Native Queensland Pro Stock Motorcycle racer, Luke Crowley made his NHRA debut at the Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas this past weekend.
Crowley and the Ipswich Tint Werx/LAT Racing Oils team are working alongside fellow Australian Rhett Lougheed during their U.S. tour. The Lougheed’s have been a major factor assisting the team particualrly when the bike was un-crated after crossing of the Pacific, it was discovered that the bike had some issues in the ignition system.
“I had wanted to race on the NHRA circuit for some time. After the Winternationals at Willowbank, the time was right for us to send the bike to the USA and compete in the last two races of the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Series,” said Crowley.
“We’re pleased with the way that the bike ran considering the issues that we found in the ignition system and the amount of time that we have had to test the bike in NHRA trim. Rhett and his team assisted with flying in some spares from MSD to be on the safe side in case we experienced more issues. We gained some good data over the four runs that we made in qualifying and will put this to good use when we pull into Pomona next weekend for the Auto Club World Finals (November 12th – 15th), the concluding race of the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello season,”
The team ended qualifying in the 24th position, with a time of 7.134 at 189.36 mph, out of 29 bikes trying to qualify for the 16 bike field.
Crowley’s bike will stay in the USA for 2016, where the team plan to enter select events.
The team would like to thank Rhett and Mary Lougheed in providing the team with accommodation and workshop space, Jamie and Renee Noonan from Noonan Race Engineering for transportation of the team’s equipment from Brisbane to California as well as long-time sponsors Ipswich Tint Werx and LAT Racing Oils Australia
Image: Roger Richards