 8.89 class.

Also lighting up scoreboards was Millennium Trailers Pro Street racer Rodney Williford, hustling his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa down the perfectly prepped Gainesville 1320 in an attempt to be the first Pro Street racer to run a 6.50-something. Round after round the internet was ablaze as Rodney sent it. The North Carolinian came as close to it as anyone in history, matching Frankie Stotz’s 6.601 and his own 226.70-mph record in the heat of the day.

Sydney Marshall

The final against Florida’s own Sydney Marshall was Williford’s last chance for the weekend, and although Rodney won the race he slowed to a 6.62 and came up just short of the record.

Class act that he is, Williford made it a point to personally thank NHRA’s Mike Walker, Gainesville Raceway’s Mike Yurick and Mike Poole, and every member of the waterbox and starting line staff for prepping a track capable of breaking records