2007 Season
After deciding I wanted to try something new I spoke to Barry Henson of Velocity Racing in the USA and struck a deal with him to buy his current bike which has just won the championship over there, much to a lot of peoples surprise I'll be on a Suzuki busa, I flew out to Gainesville in November to see the bike run and seal the deal. Graham Balchin my crew chief is buying my ZX12, we will be running both bikes as part of a team next year.
We have now had the bike picked up. Both motors have been stripped down and over-hauled by Ray at debben Performance. Paint work has been completed by Beej at Organic Image, who has done a great job. Also Crescent Suzuki has offered to help out with any Suzuki parts, clutch plates etc. this year...next it’s off to the tracks to test.

Drag Racing Report 2007
First test training session on Hayabusa, March
I decided to go testing at Santa Pod; it was going to be my first outing since I bought the bike from the States. The bike seemed smooth to ride, I ran a low 8 to start with and jumped straight to the 7s with a 7.867/193mph and by the end of the day ran a whopping 7.489 @ 193mph which was the first ever 7.4 second run in the UK. Graham Balchin also took out the Kawasaki to try out some passes, after his first pass he came back with a big smile and said, ’****’ me, that things got some power. And it only had 6lbs of boost.

Straightliners, Santa Pod, 17-18 March
I entered the top bike class at the first Straightliners round mainly for track time. On Day 1 I managed to run 7.76 twice in very cold weather conditions which was a positive run. Day 2, the meeting was cancelled due to hail-stone showers and rain but still I came first in the group and took the ET record in top bike.

Easter Thunderball, Santa Pod, 6-9 April
It was the first ACU round of the year. After 3 days of qualifying I was in the No. 3 spot with 7.59 @ 189mph. It felt as if the bike wasn’t picking up the second part of the track. 1st rounds of eliminations and I won against Sean Mills with a 7.61, next round I had Gary Drury which again I won with a 7.66. In the semi’s I was up against Graham Balchin who was on my old bike, so if I lost here against him, I would never live it down. It was a close race all the way but I snatched the win with a 7.68 to his 7.73. Graham qualified 2nd with a 7.48, wow should I have sold him the bike I was thinking. It was myself and Dave Smith in the finals and Dave had had a great week-end running in the 7.4’s. In the end I beat him on reaction and crossed the line first winning with 7.68 to his 7.66. A good competitive week-ends racing, but still I felt my bike was lacking power. Once home I did a leak down test which showed major leakage so a quick engine test was in need before the next meeting.

Springspeed Festival, Shakespeare Raceway, 5-7 May
Finally I finished the engine swap yesterday and when I started the bike up Saturday, I wasn’t happy with the way it sounded so I ended up missing the 1st qualifier trying to find a problem. After not being able to find anything wrong with the bike, but still concerned I went out for the next session and ran straight into the 7.5s @ 195mph. Finished for the day at No. 1 qualifier with a grand 7.44. Day 2, first run of the day I set the track ET and mph record with an exiting 7.329 @ 198.5 (the first 7.3 in the UK). Later in the day I backed up the mph, so I took that as a ACU mph record as well. The day of the eliminations woke up to rain, by 1.30 they’d managed to dry the track and before the next shower came we were called out, conditions weren’t great but I won my race with a very smooth 7.425 @ 194mph. The next closest rider was an 8.0. The showers kept coming at regular intervals and the meeting was called off at 3.00, still a very good week-ends racing. Graham seemed to be struggling with the traction as was most of the class; it’s not easy putting over 500bhp down through about 2” rubber, anyway he qualified 3rd with a 7.78.