Nitro Harley race coverage report
event: PennGrade1 AMRA Cajun Nitro Nationals
when: March 20-22, 2025
where: No Problem Raceway, Belle Rose, Louisiana, USA
For better or for worse, few forms of motorsport deliver as much on-track drama as Nitro Harley-Davidson motorcycle drag racing. While mourning the very fresh loss of one of their own, the tight-knit Nitro Harley community was able to celebrate the remarkable, painful comeback of another.
It all happened at the PennGrade1 American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) Cajun Nitro Nationals at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana on March 20-22.
Attempting to step up in class from her Pro Fuel bike, Hayley Caulk lost her life while testing a Nitro Funnybike the previous Sunday in Texas. She and her husband Craig were greatly missed in Louisiana as her fellow competitors raced in her honor.
Johnny Mancuso’s Circle M Ranch Top Fuel
One of those racers at this season opener is still very much healing from a thundering, bone-snapping accident at last October’s McClure Nationals season-ender. Finland’s Samu Kemppainen seemed likely to win the 2025 Johnny Mancuso’s Circle M Ranch Top Fuel championship until he went down hard in Rockingham’s downhill shutdown area.
Out of view from the starting line, the complete extent of the damage that Samu incurred was still being learned as he showed his raw skin and many places that bones had seen light and felt air on all four corners of his body. On the plus side, his constantly aching left arm (“It wakes me up every hour all night, every night”) is out-of-mind, out-of-pain for those six to seven seconds it takes his bike to run the quarter mile.
“It was only five weeks ago that the doctor gave me the OK to start working on my arms at full strength, and two weeks ago I called Chris (Stewart) to say that I might be able to ride if the bike was fixed,” said Samu.
If Samu wasn’t completely healed from the crash, neither was his bike. Chassis fabricator Mike Mullaney reworked the frame’s steering neck just in time for the bike to be reassembled at No Problem Raceway, and built new wheelie bars that were delivered to the track.
“Luckily Chris, Spence Aguilar, Mike Romine and Mike Mullaney got the bike together in the last week. We still had some finishing touches done on the track and got the Racepak working with the parts Sushi (fellow racer Juha Hintukainen) brought from Florida.
“The first two test rides were spent adjusting the new wheeliebars and getting myself back into the riding feel, but then we started to find the right setup.”
First round of qualifying for this class (and the others) was pretty much like the first round of the first race of the season is every year—a lot of struggles as riders and tuners try to find the track, their motorcycles, and their nerve.
By the time qualifying was over, it was obvious that times and speeds would be below average. Gapping the field by far was 2025 rookie sensation Paul Anderson with a 6.45 at 215 miles per hour.
Samu’s Chris Stewart Racing teammate Jordan Peterson was second with a 6.62 at 199, followed by the Finn himself at 6.63/204.
Qualified fourth was the interesting new combination of former 2X NHRA champ Tii Tharpe and Red Rhea’s “Long Train a Runnin’” bike. That Red Rhea power has always been a handful, and since he lengthened the bike 13 inches (to 108) to manage that, results haven’t gotten much better.
“I’m gonna be the one that gets this bike down the track!” exclaimed Tharpe. It would be an understatement to say that the seemingly retired rider has returned with renewed vigor and a chip on his shoulder. “Red has the cleanest constructed and well-kept motorcycle. He also has the longest….It’s gratifying to watch skeptics become followers…”
2024 winner Rickey “Sharkey” House struggled to just keep his bike running, but got down the track with a 7.16 in Q3 that placed him sixth.
Sandwiching Sharkey were Bad Apple Racing’s Jimmy “Mac” McMillian and Cameron “Flash” Gunter in fifth and seventh, respectively.
McMillian was coming back from a comeback. Last season both he and his bike were rebuilt from running off the end of North Florida into the woods the year before. He was faring well, but his bike had developed an appetite for destruction. Would his bike behave in 2026?
“Still unsure if we solved all the combustion retention issues we suffered last season, we rolled into NPR with the simple hope of just making an A to B pass, which we made happen right out of the trailer,” said McMillian. It was lazy but it’s a start, and we started the process of adding fuel and clutch, moving timers and ignition, and trying our best to listen to what our engine was asking for.
“We were lean, and even though I was commanding more fuel pressure, we weren’t seeing it consistently. We were destroying spark plugs and needed to get more fuel in it before it let the combustion outside again.
“We clipped an exhaust valve with some broken spark plug porcelain in Q2, so pulled the rear head to replace it. Q3 it felt like it spun the tire at half-track and I lifted. We found a broken front head bolt and that head had to come off to extract the broken half of that head bolt.
“We also have a new clutch flow control and have been struggling to get it to release on time. The clutch pressure curve looked excellent, but it was just happening two seconds too late. Little by little we started backing out the adjustment to allow more fluid to pass, thus allowing a quicker release—a process that needs slow adjustments. This very control valve adjustment is what nuked my engine here last year.”
Bringing up the rear of the field in ninth was Hawaiian Spence Aguilar, but in eighth was a most interesting new Top Fuel Harley rider.
Unless it’s a small percentage for kicks and giggles in one of his fleet of LS Chevy powered airboats, Louisiana alligator farmer Jerry Savoie has never ridden a nitro-powered anything until this weekend. The former NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion sold his team a few years ago and has been concentrating on his businesses since, with only occasional dips in the burnout box.
Savoie has always cast a side-glance towards Nitro Harleys and was now at his local track to see what the smell and noise was all about. He jumped straight into the deep-end on a Steve Horne-owned, Mike Romine built-and-tuned Top Fuel Harley. Wearing his PSM gear that was not up to the abuse of flaming Nitro Harleys, the always determined Savoie would have to learn to swim quickly.
Licensed Saturday night, a humble Savoie sounded a little overwhelmed by the violence of the bikes and size of the riders as he was walking to the staging lanes for E1 on Sunday. But as the lights came down with Samu in the other lane, Savoie’s killer instincts took over. His PSM-style .028 light left the Finn—who had flirted with redlighting in qualifying— firmly planted with a .193. Front wheel high in the air, Savoie was racing past his fears towards the finishline.
“I didn’t pass him until 1000 feet,” said Samu, who crossed the line with a 6.53 at 212 mph. Savoie had eased out to a 6.78 at 169.
“It’s a whole different animal compared to a Pro Stock Bike,” Jerry said after the race. “Pro Stock Bike, you know, the hit is the hardest thing, and then second, third gear. But after that, you don’t feel it pulling like just, just—this thing is not an animal, this thing is a beast! Once it just starts going into high gear, it is pulling really hard.
“I think the Pro Stock class has taught me as far as reaction time, trying to be good. I shut it off right after the eighth mile, it started to drift off a little bit. But here’s the deal—it’s not my motorcycle, and I have enough respect for whoever I’m working with that I’m not going to wreck anything or take any chances just to win a race. That’s just me by nature, and I just shut it off, and he came around me.
“But this Top Fuel is totally different than Pro Stock. Everybody’s family. I mean, everybody, they all out here, sharing things, cooking, whatnot. Pro Stock is secretive. You know, I’m not knocking any sanctions or whatever, but this is sweet.”
And no politics. “No, not at all. You know, when I made the pass, they (Gary and GT Tonglet) got down there (to the top end) and asked ‘Was he smiling?’ And they were like, ‘Man, that boy was smiling and the talking,’ they said, ‘If you got a smile and excitement out of Jerry Savoie, he must have liked it!’
“Anyway, it’s a pleasure to be out here. And who knows where this leads. Every pass you learn a little more, and I’ve always been one wanting to want to learn and not think that I know it all. It was fun.”
Anderson’s 6.48 bye run was quickest of the round. Tharpe also had a bye when Gunter no-showed. Peterson beat Aguilar, and McMillan beat Sharkey.
“Sunday morning we pulled the BDK—that’s what we call our fuel pressure regulator—and it was not closing all the way, preventing the pressure we needed to hit our target pressure,” reported McMillan. “Replaced the BDK, got our pressure back, but noticed the rear cylinder was not as hot during the warm-up. We leaked it down and it was at 65% leakage. Ten percent is the limit on most engines. Not something we wanted to see and not something we could fix at the moment. So knowing we’d be down on power, we locked and loaded for round one with fingers crossed.
“E1 was against Sharky, who I faced in the finals at NPR a couple years ago, also on a hurt engine and he got the win. This time my .020 light got me out in front and was enough to make it to round two.
“E2 we line up against the number one qualifier Paul Anderson, who was on point this weekend. My .025 light wasn’t enough for his .017 light and he got out a couple of bike lengths on me at the hit and stayed there.
“Seems we never got that flow control moving quick enough but we are moving in the right direction. It was a great weekend, we got down the track again, learned more about our new systems, and got to take our bike home in one piece.
“I want to thank my wife Stacey Mac (who made some great passes on her Pro Fuel bike) and my crew—Mike, Jason and Jake. Also my team—Tracy Kile, Bad Apple Mary, Cameron, Jon Wayne, Soup, and the rest of the Bad Apple Nation.
“Shout out to Jordan Peterson for the 25¢ track side welding repair. Special thanks to Chris at Daytona Twin Tec for their support and my team at Universal Technical Institute for helping to make this happen.”
Peterson had a round two bye, while Samu raced around Tharpe before getting his own bye in the semis. Anderson raced past Peterson to set-up an epic final with the Finn.
Samu was exceptional at the tree with an .014 to Anderson’s .057. Down track it was very close, with Samu’s 6.56 at 210 edging Paul’s 6.57/216.
“What a great weekend and I don’t even know where to start!” said Samu. “Making it to the final and narrowly beating a good friend and always-fast Paul Anderson is much more than I dared to dream of in my wildest dreams! I would have been happy just to know that I can ride again. 27 broken bones from the crash left their mark and I felt like I had been run over by a car after the race, but I’m sure I’ll be in better shape for the next race.
“After the race, we spent a couple of days with Mikko (crewman Mikko-Ville Kalevi) in New Orleans, and Tim Hailey stayed to show us his former hometown—you could write a whole story about that. Thanks Tim!
“I also want to thank Greg and Julie Baugh of AMRA for a great race. Thanks to SPTR OY, Chris Stewart Racing, Romine Racing, and Spencer and his family for getting the bike in shape. A thousand thanks to the pit crew—Peterson Racing, CJ Design, Casey Jo, Jordan, Phil Lower, Jennie, Patty Romine and the visiting mechanics from Finland—Make Lantto, Kaapo, Sushi, Ville and Mikko-Ville! I’m already looking forward to the next race in Ohio, see you there.”
When asked why he was racing at quarter mile AMRA instead of the eighth mile IHRA race the same weekend in North Carolina, Anderson responded “I like to go FAST!
“We had a great start to the season,” Paul continued. “Qualified first in Top Fuel, ran the two best times of the weekend, won every round up to the finals. But, alas, lost by a blink of an eye to my nemesis from Stewart Racing, Samu of Finland—a great competitor and friend.
“A win is tough and has been elusive, but we will work hard and keep grinding away until the day it happens. Special thanks to teammate John Terry for all the hard work and thank you all for your support.”
Armon Furr Racing Nitro Funnybike
The Armon Furr Racing Nitro Funnybike class boiled down to former champ Jim Doyle and class newcomer Ken “Stubby” Hultman. Doyle had a bye to the final while Stubby raced around Walter Halonski to advance. Phillip Crouch entered the event but didn’t record a time.
Stubby put up a strong .066 reaction time against number one qualifier Doyle, who drove around with a 7.24 at 186 to Hultman’s 7.43/168.
“NPR has never been a problem for us,” said Doyle, who might reconsider that comment when he takes the long drive to and from Massachusetts into consideration. “Raced there twice with Doc Flynn helping and won both times.
“I see this class expanding this year with some new riders to help keep it interesting and challenging, while putting on a great show. I look forward to the rest of the season and making my bike run better. Just dialing in my clutch. Tried something new which got me going in the right direction. See you in Ohio.”
“You never know about running nitro,” said Stubby. “Sometimes it’s good to ya while other times it’s a battle. This race was a team battle keeping two bikes rolling.
“Testing on Friday went well. My new rider Ian Newell on my Pro Fuel bike is working at licensing while I too am becoming acquainted with Funnybike. During qualifying both bikes decided we need more practice working on them—ha!
“I snuck in qualifying, but it cost me. Q1 I found myself running backwards down the track waving my arms so no one came down after me, running over two of my push rods that were destroyed, which were found in my lane. Q2 I did further damage to a lifter and camshaft, which caused me to miss Q3.
“After 3 pushrods, a front head rocker, and a camshaft, I was surprisingly able to meet Jim Doyle in the finals. My first race of the season, first race in the Funnybike class, and the first race on this new bike. I was hot all weekend at the tree, running my best consistent reaction times. I got Jim at the light. As I powered down the track, I recall the bike was holding together and pulling good. At 5.5 seconds in I dropped a hole—no Jim. I kept pushing. Then at the finishline, Jim showed me his front tire and crossed ahead of me. It was tight, with a win margin of .138.
“It’s the excitement that fuels the nitro addiction. It sets the hook. Running the numbers below the decimal.”
Halonski long ago caught that nitro addiction. “Had a great time at No Problem Raceway for the season opener,” said Walter. “Was running a Pro Fuel bike in Nitro Funnybike. We’re putting the big injected motor in, but haven’t got that far yet. Qualified well, went out in the semifinal. Didn’t tear anything up. Good weekend.”
Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel
Hawaya Racing Pro Fuel was short a few racers at NPR as parts shortages kept some bikes unassembled.
One racer who tried new, bigger carburetor bowls was champion Bad Apple Mary” Dangrow, who eventually had to ditch them for the old ones in Q3.
“We are trying some new things on the bike this year and while doing that is planned, the hope is that things will improve. However, Friday during testing a rod broke and shot up through the piston and ended my testing on the first pass. The team worked hard that evening to fix the bike so we were ready to qualify on Saturday morning.
“After making a few tune up changes between both rounds, Q1 and Q2 both ended with spinning the tire at the hit. We went into Q3 last on the qualifying sheet, so we reversed some of the changes that we had made over the winter and returned to a reliable tune-up to get me from point A to point B hoping for a good ET. We were very happy when we ran a 7.32 (at 168) taking the number one qualifier spot.”
Mary was followed by Jim “Bad Influence” Martin with a 7.48 (also at 168), Loren Potter with a 7.50/166, Sam White with a 7.54/171, John Jenkins at 7.78/159, Kaiser Heidt at 8.08/161, and Kyle Rogers at 8.15 at 155.
“Leaving everything pretty much the same we came out in E1 having a bye run and ran a 7.29,” continued Mary. Heidt took out Potter, Martin defeated Rogers, and White raced past Jenkins.
“As the ladder fell, we had Sam in the semi,” added Mary. “He is always a tough person to race against. We won that round running a 7.34. With the bike slowing down a bit we suspected we had a hurt motor, but went with it as it was.
In the other semi, Martin and Heidt left together, but Martin’s bike was able to leg it out to a 7.46 while Heidt dropped off to a 7.88. That set up an all-Bad final between “Bad Influence” Martin and “Bad Apple Mary.”
“In the final against Jim Martin, I knew I needed to hit the tree hard. Our reaction times were very close (.002 between them), and I could see him out of my peripheral. It was a good race until I got out of the groove down track and spun the tire. Watching him pull away at that moment and not wanting to end the race like we started it with a blown-up motor, I closed the throttle and watched Jim fly down the track. I had been undefeated for over a year and that ended at that moment but, if it had to come to an end, I’m glad it was Jim.”
“It was a thrill to be able to perform well enough to take the season opener,” said Martin, whose hasn’t won in a few years but did win a Cajun Nationals in 2022.
Most of the races won the last two years have new ECUs like Maxx, but Martin is “Still running the Dynamic S ignition.”
When asked if he had anyone to thank, Jim replied “I guess not. I do everything myself!
“I will be looking forward to completing with the other talented teams and chasing future successes,” finished Jim.
Mary, of course, had the whole Bad Apple team to thank—including Big Bad Apple Tracy Kile. “Thank you to Jon Wayne Stephens, Daryl ‘Supe’ Campbell, and Cameron Gunter for working alongside Tracy to get my bike back together after Friday’s testing catastrophe.
“Thank you Stacey McMillan for keeping us all fed with the absence of our Chef’s Randy and Brenda Jackson, and to Jake Anderson, Jimmy McMillan, Jason Shurtz, and Michael Hopkins for stepping in wherever they were needed.
“Most of all, thank you to Tracy for all the hard work over the winter and at this race to make sure I get down the track and for supporting my racing program at the AMRA races this year. I also want to thank Fairview Tavern, Capone Landscape, Vanson Leathers, American Rebel Lite Beer, CJ Designs, Trick Works LLC, and the Bad Apple Nation for their support in 2026.
“The weekend didn’t end like we had hoped, ending my winning streak, but overall we were happy getting number one qualifier and making the final. We have some ideas we will be testing this year to push this bike to its full potential, so time to start a new streak. Stay tuned!
Gas Classes
Gas Harley winners were Nick Boey in Zipper’s Performance Pro Bagger and Thundermax Street Bagger, Billy Doherty in Pro Outlaw, Cody Hayworth in Zipper’s Performance Modified and Top Eliminator 9.30, Jimmy Smith in Huffman Performance Super Gas 9.90, Chad Caplinger in BK Electric Super Pro 10.30, John Powers in Thundermax Street Eliminator 11.50 and S&S Cycle Pro Eliminator 10.90, and Bryce Creek in Baker Drivetrain Eliminator.
Next race for the AMRA Harley drags is the Ohio Nitro Nationals on May 1-3 at Darana National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio.
Brought to you by Bad Apple Racing, Hawaya Racing, Johnny Mancuso’s Circle M Ranch, Armon Furr Racing, and Fairview Tavern
This report was prepared by Tim Hailey. Enjoy everything there is to read, see and watch about motorcycle drag racing and more at https://www.eatmyink.com
