Allen wins third straight V Rod title

From Deeley Harley-Davidson Buell

EDMONTON, AB -- The best in the west, Nick Allen topped eastern challenger Dave Bispo in a dramatic final to take his third straight Canadian Screamin’ Eagle V Rod Destroyer Championship at Edmonton's Castrol Raceway.

In what would be a storybook ending to the season, Western Champ Allen took his place in the right lane. Beside him, Eastern Champion Bispo took his rightful spot as the two best riders in Canada lined up for one final charge down the tarmac.

When the Pro tree flashed green, both riders charged off and by the end of the strip it was too close to call. As the lights flashed at the end of the quarter the scoreboard showed Bispo through with a top speed of 136.40 mph and time of 9.68, but on Allen’s side the best quarter time of 9.48 would seal the deal and once again Allen won the Canadian Screamin’ Eagle V Rod Destroyer Championship.

“Man, that’s totally awesome, to win the championship for the past three years in a row," an ecstatic Allen said. "I just have to thank my tuner Vallen 'Scratch' Dick, he’s the best tuner in the country, he always manages to give me the best bikes I could ask for.”

Bispo took the loss in stride saying, “we tuned the hell out of the motor all weekend but we should have been looking at a faulty clutch that was failing. We expected to do better but it was a pleasure riding this weekend. I finished second but we got to race against 15 other bikes and it was a helluva good show. We’ll be back next year and we’ll work even harder.”

The weekend had been a tough one, with Bispo's Rocky’s Harley-Davidson crew pulling out all the stops in an attempt to eke out one championship winning quarter-mile tour of Castrol Raceway.

Friday’s results looked promising but things went progressively downhill for the rest of the weekend for the eastern contingent.

“It’s coming together,” commented the ever-optimistic Bispo after Friday’s test sessions. "It’s been a little tough tuning at 5000 feet of elevation, we still have some adjustments to try.”

With record high temperatures beating down on Castrol Raceway, the weekend's racing action started with three qualifying rounds of action. Allen showed his resolve, rolling his Redline Harley-Davidson V Rod Destroyer out of the trailer and immediately posting a 9.473-quarter and top speed of 140.27, setting the bar as high as it would go for the weekend event.

Bispo had his best run of the day with a 9.623-quarter mile and top speed of 136.90 in what turned out to be his best effort of the day. With a heavy western slant on the 15 V Rods participating, Burlington, ON’s Pete Thomson showed a tremendous improvement throughout the day, placing his Thomson Racing V Rod Destroyer into fourth while London, ON’s Shawn Donaldson moved himself into ninth overall. Unfortunately, Thomson’s dreams would go up in a puff off smoke when his engine expired, bringing an end to his weekend.