BARKLEY HAS A SLOW START AT CMDRA OPENER

With the new 2008 Canadian Motorcycle Drag Racing Association (CMDRA) season under way, rider Ethan Barkley is in pursuit of his fifth straight Pro Street championship aboard his record holding turbocharged 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000. He is also striving for his third consecutive Street championship riding the all new 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa.

Team EB Speed’s Pro Street GSX-R1000 underwent a major overhaul during the winter months in preparation for the 2008 season. With most of the attention being focused on the chassis, changes were made to add more forward weight bias and a lower center of gravity. For the Street class, the new 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa supplied by Suzuki Canada made 175 HP out of the box, on the Walt Healy Motorsports Dyno. Ethan added a new Brock’s Performance exhaust system, Dynojet power commander along with clutch mods and a lowered stance. With the modifications, Walt Healy Motorsports tuner James Carlin was able to get an incredible 186 HP and 110 ft.lbs of torque from the lightly modded Busa!

The Suzuki Canada Walt Healy Motorsports EB Speed team had a rough start to the season at the CMDRA’s opening round in Ashcroft B.C. After many long nights leading up to the event, the team arrived at the track with high hopes. The Power Up Lubricants sponsored Pro Street class had eleven contenders, a new record for the class, which is now in its fifth year. Unfortunately the track was in poor shape, and was unable to handle the high powered Pro Street bikes. In the first round of qualifying, Ethan’s Pro Street GSX-R1000 spun the tire at the line, resulting in a slow 9.69 @ 150 mph. The next two rounds resulted in similar times, leaving the returning champion and record holder in unfamiliar territory by qualifying in sixth place. During the third qualifying pass, the GSX-R’s motor pushed some oil out of the breather cover. After examining the datalogger back in the pits, Ethan decided not to make any more passes on the bike until the motor problem could be properly diagnosed back at the EB Speed shop.

Things went slightly better for Barkley in the Mission Springs Brewing Co. Street Class. With almost no seat time on the new Hayabusa prior to the event, Ethan managed to run a 9.6 @ 150 mph. in the morning test session. With nineteen competitors qualified, Ethan landed in 9th spot with a solid 0.077 reaction time.

On Sunday the team concentrated on the Street class since the Pro Street GSX-R1000 was sidelined. Ethan decided to run a conservative 9.75 dial in the first round and got around Wayne Keim on his Honda CBR1000RR. Ethan succeeded in the next two rounds to make it to the semifinals. There he met up against fellow Calgarian George Dumonier aboard his 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000. Both riders ran under their times, but unfortunately Ethan went a little bit quicker on his run, breaking out with a 9.69 on a 9.80 dial in.

All in all it was a less than perfect weekend for the team who has previously had very positive results in Ashcroft. Ethan will re-group and get things back on track for the next CMDRA event on June 7-8th in Medicine Hat Alberta.

All photos by Laura Barkley