Slow start for Barkley

From EB Speed

With the 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 focused on the chassis. Changes were made to add more forward weight bias and a lower centre of gravity.

For the Street class, the new Hayabusa supplied by Suzuki Canada made 175 hp out of the box on the Walt Healy Motorsports Dyno. Barkley 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 modified 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 BC. 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 11 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, Barkley’s 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, Barkley 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 19 competitors qualified, Barkley landed in ninth spot with a solid 0.077 reaction time.

On Sunday the team concentrated on the Street class. Barkley 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.