Barkley Dominates Pro Street Class in Medicine Hat, Alberta

The C.M.D.R.A.’s second race was in Medicine Hat on June 7th and 8th and the Suzuki Canada / Walt Healy / EB Speed team was looking to gain some valuable championship points. Since the first event was less than perfect, Ethan worked tirelessly on his Pro Street turbocharged 2006 GSX-R1000 in an effort to gain a performance advantage over the competition. The all new Suzuki Hayabusa that Ethan was running in the Street class was working well, and therefore required no maintenance between races.

Upon arrival in Medicine Hat, it was obvious that the weather was not going to cooperate since rain was expected both days and temperatures were in the single digits. Because of the weather, traction was going to be sparse and Ethan made the decision to shorten the wheelbase on the Pro Street GSX-R1000 to 63 inches from its normal 67 inches. By shortening the wheelbase, the team was hoping to put more weigh on the back wheel, therefore increasing traction. Qualifying started around 2pm and Ethan wasted no time running a decent 9.22 @ 157 mph. That run was good enough for the #1 qualifying spot and was about half a second quicker than anyone else in the field. In the Street class, Ethan put the new Busa in 5th spot with a decent 0.118 reaction time. The rain emerged and second round qualifying was pushed over to Sunday.

The track was still quite slippery on Sunday, and the C.M.D.R.A. continued to run one more round of qualifying. In the Street class, Ethan wasn’t able to beat his time from the day before, so he remained in the 5th spot. He had a great run in the Pro Street class though, and ran an 8.82 @ 158 mph, while the closest competitor was Dan Green who was over four tenths of a second behind Barkley. During eliminations Ethan had a bit of trouble in the Street class and suffered a first round loss to Leigh Gallant aboard his Kawasaki ZX14. However in the Pro Street class, Ethan continued to dominate. In succession he clicked off high 8 second passes as his competitors struggled to run even low nines. In the finals he met up with fellow Walt Healy / EB Speed rider Chris Klassen aboard his 2008 Nitrous Oxide assisted Hayabusa. When the green lights came on, both bikes spun but Ethan kept the throttle pinned and fishtailed his way to the line in first place with a strong 8.92 @ 160 mph to Klassen’s 9.79 @ 140 mph.

Medicine Hat proved to be a good event for Barkley, who sorely needed to gain points on his tubocharged GSX-R1000. At this point he is currently in second place in the Power Up Lubricant’s Pro Street Championship standings, and fifth place in the Mission Springs Brewing Co. Street class. The next C.M.D.R.A. event will be held at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton Alberta on June 28-29.

All photos by Laura Barkley