Drag Racing with Valerie Thompson

Valerie in her V-Rod and Salt Shaker (at the Salts)

You can ignore Valerie Thompson as just another pretty face in pink dresses trying out her hand in motorcycling, just like a lot of people and critics did until she made everyone look back with what she offers on the field. You too need to look at her credentials before assuming the routine path. For starters she is into drag racing. If that has not made you take a second look at the pretty face, you must be lying. Wait a minute, a lady drag racing! That’s right. And she has been doing it since 2005. Well, of course, when she started out, she was given the royal ignore, but for how long can you keep talent like Valerie unnoticed?
Okay, let’s start with her career graph just so that you know whom we are trying to assess here. In 2005, as mentioned, she started to follow her passion and dream. Before that, just guess what she was into. Banking! Can you take that? Well, actually it does make more sense, I mean a pretty face wearing a corporate dress sitting behind the counter is actually what you normally expect and not behind the handle bars of some mammoth gigantic machine getting ready to snap your head at the first twist of the throttle. Yes, she was a banker, but I guess what the banking sector lost was a very good profit for the motorcycling world. Just a year later, in 2006, she rode into Bonneville Salt Flats Land Speed Records. That was followed by a Runner-up position in Western Division - V-Rod Destroyer, a 3rd finish in Harley Drag Racing Association National Championship Series and named “Best Appearing Team 2007”, all in the year 2007. And yes, she was back in the Bonne Salts.

Valerie drag racing on her Buell

So, in 2008, it read “Valerie Thompson - 2-Time Land Speed Record Holder”. Then in 2008, she made her NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Debut at the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The same year, she had attended Frank Hawley’s NHRA Drag Racing School and earned her Pro Stock Motorcycle license. When you repeatedly she anyone so enthusiastic, it really gets hard to ignore. Valerie actually was always fond of motorcycles, rather speeding motorcycles. She did a lot of street racing down Scottsdale Road, her hometown and then one of her friends advised her to take her passion to the tracks. In two months, she was seen in the tracks in a 2000 Fat Boy and she never looked back since. The Fat Boy was her first drag motorcycle. From 2005 Valerie started competing in the All Harley Drag Racing Association (AHDRA). The Fat Boy later was replaced by a V-Rod when she teamed up with Custom Performance of Phoenix, Arizona. In 2006 she made her debut aboard the Hacienda Harley Davidson-backed V Rod Destroyer and finished a very respectable 6th in the National Super Gas class and in the following year she improved it to 3rd. Her sponsor, Legend Air Ride Suspension and the owner of the firm, Jesse Jurrens wanted her first to try out at Land Speed racing. She tried it out with the V-Rod and went 153.561 mph in Run Watcha Brung at the Bub Speed Trials. Yes, she was impressive but can can she stand up and make her head visible from the lot of riders who clock 150 odd? That was when she met Keith Ball of Bikernet.com. Actually Bikernet happened later, Keith was always a visionary bike builder. So, Keith designed a Panhead motorcycle that would take Valerie from the riders who clock 150 odd to being a world record holder within a season. The panhead is named ‘Assalt Weapon’ and although many Panheads have graced and raced in the Bonne Salts, this was the baddest and meanest and was also more aerodynamic. In 2007, Valerie had the APS-PF-2000 record at 156.717 mph with a top speed of 161.736 atop the Assalt Weapon. Now that was pretty impressive for Valerie and also for the HD Panhead, since if you recall, the Panhead is basically a motorcycle belonging to the 50s that is more than half a century old!

Valerie with the 'Assalt Weapon'

In 2008, she left AHDRA to concentrate in motorcycle drag racing and her goal was set on the top-tier level of competition, which is the NHRA Pro Stock division. The NHRA division is much different than Land Speed racing and here you have a team much like MotoGP. Valerie had her own team, known today as Valerie Thompson Racing LLC which meant she not only needed to concentrate only on racing like most other riders, but she also had to look at the logistics of managing a team. For this one needs money, and after a contract deal didn’t materialize, she put money from her own pocket. She was that desperate to try it out at drag racing. A few suggested that she needed more seat time, but she responded that she has cut short 2 seconds from 9 to 7 within a year and of course she was not going to listen to anybody as she has already made up her mind. So she set her sights on a Buell. And again there was no looking back. At Wisconsin International Raceway, Valerie got her first win. The specifications of the bike is of course something one looks forward to, just so as to know what kind of bikes these guns drive on the quarter mile. Okay, the made up 2008 XB9R Buell racing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series covers the quarter mile at 7.05 Seconds @ 187.42 mph that is 300kmph. The body material is carbon fiber and construction is a mixture of chromium and molybdenum. It has a 70” wheelbase and supported by Mickey Thompson tyres both in the front and rear. The overall length of the bike is 12 feet and width is the normal 24”. It has dual disc brakes up front and a single disc at the rear. The engine is sourced from S&S Cycle and it is a 60 degree V-Twin with 160 cubic inches displacement. Power output is over 340 hp @ 8600 rpm. Transmission is also from S7S Cycle and has 6 gears (I wonder how they engage to the top gear in less than 7 seconds!) The bike is fuel injected by Magneti Marelli. The cams, billet aluminum cylinder head, pistons and cases are all from S&S Cycle.

Valerie on the 2000 Fat Boy and 2007 Salts

But at this level, it is difficult to sustain without a proper sponsor and the sponsor also need to have deep pockets. Now without a sponsor, she has been laying idle but she is hoping for a return in 2011. The lady also had to sit out in 2009 due to lack of sponsorship. Nonetheless, you cannot put down so much enthusiasm just due to the lack of a single component. Come to think about it, in 3 years, from 2005 to 2008, Valerie has made a name for herself and with such a big impact. She has earned her way from the All Harley Drag Racing Association series, to becoming a NHRA team owner and licensed competitor in drag racing's most elite class, of the Pro Stock Motorcycle Series. In a field dominated by men, this lady is an inspiration and a superb brand ambassador for motorsports fans world wide. Valerie is looking forward to the 2011 season with a bike that promises to hold true to what Valerie has set out for. And yes, she hopes to join the 200mph club in the next Bonne Salts session. I believe it is more a question of ‘when she wants’ rather then ‘how soon’.Okay, before I forget, let me tell you another thing about her. I am sure you are aware of GoDaddy.com, yes the same commercial made famous by former WWE Diva Candice Michele, Valerie has posed alongside Danica Patrick strutting her stuff on national television during the Super Bowl for a GoDaddy.com commercial as she was racing under the GoDaddy banner in earlier years. Of course, a chick (although I should not be using the word, nonetheless), a talented chick in the world of motorcycling is always going to be a media magnate and Valerie is no different.

She has been featured in various channels and magazines

She has been featured in various events, channels and magazines like POW MIA "Run for The Wall", Discovery Channel, A&E, SPEED, ESPN2, Super Bowl Red Carpet, V-Twin, Hot Bike Bagger, Cycle Source, Scottsdale Health Magazines, etc. But all these fan following and media attention has not really diluted her passion anyway. Now, she is not just a professional drag racer, she is also a team owner which adds so much more responsibility and not to mention, also a world land speed record holder. Before touching 30, she switched the corporate dress and she started wearing the leather pants during the later 30s. There is never a thing called opportunity lost for Valerie, she started out late but look what her passion has given back to her. Name, fame and above all, this lady has a heart, a heart bigger than us for in that heart, she has a special place for kids, especially from Hopekids.org, with whom she has a long association helping out the kids and children for the organization by visiting hospitals and providing them inspiration. She also has her own charity event, Ride Annie Ride, under which she organized fund raising for a cancer stricken 3 year old kid, Jake. She sold off her VTR Racing shirts and other racing stuff to raise money. But that is not just all, she knows she is marketable and she even uses these traits to help the needy. Valerie's team provides a portion of their sponsorship dollars to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project. She is some woman, maybe as Chaka Khan says “I am Every Woman, it’s all in me”
You can join Valerie’s official Fan Club or make a contribution to her racing program by visiting her website at www.valeriethompsonracing.com.

Photos and info source: Valerie Thompson official website and Motorcycle-USA

Sara Eileen & her Triumph Bobber

The gorgeous lady is Sara Eileen and for all the right reasons, she has been quite a toast for motorcycle blogs. This lady of course is no poser, she is the real deal. That she can pass off as a model with her long legs and beautiful hair and pretty face is altogether a different thing, but she knows her ‘bike’, a retro fashioned Triumph customized to a Bobber. The way she dresses certainly ads up to the overall character of the bobber image. If you think about a bobber with one half of your brain and think about Sara (as you picture her) with the other half, words like Cool, Grungy, Retro, might pop up. Somehow the lady and this particular bike compliment each other. In fact, Sara is no celebrity, neither a model, but she has been featured on the cover of Big Twin magazine. I mean, it is rare thing that being a everyday person, you get featured on a cover of a magazine for just being you.

Credit also needs to go to the bike designer and also the photographer. The photographer of the images capturing Sara is a gentleman from Holland, Mr. Maurice van den Tillaard, who is a photographer by profession. Very brilliantly, he has set even the settings of the backgrounds to 70s and 80s styling, the houses, the car, the railway crossing, I mean no high rise buildings or flyovers on the background which would have been on contrast with the overall character of the bike and Sara. Images of Sara on the beautiful Triumph are available in Maurice website (here and here), blog and flickr accounts.

Well, the bike was probably ‘re-done’ by one Mr. Toby or so it seems. I am saying that because I tried various links to see who had worked on the Triumph, but all I could get was that. If anyone reading this knows more about it, please do share it. For sure I know, the tank was designed by Mr. Max Scaff. Max has a blog by the name of 4Q Conditioning and his posts on Sara’s Triumph can be found here and here. The tank is a real beauty, very uncharacteristic of a bike, let alone a bobber, but just so fitting here. I don’t know how max had this idea, but he had pulled off a stunner.Additional images of Sara were sourced from Pin Up Girl Gallery.

Mai Lin - Looks Stunning... Stunt Riding

Do not let the images fool you. You might be thinking that if you come across this beauty, you will try every trick in your book to serenade her. You better watch out, she just might stun you with her looks and ‘stunt’ circles around you while you are trying to a wheelie. Meet Ms. Mai-Lin Senf, professional motorcycle stunt women. How many times have you heard these four words ‘professional motorcycle stunt woman’ together? Probably never before. Mai Lin Senf is only 24 years and she hails from Hamburg, Germany. She is pretty straight forward when it comes to ‘What a Girl Wants’? She wants to be a stunt rider (which she already is) so that she can become famous (she is getting there) and then she will be travelling across the world (for starters, she is travelling all across Europe with her shows). The girl could have easily passed off as a fitness model and could have had an easier or say, less dangerous life style but the fiery girl (according to her) likes to play with fire. Although she has ventured out what is erstwhile seen as a man’s world, she cannot put down her girlish instincts and so has a fascination for the colour pink and has also made it her trademark colour.

Mai-Lin performs for movies, for the audience and she is quite booked. Her calendar seems to be full with three four shows every month. She will be doing around 30 shows for the calendar year of 2010 majorly in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England. While browsing her website, one gets the feeling that she literally meant what she said about her liking towards fire as you would see lots of pictures when she is stunt riding with either her rear tyre on fire or jumping across huge flames of fire.
This entire stunt riding has given her quite a name in Europe and she also did stunt action for a German movie, "Killing is My Business, Honey" and gets a lot of modeling offers. She has featured in many magazines and covers. But her first love has always been motorcycles and stunt riding. Modeling and other assignments, as she mentions, is for fun. On the stunt riding scenario, she has taken lessons and underwent professional trainings which shows her commitment and seriousness towards her passion. She started converting her passion into her profession at the start of 2007 with intensive trainings with three to four times weekly and today May-Lin is a professionally qualified stunt woman and member of the Double Action Stunt Team from Hamburg which besides performing in motorcycling events also offers TV and Movie stunt men and of course stunt women or rather a woman.

Lucky for her and thanks to Pirelli and Parts Europe, she has constant sponsorers. Her other sponsors include german based companies like Victory Motorcycles, Crash Cage and Point of Sign. At an event at the legendary London ACE Cafe in 2009 (Sep 11th to 13th), she debuted and performed for an hour in between perfomances from Marc 'Sparky' Chennel and Joe Vertical from USA. She drove some 150,000 spectators to frenzy with her stunt tactics and she did all the stunts with a full helmet. Majority didn’t know that there was a beautiful woman beneath the helmet and when Mai-Lin took off her helmet there was a long and big applaud. She has been fortunate enough not to get involved in any serious injuries in a profession where ‘serious injury’ is the middle name. Of course she mentions that for any new trick or stunt, her approach is very cautious and she builds up to the stunts very slowly. She says “It is very important for me to stay healthy". However, stunt riding is dangerous and of course it takes a lot of courage to be successful in this profession."
If you ask her what are her future goals, as I said, she is pretty straight forward, “My goal for the future: I just want to get better, tour around the world performing stunt shows and be famous as a stunt girl."I was not able to find any thing as to what kind of bikes she uses for her stunts as it is not mentioned anywhere and since her pink coloured GSX is kind of camouflaged, it is difficult to say that it actually is a GSX. She does use 2-3 different bikes as seen from the photo section. You can visit her website and make sure you visit all the galleries. There is a section on her videos and I have posted a video down on the post. You can leave your comments on her website by signing her guestbook. I just did. For more picyutes, you can also check her Fotki profile. You can mail her at mai-lin-shi@gmx.de. In plain words, Mai-Lin is awesome. It is very cliché, buy You Go! Girl!

Bow to You Girl!

No words to describe... just awesome!

HD salutes the Women

Queen of Speed - Leslie Porterfield

Tell me one red blooded male with hormones who doesn’t like bike and babes or babes on bikes. The girls are everywhere, from race tracks to being umbrella babes, from being calendar girls to Auto Expos to being brand ambassadors for big companies, they are everywhere and we love it. They certainly bring on the oomph factor. I mean, can you guess suited clean shaven boys or men standing by Rossi with an umbrella or smiling to you sitting on a prototype in EICMA! Not that we don’t associate these beautiful ladies with respect, but somehow they are more associated with being eye candy and bringing a smile to your face. The only place where they are less seen is atop these machines while running. But we still love them whether they ride or not. Just then there comes a distinguished lady with killer looks who can ride a motorcycle better than most men. And not only does she ride better, she has world records (records, not record) against her name, she owns a used motorcycle shop and she races on the Salts. This is where eye candy or smiles turns into admiration and respect and this is what Leslie Porterfield commands.

For starters, she is the 2008 AMA Racing Female Rider of the Year, she holds three land-speed records and is a member of the Bonneville 200 mph club. She is also the owner of High Five Cycles, a successful, used motorcycle dealership in downtown Dallas. And she has been riding since she was 16 and now she is only 32 years of age. How about that for a resume? So what does the beautiful lady prefer among 2 wheelers? Ms. Leslie rides a modified Suzuki Hayabusa, which she recently rode at the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials clocking at 234.197mph, that’s 374.715kmph. No, I am not kidding; check the BUB website and the official timings. So what does that make her? Ms Porterfield is now officially the fastest female motorcyclist in the US. Of course she is also the first woman to enter the Bonneville 200mph Club on a conventional motorcycle (conventional motorcycle means motorcycles which can be road driven, not those streamliners you see at these trials).

A look at her a ccomplishments and records-
Accomplishments
* Top Time on a sit on Motorcycle Award from the 2009 BUB Speed Trials at 240mph.
* First Woman on a conventional motorcycle in the Bonneville 200mph Club.
* 2008 AMA Female Rider of the Year.
* Women's Spirit Award 2008 BUB Speed Trials
Records set
* SCTA 1350cc M-BF 209.046
* AMA and FIM 2000cc MPS-BF 232.522mph
* AMA and FIM 1000cc P-P 192.930

* AMA 1350cc APS-BF 234mph

With that kind of a resume, Leslie doesn’t have a problem finding sponsors and if you look at her website, you will notice both sides of the pages flooded with sponsor which include some world renowned brands like Arai, Airtech, Falicon, WPS, Fieldsheer, Heads Up Performance, Apex Speed Technology, Worldwide Bearings, PMR Components, PMP Sprockets, and Spider Grips.

Her Busa is a 2002 model, modified by Scott Horner of Head's Up Performance and Rhys Griffiths of Apex Speed Technologies. The bike is turbocharged with Airtech bodywork and a ECU from Apex. She also has a Honda CBR1000RR (the one pictured in red) which she ran in 2008 in the production class which has only a few modifications since it runs in the ‘production’ class, so there are limitations. The bike was re-geared and a Bazzaz tuner was added and guess what! She clocked 192mph on the bike, which is also a world record. The charming girl also gets her hands dirty with the tools and oil and she is quite a capable mechanic and for that she thanks Scott of Head’s Up Performance. Rhys of Apex Speed Tech gives her lessons on the electrical and electronics front. She also helps the staff in her Dallas used motorcycle store, High Five Cycles, and says, “It's not uncommon to find me in my service department doing oil changes, cleaning carburettors, swapping chains and sprockets, or dismantling something we're sending to the painter. I've done a lot of car repairs, too - everything from changing starters to rebuilding an automatic transmission, to swapping rear ends." The girl knows the machines in and out.

It didn’t start all very well for Leslie. In 2007, she had a crash speeding at over 100mph which resulted in seven broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion. Prior to the 200+ mph run on the Busa, she had touched 196mph which had her convinced that she could do a 200. But 2007, the year of her debut didn’t go well. But for how long can you keep talent done. So, after 1 year, she did what no woman had done before. Media pressure of course built up being the first lady in the Bonneville 200 MPH Club and again she showed that she is no flash in the pan with 2 other records of which one was with the Honda. The other record, well she bettered her 209mph on the Busa with a timing of 232 mph run on the turbo Busa. Along with the 2008 AMA Female Rider of the Year, she also won the Women’s Spirit Award at the BUB awards banquet.

So how many bikes do the lady own. Nine in all. Beside those two, she has a Ducati 998 which she uses for transportation when she is at home. She had a few runs in drag strips and she loves motocross, but says she is terrible at it. She does own a CRF 450 motard on which she likes to have fun in the city. She did receive tickets (not the good ones, the ones you get when you over speed), but that has been in the past. And of course she loves MotoGP and admires all the riders. But her talent is not only limited to 2 wheels. She holds an SCCA car road racing license and have pre-ridden the Baja 1000 and looks forward to participating in the race. – would love to participate in the race sometime soon.

Faster and Faster had an Email interview with her and she came up as a really regular girl with no airs whatsoever. Here is the direct link to the interview post.
From the interview… She has a BMW Z4 M coupe which she is very fond of besides sinking her teeth at Pepperoni Pizza. The Audrey Hepburn fan, contrary to what her image could stand for (read tom boyish) is actually very girlie and loves romantic movies. But of course being who she is, she had to love ‘On Any Sunday’, ‘World’s Fastest Indian’ and the likes. In the interview, about her famous run in 2008, she mentions “I had to put those thoughts out of my head this year. After my first pass down the salt, I was back into the groove and ready to break some records. In all competitive sports, there are risks, and I try to minimize mine as best I can. I made a pass at 231mph to qualify for the record, and on my return run I was at around 240mph when I threw a rod through the cases. I was lucky and thankful that nothing locked up. I still managed to average 234mph on that run, which put my new world record at 232mph. It also earned me the title of the fastest woman in the world on a motorcycle. I was thrilled, even though I had a gaping hole in my motor!”

The 2008 speed runs were initially dampened by constant rain which made the run’s traction to a minimum and records were doubtful due to this. But conditions got better as the week came to a close. Worth mentioning is that on the meet's final day, when Leslie made the record, it was soon broken with just minutes to spare before the Speed Trials ended. Nonetheless, Leslie’s record run netted her the BUB Enterprises-sponsored Top Time Award for "sit-on" motorcycles (as opposed to fully enclosed "sit-in" streamliners), the first time this prestigious prize was won by a woman.
This elegant beautiful lady can pass up as a model any time. With deep and due respect to all ladies, she could easily have been a umbrella or pit girl or whatever she wanted in the glamour department, but she didn’t want to be one-of-the-ladies, she is a star, the main attraction and what a way to get noticed!
You can visit the Leslie Porterfield website which I guess she manages on her own and you can also have a look at the High Five Cycles store. For her records, visit the BUB website. Photo credits as per mentioned in the photos.