Two National Titles!
Crew Chief James Carlin, doing a late night clutch change and still smilin'!
My niece Alex, with her Dad and brother in the background. Racing is a good excuse to hang out!
Team EB Speed from left to right. Crew Chief James Carlin, my wife Laura Barkley, and rider Ethan Barkley.
Ethan Barkley Wins Two National Championship Titles The points race was tight heading into the Canadian Motorcycle Drag Racing Association’s final event at Mission Raceway Park. Team EB Speed, piloted by Ethan Barkley, had accumulated an 82 point lead in the Street Series and were holding on to the top spot in Pro Street by a mere 43 points. Ethan Barkley’s Street Class based 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 ran flawlessly all season, and he was looking for more performance for the last race. His goal was to run under a 9.5 elapsed time and exceed 150 MPH. The week leading up to the event, the GSX-R made a few more runs on the Walt Healy Motorsports Dynojet dyno and Ethan proved he had the horsepower to meet his goal. VP Racing Fuels also lent their support and provided some of their potent MR9 oxygenated fuel for that extra edge. The result was a solid 171 HP and 82 ft/lbs. of torque. Team EB Speed’s Pro Street turbocharged 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 was making good horsepower, but the clutch and fuel delivery weren’t working together and hampered their efforts all season. The recently installed boost controller and water injection system were now operational. They ran a new clutch set-up with a quick access cover so they could make vital adjustments to the multi-stage lock up clutch between rounds. The EB Speed Team made the commitment to head down to Mission a day early in order to attend a track test and tune which would give them an advantage over the rest of the racers. Friday’s six hour track test session went well, the weather was excellent but the track was slippery. Their numbers weren’t great, only running in the 9.0’s at 160+ mph, but the changes they made to the clutch were paying off. Their next hurdle was fuel management. Because the fuel mixture was too rich, it was causing the bike to stumble as it left the starting line. They kept carefully leaning out the mixture one run at a time, as not to go too lean and cause a meltdown and throw away their chances for the title. They had to think big picture at this point and try not to make any mistakes. Saturday greeted them with excellent conditions, the cool, dense September air made for big horsepower. (video clip here) They made only one pass on the Street GSX-R1000 in the morning test session, running an easy 9.61 @ 151mph. In the third round of qualifying the nearly stock GSX-R1000 laid down an awesome 9.440 @ 151 mph! Their goal of running under a 9.5 for the season had been accomplished. On the Pro Street GSX-R they ran back to back 9.0’s @ 168 mph. In their third and final round of qualifying Ethan Barkley lined up against his arch rival Tom Tourand aboard his 320+HP Turbocharged Hayabusa. As the lights came down, Tom had a great reaction time giving him a slight lead leaving the starting line. Ethan gave chase, and caught up by the 330’ mark. Team EB Speed’s bike went straight and never missed a beat, tripping the lights at a seasons best 8.580 @ 170.64 mph to Tom’s 8.867 @ 165.62 mph. It was a great side by side 8 second pass that had the fans cheering in the stands and put the team in the top spot going into Sunday’s eliminations. (video clip here) Cool temperatures and drizzle arrived on Sunday morning. The test and tune session was cancelled and everyone was hoping for some sunshine to dry things out. Thankfully in the early afternoon the racers were able to get on the track, even though it was still quite slippery. In the Street class the EB Speed Team dialed in an easy 9.65 in round one and took the win. In round two they ran a quicker dial in of 9.60 and took the win over Leigh Gallant aboard his Kawasaki ZX-14. With those two round wins, they had secured the Street Championship over last years champion Ken Froese. In the Pro Street class Ethan and crew chief James Carlin made the decision to dial down the boost as not to overpower the track, and ran a conservative 9.02 @ 165mph to take the first round win. That was all that was needed to secure their third straight title in the Pro Street class. Mother nature didn’t cooperate, bringing on and off showers for the remainder of Sunday and Monday, so the results would remain unchanged. The 2006 season of CMDRA drag racing proved to be EB Speed’s most successful to date. The Street series was a ton of fun and kept them even busier than usual in the pits. Bracket racing is more about being consistent, but Barkley couldn’t resist the chance to get the near stock GSX-R1000 into the mid 9’s during testing and qualifying. Ethan hasn’t competitively bracket raced since his early days in the CMDRA, but he rarely missed a beat, putting the 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the finals 3 times and taking the win twice. EB Speed’s Pro Street program tackled a totally new platform with the 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 using a one of a kind Velocity Racing turbo system. They started off slow but finished on a high note without breaking any parts. It was their learning year and finishing on top for our third straight title is more than they had hoped for. They never really pushed the GSX-R running moderate boost levels all season, but it still managed to put out close to 300 HP and over 140 ft./lbs. of torque to the rear wheel. This bike has loads of potential and has already eclipsed their last season’s best efforts and will provide even greater performance in 2007.
CLASS / QUALIFYING / RESULT
STREET E.T. / 5th / Rain PRO STREET / 1st / Rain
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