Kawasaki ZX-14 - The Rites Of Spring - Signal 2 Noise

Spring has officially sprung, and it was the classic springtime themes of birth (the debut of Kawasaki's long-awaited ZX-14), renewal (the return of Top Fuel legend Larry McBride) and crossing the River Styx (retiring Kent Stotz's record-holding Blackbird Pro Street bike) that defined the AMA/Prostar motorcycle drag racing 2006 season opener at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia.

Kawasaki Corporate couldn't have dreamed up a better debut for its new ZX-14, a heavy-hitting superbike aimed squarely at the Suzuki Hayabusa that has pretty much owned streetbike-based drag racing for the past six years. Superstar wrist Rickey Gadson-back under the Team Green drag racing umbrella for '06 after last year's Lucas Oil/Suzuki Pro Stock detour-took the first win in the Super Street class on his Coby Adams-prepped, nitrous-huffing ZX-14. This win was made more impressive by the fact that this bike was put together by Adams in just a few weeks, and it outperformed a staging lane full of dialed-in, well-developed, very fast 'Busas, including last year's dominant nitrous 'Busa of Darren Burnett and Todd Schnitz's Memphis-winning turbo. "It's amazing what Coby has done with this bike in such a short time, and it shows what a great bike the new ZX14 is," said Gadson after the round.

This was exactly the winning performance that Kawasaki's new flagship needed to hit the ground running and was reminiscent of what Adams and Chip Ellis did in '04 with the then-new ZX-10R. In addition to the Adams Super Street racer, Gadson was also making laps on his own custom ZX-14 streetbike. Former Team Greener Ryan Schnitz was also there making laps on a Rob Muzzy-prepped ZX-14, too. The Kawasaki Motor Corp. was in 'da Valdosta house.

While Gadson and Schnitz were snappin' necks with the new Kawi, Honda Riders Club of America-sponsored hotglove Kent Stotz was retiring (with honors!) his multi-record-holding Pro Street Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird. Since Honda hasn't sold more than a handful of Blackbirds in the United States in the past few years, the decision was made for Stotz to trade up to a Honda CBR1000RR-based Pro Street race bike for the 2006 season. Stotz wouldn't have the new CBR ready to race until the second Prostar round in Atlanta, which meant that he would race the Blackbird one last time at Valdosta.

This turned out to a doozie of a send-off, as Stotz used the Blackbird to set both ends of the Pro Street class record with a 7.275 e.t. and a 201.82-mph top speed. "The price on the Blackbird just went up," Stotz said after the run. Stotz stayed consistently quick through the final round, driving around Fast Mikey Slowe on the Velocity Racing Hayabusa. "Mikey went a 7.32," said Stotz, who earned the new nickname "Mr. 200" after making five straight 200-plus-mph blasts at Valdosta. "He's not far off, so it's gonna be a good season."

In 1000 Supersport competition, it was all about Suzuki rider Vince Woska, who qualified at number-one (with a 9.215 e.t.), set a dramatic new mph record (161.92 mph) and scored the event win on his GSX-R1000. "It's the first time I've ever qualified number-one and the first time I've ever set records," said Woska. "It feels great!" On the other side of the ladder, number-two qualifier John Hall had to put up more of a fight. In the second round, Hall left on Jamie Millholland 0.103 to 0.136, and he used every thousandth of that advantage, as he ran a 9.339 to Millholland's 9.307. Do the math-that's a 0.001 margin of victory! Hall then beat Victor Gotoy, who advanced after Richard Gadson (Rickey's nephew) was DQ'd for illegal fuel, to arrive in the final next to Woska. Hall also got the advantage off the line in the final but lost it all on the track when Woska took the win-light on his Pirelli-shod, Brock's Performance Products-sponsored GSX-R.