Brock’s Performance has announced that Keith Dennis will be riding a BMW S 1000 RR in AMA Dragbike SuperSport competition for the remainder of the 2010 season. Dennis will also ride a Real Street-prepared nitrous injected
BMW at selected events.
The announcement comes following the breakthrough appearance of the BMW S 1000 RR at the AMA Dragbike Spring
Nationals in Martin, MI, where Ryan Schnitz clocked a stunning 8.49 elapsed time at 159 mph with a Brock-prepared, all-stock motor setup and extended wheelbase. Schnitz later qualified the bike fourth in SuperSport legal trim, but crashed the bike during Sunday morning testing.
“The BMW has a power to weight ratio that is better than any bike we have run,” said Brock’s Performance owner Brock Davidson. “We feel this bike is going to be popular for our customers so we want to develop a full line of products for it. The best way to develop performance parts for a bike is to race it.”
With the hiring of Keith Dennis, Brock has re-formed the team that dominated AMA Dragbike SuperSport competition in 2008. That year Dennis debuted the Brock’s Performance GSX-R1000 at the third race of the season, Memphis, and won five straight events, locking up the championship.
Dennis, known in the drag race world as “Shine”, also won SuperSport championships in 1995 and 1998.
Brock noted that while he was impressed with Schnitz’ performance on the BMW, the expanded plans to run Real Street necessitated a new rider.
“We were lucky to be able to get Ryan for the initial testing of the BMW but once we decided to run Real Street we needed another rider since Ryan has a commitment to ride a Real Street bike for HTP Performance this season,” said Brock. The HTP Performance GSX-R1000 is also supported by Brock’s Performance.
Brock will also once again be enlisting the services of Bryan Snyder of Quantum Motorsports to help prepare the bike for SuperSport competition. Snyder was a key part of the 2008 SuperSport championship team. “ I have a long standing relationship and great trust in Bryan’s work,” said Brock. “Having Bryan on the team is the closest thing to having my own hands in an engine”
Dennis will run the SuperSport machine at the next event on the tour, Montgomery, AL. While Brock admits a SuperSport championship may be out of reach at this point in the season, he feels Dennis and the BMW are going to stir things up a bit.
“Jeremy Teasley and Chip Ellis are going to know we are there,” said Brock.
The Real Street bike will be under development in the coming weeks and may run at the Indy event.
“We will do the initial testing on the Real Street bike with a stock engine at first,” said Brock. “We will then develop pistons, camshafts and other associated components as required,” he continued. “It’s going to take a while.”
”We plan to develop a dry nitrous system around the bike’s OEM fuel system at this point,” he continued. “From our brief experience with the new BMW we have found that every aspect of the bike is very well-engineered and the fuel system is no exception.”
With such a late-season start on a brand-new platform, a championship in either class is virtually impossible, but with the tremendous potential of the BMW S 1000 RR, the winner’s circle is clearly in sight.
