Playthings Racing-AMA Dragbike Race #5 - Indianapolis
(August, 2009) Submitted by Tim Ulmen
Playthings Racing featured the return of the Playthings Racing Girls models at the AMA Dragbike Nationals. With Nick Mazeika, Darren Burnett and 4 time national champion Mike Slowe racing under the Playthings Racing name, the Prostreet class for sure was in for some tough competition. With 27 Prostreet Bikes , only 16 making the field the Prostreet Class has no undubitably shown its the most anticipated and popular class in all of AMA Dragbike. Saturday qualifying started with the debut of the 2009 Playthings Racing Girls, all the models are from the Playthings Racing base of Miami, FL., for sure the Midwest has not see Latinas like this in person. Nothing could over shadow however the huge Prostreet turn out, it would be hard enough to qualify at this event with the stout field that had shown up. All 3 Playthings Racing teammates made the field led by Mike Slowe, Mike was not on top of the class as he is use to due to some mechanical issues which was great news for the rest of the class, the bad news was that he finger pointed the problem and fixed before Sundays eliminations. Darren Burnett showed great improvement and look like an old pro on his new 2009 Prostreet bike, Running yet another 7.45 with a lot of room to go faster as Darren is now at one with his beautiful Ronnie Mitchell built bike. Nick Mazeika made us all walk on thin ice as he waited until the last qualifying pass to make the field on the one off Playthings Racing GSXR 1000 which has shown some great numbers , just now waiting for them all to be put together by tuner Anthony Navarro, who has said ” this bike is getting close to going very fast” With the racing for Saturday pretty much over due to bad weather, attention now can be turned to the very beautiful Miami models, over 300 posters signed and countless pictures taken they ladies truly enjoyed the event and had a great time promoting the Playthings Racing team. Team owner Tim Ulmen stated ” I could not be happier with the way the promotion went with the Playthings Models “. The girls even got into the racing as they cheered for the riders they held umbrellas for and a little computation brewed amongst the girls. Nick Mazeika had the number one qualifier in round 1 and had a great chance to win, Nick said at the line ” the bike started to pull me a little through the beams and if affected my reaction time” Even with the loss Nick and the team was happy with some progress of the Playthings GSXR 1000 small liter bike against all the big bore bikes, some little adjustments are being made and bike build and master mind Navarro feels the bike will be a different animal soon. Darren Burnett would make a small statement as he reached the semi finals. Winning his first 2 rounds ever to make the semis, Darren would loss in the semi finals as he spun the tire at the line, the right lane was just not as good as the left and lane choice was critical. With almost 2 tenth on reaction time over his competitor it would of almost for sure been a win for Darren as 2 tenths at the line in this class is a huge advantage. The team feels Darren has a great chance to win a event very soon. What can be said about Mike Slowe, the Machine keeps on rolling. ” I’m not going to commit to anything for the 2009 season” is what Slowe said after the 2008 Championship. Well I am sure many Prostreet Riders would of liked to seen him stay at home as he has won every race entered this season in the AMA Drabike Prostreet class and that would not change this weekend. Slowe fixed a small boost leak and right off the bat he went 7.32 in the first round, faster than he qualified. Round 2 would be the race of the weekend Bud Yoder against Slowe. Yoder has been on fire dropping 7.20s at will over the past month. Slowe not sure who he had in round 2 was tuning his bike, when told he would be racing Bud, Slowe said ” well that changes things, I need to put a tune up in this thing now” . Not known for cutting great lights Slowe was first off the line with a .053 light, and would never look back running a 7.23 against Buds 7.25, what a race, this should of been the finals but that’s racing and this class is so close ever round is a very hard competitor. Slowe would run a weekends best of 7.18 in the heat of the day making it to the finals, The finals against Keith Brooks beautiful bike. Mike Slowe would go on to win running a 7.21 at a lazy 196 mph for his 3rd win of the season and a huge points lead with 3 races left. Mike has shown he is one bad dude in this Prostreet Class. Ulmen states “the only thing better than his riding is how professional this guy is,all pro athletes should carry themselves like Mike Slowe a true class act. Chelsea Alba, the umbrella girl for Mike Slowe this weekend traveling back to Miami on hearing Mike won , screamed out loud and clapped, as she said ” I knew those lucky 2 dollars would help him win” those 2 dollars were in Mike’s boot all day Sunday. Playthings Racing would like to again thank all the sponsors as we could not do it without them.
Playthings Racing-AMA Dragbike Race #4 US 131, Martin MI
(June, 2009) Submitted by Tim Ulmen
Anxious doesn’t even come close to describing how the Playthings Racing Team was feeling about getting back on the track, however over night showers Friday at US 131 Raceway in Martin MI was bringing back memories of the rain cancelled Memphis event. By noon on Saturday though it was evident Mother Nature would be on our side for this event and provided us with beautiful conditions!!
The Playthings GSXR 1000 with Nick Mazieka at the controls has been making sure and steady progress all season. Performance numbers have been improving with each event, but a mechanical gremlin snuck up and cost the Team a qualifying spot in the ultra competitive Prostreet field. Not missing a beat or getting discouraged, the Team found the source of the problem (a loose coupling resulting in a major boost leak) and proceeded to go rounds in the Prostreet (B) class ending up in the finals against the HTP nitrous Busa ridden by Richard Gadsen. Nick posted his best ET of the weekend, but it was Mr. Gadsen at the stripe first with a slight holeshot advantage. Still an encouraging performance by Nick and skilled tuner/crew chief Anthony Navarro gaining valuable data, locating and correcting the issue causing the power loss and securing a runner up finish against one of the toughest competitors out there!!
Playthings Racing’s second rider, Darren Burnett came to MI ready for business. Fresh off a successful test session the weekend before, Burnett would need only one shakedown pass on Friday to be ready for qualifying. First round (Q1) Burnett would light up the boards with a strong 7.41 @ 196.30 putting him 5th. As luck would have it, another mechanical issue surfaced during Q2 preventing any chance of improving on Burnett’s #5 position. Finding and correcting the small clutch issue the Team felt good going into Sunday’s eliminations. Facing contender Rob Budgell first round, Darren wanted to be conservative and not push the tree. Cutting an uncharacteristic .134 light, Burnett would give the Team its second holeshot loss of the weekend running another 7.41 @ 196 to Budgell’s 7.42 @ 190.
While not the performance the Team was looking for, each run, the data collected and the seat time gained from the event will play a significant role in making Playthings Racing better prepared for the upcoming MIR event in July and one of the biggest races in the AMA Dragbike schedule, the Pingel Thunder Nationals at Indy in August !!!
A highlight of the weekend for Playthings Racing was having Mike Slowe join the Team for his return to AMA Dragbike competition. Mike being true to his form came out swinging earning the #1 spot during qualifying and marching though the field during eliminations to lock up his second event win of the season!!! Congrats Mr. Slowe !!!