It was the morning everyone had been waiting for: cool temperatures, no wind and the driest racecourse yet. FIM racers lined up at the starting points on both the international and mountain tracks early on Wednesday morning, Day 4 of Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST), to take advantage of the prime conditions, and one qualifying run after another was called out over the radio.
Less than an hour into the day, the air was thick with excitement in the paddock as the Mobitec team raced their electric motorcycle to over 200 mph (321 km/h), and the Hunter Sills Racing team pushed their speed up yet again with a remarkable pass of over 235 mph (378 km/h). Corey Bertelsen joined in the fun yet again, continuing to chip away at his class record with another increase in speed. By the end of the day, a total of seven new records were reached, in classes from 2000cc all the way down to 50cc.
The Mobitec team erupted in excitement to hear their return speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), reaching not only an FIM Land Speed World Record, but also their goal of 200 mph. It has been a five-year effort for the team from Nagoya, Japan. Their dream turned into a nightmare in 2018 at BMST when rider Kaz Mizutani went down at 184 mph. Mizutani sustained a wrist injury in the crash, from which he still hasn’t fully recovered, but he was there to cheer on new rider Ryuji Tsuruta to the new FIM Land Speed World Record of 204.629 mph (329.319 km/h)
Another team out of Japan, rider Takushi Chikakane and his 50cc special-construction Honda Super Cub, tasted success with a new FIM Land Speed World Record of 63.185 mph (101.686 km/h). After several days of failed attempts and frustrating issues, Chikakane and the NS Tool team breathed a sigh of relief upon completing two successful runs for a new record.
Hideki Kusunoki continued on his quest for 200 mph (321 km/h), and in the process bumped up his record by another nine miles per hour up to 195.605 mph (314.796 km/h). Kusunoki still has one more day to make that final step up to 200 mph!
Jay Allen had an up and down day, which ended on a high note with a new FIM Land Speed World Record aboard his turbo-charged Harley-Davidson Dyna. The runs proved to be challenging for the big bike, but Allen pushed through a tumultuous day to claim a new record.
“Bonneville 2019 is gotta be one of the most humbling Bonnevilles in a long time,” Allen said. “Everybody out there was struggling. The smaller bikes, it’s a little easier on, but the big fast guys were spinning and sliding and they couldn’t grip. But hey, I stand here so grateful to pull out a 192 mph (309 km/h) record. Knowing what these conditions were, and what we had to ride this year, I’m proud of myself. To leave here with something is amazing!”
While the course remains the most challenging for the bigger bikes, the smaller, lighter nitrous-powered BMW S1000RR of the Hunter Sills Racing team (named “Snoopy”) continues to run at breathtaking speeds. The team notched two more records on Day 4—one for Erin Sills in the partially streamlined naturally aspirated class, bumping up her own record once again, and a first-ever FIM Land Speed World Record for teammate Trev Richter. Racing the same motorcycle in the non-streamlined division, Richter put together two strong runs to reach a new record of 196.173 mph (315.710 km/h), reclaiming an FIM Land Speed World Record that had formerly been held by Sills’ late husband, Andy Sills.
“We re-teched ‘Snoopy’, we gave him a haircut!” Sills said with a laugh. “We took the fairing off and Trev rode Snoopy and we were able to reclaim the FIM record that Andy had set. Andy had it and Nick Genet got it in Bolivia in 2017, and I was there to congratulate Nick and tell him what his speed was. Today, Trev qualified and backed it up to be able to gain that record back for us and for the team in honor of Andy, so it’s pretty special for us. It’s very cool that Nick Genet, whose record it was, was the first one to come out of the tower and congratulate me and made it a point to come over and congratulate Trev and tell him how happy he was for him. It’s Trev’s first World Record. It’s been a good meet for us.”
One day of racing still remains for the meet. FIM racers have a shorter schedule on Thursday, Day 5, and will be looking to make the most of the last hours of the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials.
Photos and texts by Jean Turner