From Chilliwack to California

By:       Bruce Biegler

Canada was represented during the NHRA’s Summit Racing ET World Finals by “left coast” racer Kevin Brennan.   The multi-time Mission Raceway track champion made the long tow from British Columbia to California to compete in the highly prestigious all Sportsman event….

Brennan was the lone Canadian that qualified for this year’s NHRA Summit Racing ET Finals event which is held each year in conjunction with the NHRA AAA Auto Club World Finals at Pomona.   Kevin’s efforts, just to compete in the ET Bike runoff, were more then commendable.

“There has been a lot of racers from my home track at Mission that have come here before me to race in this tournament,” Kevin recognized.  “I’m very happy to represent them and to help carry on that tradition.”

Brent Payne & Kevin Brennan

For Brennan and his racing partner Brent Payne, the task of just getting to Pomona was however not without its hurdles.

“As fate would have it, I broke my bike very late in the season,” he revealed.  “As a result we could not make all the repairs in time to come here with that so my racing companion (Brent) stepped up and let me race on his Bike.   For this event we needed to put electronics on which is required by the rules.  That is something new for me too – my entire career I had been racing a Pro tree.  While that was a bit of a disadvantage – we did try to make the best of the situation.”

Unfortunately for the determined Canadian team, their World Championship aspirations did end early.  In round one the fact the team did not get a chance to test very much prior to coming, did become apparent.  Kevin left before the tree was activated during round one on Sunday and he lost out to Nevada’s Leo Shaver.

Kevin Brennan and Brent Payne should however be given a lot of credit for their efforts.  The duo both race Suzuki products with Kevin’s 1500 CC machine running in the 8.20 zone while Payne’s 1600 CC ride targets regular 9.2 secs elapsed times.

“In our type of racing it’s really all about the community of people we race with,” Kevin added.  “It not always about winning — we run with a great group and everyone supports us.”

House of Payne - Suzuki

(Bruce Biegler Photos)