Ethan Barkley,
Continues his winning streak at the first CMDRA Race of 2007

Ethan Barkley rode both his Walt Healy Motorsports/EB Speed Suzuki GSX-R1000’s to the winners circle at the CMDRA’s season opener in Ashcroft B.C May 19th and 20th. Ethan proved he was serious about holding on to his Canadian Pro Street and Street ET Championship titles by dominating the first event of the season.

In the Street ET class Ethan rode the all new 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000. He had not even ridden the bike prior to the event. With its only modification being a lowered ride height, Ethan took the potent stocker for a ten minute cruise on a nearby highway just hours before qualifying on Saturday morning. Rolling into the pits after his intial impression was, “this bike is fast, really fast!” and couldn’t wait to get it on the track to see what it could do. The Pro Street program was carried over from last year using the teams proven turbocharged 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000. The biggest change for this race was the new shootout style tank and 12” extended tail manufactured by Catalyst Racing Composites of San Marcos,California. The EB Speed team is one of the first teams in North America to use this new combination which moves the rider about 6” forward and 3” lower than the traditional GSX-R1000 dragracing bodywork.

CMDRA officials were forced to change the race from it’s usual ¼ mile format to just 1/8th mile due to track and weather conditions. Inclement weather on the horizon cut Saturday’s qualifying to just 2 rounds as well as limiting testing time.

The Walt Healy Motorsports/EB Speed turbocharged 2006 GSXR-1000 qualified in first place with a solid 6.07 on it’s first pass off the trailer for 2007. Round two’s run had some tire spin, and was quite a bit slower. Dan Green put his 1143cc 2003 GSX-R1000 in second spot with a low 6.15. Our speed of 125.34 MPH was just a hair shy of Saturday’s top speed, which went to Glen Fraser aboard his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa running just over 126 mph who qualified in third.

The Street E.T. class had over twenty entries, so qualifying well was foremost in Ethan’s mind. Qualifying in E.T classes is based on reaction time, and with his .087 light, Ethan put the Walt Healy Motorsports/EB Speed 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000 in third spot.

Again more windy conditions faced the racers on Sunday morning, but the forecast called for deteriorating conditions so the schedule was sped up in an effort to get all the racing completed before the weather hit. In the one hour test and tune session, Ethan made four back to back passes on the 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000 in preparing for the bracket class. With the limited amount of time on the bike up to this point, it was crucial for him to get a sense of what the bike could run consistently. Ethan’s last three passes of 6.69, 6.67, and 6.62 were proof that he hadn’t lost his championship winning touch when on a GSX-R1000 of any vintage. In the first two rounds of eliminations, Ethan dispatched his competitors with relative ease, catching them early and tapping the brakes for the win. In the third round however, he had to run it out close to the finish line. Ethan ran a 6.61 using the brakes on his 6.60 dial-in to his competitors 7.503 on a 7.50 dial-in. Ethan took the win by his advantage because of his better reaction time. After the pass, Barkley arrived to the pits happy he had one, but wished he could have run the bike at full power the whole pass. He stated ” I wanted to run a 6.5 this weekend, and that pass was it!” . Running mid six second passes would equate to 9.8’s if it were a full quarter mile, not bad for a lowered completely stock motorcycle. In the finals Ethan lined up against Bruce Romak of British Columbia. Bruce won his first CMDRA race at last seasons Fort St. John event. As the lights came down, Ethan gained a .05 second advantage in reaction time, and caught Bruce about a hundred feet from the finish line, and slowed to take the win with a 6.74 on a 6.60 dial-in to Bruce’s 8.13 on a 7.88 dial-in.

There is no test and tune time allotted to the Pro classes on Sunday, so team EB Speed had to use their tuning skills and experience to make the turbocharged 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 run a good pass right out of the box. Team EB Speed crew chief, James Carlin and Ethan deliberated on what changes to make to the bike as not to overpower the less than perfect racing surface. They decided a slight boost increase was in order as well as minor clutch and fuelling alterations and a new tire to help tame the slippery track. The pass was clean and the bike launched very well, tripping the lights with a weekend best 5.73 @ 128.46 mph. At this point in the weekend no other racer had broken the six second barrier. With that run, the team put an exclamation point that they were a force to be reckoned with. In round two the team had a bye run. More fuelling changes were made, but the bike bogged at the start, running a less than spectacular 6.29 @ 129.31 mph. On the other side of the ladder, was rival Dan Green aboard his GSX-R1000. Dan was running well, 6.0 – 6.1 second passes were coming up consistently as he made his way to the finals. It was the first all Suzuki GSX-R1000 CMDRA Pro Street final. Dan left the line great, and had a large advantage from his reaction time. Our turbocharged GSX-R1000 spun the tire just after the launch, but Ethan peddled the throttle enough that the tire regained traction. By the 330’ mark, Barkley had caught Green, then proceeded to drive around him to take the win with a 5.91 @ 129.44 mph to Dan’s strong 6.05@ 121 mph.

The Walt Healy Motorsports/EB Speed Suzuki GSX-R1000’s ran great and the team started the 2007 season in fine fashion. Barkley’s domination of the Pro Street class was exceptional, especially since the turbo was only turned up to 40% of its capacity. Ethan set the low E.T. and top speed for the weekend. For the next event, Ethan will debut the all new RCC Turbo’s billet aluminium Ultra-Plenum system. This is only the second unit it it’s kind to be made for a GSX-R1000. These and other mods will enable the team to run much higher boost levels, hopefully dropping the times considerably. The Street E.T Suzuki GSX-R1000 ran strong, literally right out of the box. This bike will also receive more mods as parts become available.

The next CMDRA event is June30th – June 1st at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton.