2015

DME Racing Invades Curacao for Drag Fest 2015

DME Racing Invades Curacao for Drag Fest 2015

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Fresh off their dominant IDBL season opener, DME Racing headed way south to the beautiful island country of  for their DragFest event. With new ink in the record books still drying from their Budds Creek race, the team was looking for some relaxation & speed… an oxymoron to say the least. Terrence Angela was slated to ride a very familiar bike as his old steed was race ready and waiting. As most know, Angela and team sold his ‘old’ pro street bike over the winter and completed another stunning ground up build for the 2015 season. The new owners of the bike reside in Curacao and asked the whole DME Racing team to join them for this special event.

This was the 25th Anniversary edition of the event for the Island and to say it was a ‘Big Deal’ would be quite the understatement. The DME Racing Team and Terence Angela were greeted with open arms and quite the anticipation as the whole island hoped to see a six-second run from the world renowned team. From the airport security wishing them good vibes towards a six-second pass to cab drivers yelling “we want a SIX” as they drove by Terence, the excitement was at a fever pitch.

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Racing in the ‘Outlaw’ class for the weekend allowed the DME crew to implement their “grudge” style setup with an extra long swingarm, flat slick, and proven engine combination that was tested stateside prior to the event.

What had promising expectations for a relaxing trip for the team quickly turned into a near disastrous event. Wednesday’s test session resulted in no passes made as they searched for an issue that arose in the burnout box of their first pass. Locating the problem they then had to search the island for a cam sensor and were lucky enough to find on the following day. Determined to not let that slow them down and with the full support of everyone on the island they pushed forward.

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It wasn’t smooth sailing from there, but with Andy Sawyer and Dimey Eddinger tuning for the Caribbean conditions and Skip Gladstone massaging the clutch setup they quickly got their stride back. Add in the mix some exceptional riding from the talented “Tafa” (Angela) as he goes by on the island and DME was quickly rewriting the record books once again.

15_0514_dme_curacao_06Tafa went to the #1 Qualifying spot with a record setting 7.05 pass to set the stage. With a jam packed house for the 25th Anniversary the whole team gave their best to deliver on the islands first six-second pass… but conditions were just not there and they had to settle for a still eye opening 7.02 pass during Outlaw eliminations.

As the race went late into Saturday night and even into the wee hours of Sunday morning, the decision was made to finish up at 11am on Sunday. Capping off the weekend was yet another DME winner’s circle photo as Terence Angela defeated Jayson Geerman in the finals. They may have been thousands of miles from home, but the results were the same. Team DME Racing took the event win, rewrote the record books and carried their season opening momentum to Curacao and back.

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DME Racing would like to thank the people of Curacao for their hospitality and for putting on such a great event. As always their success is also attributed to the following companies who keep them running strong; DME Racing, Penske Shocks, Catalyst Racing Composites, NLR, Vanson Leathers, Lucas Oil, CP/Carillo, Web Cams, Worldwide Bearings, Cometic Gaskets, Robinson Industries, VP Racing Fuel, Dunigan Racing, DCE, MTC, APE, Vance & Hines, Beringer Brakes, and Blouch Performance Turbo.

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