Australasian biker news

David Polkinghorne with the V Rod Destroyer drag bike.
IT is known as the V Rod Destroyer.

It is capable of covering the standing quarter mile in just 10-seconds or less and it is Harley-Davidson’s first foray into production drag bikes.

In fact it is the first production drag bike offered by any motorcycle manufacturer in the world and one of these mean machines has joined the CJ’s Racing Team stable in Albury.

Based on a standard V Rod chassis and front end, the Destroyer will be ridden by CJ’s principal and team owner Chris Abbott after it has a series of shakedown runs prior to its first meeting, probably in September.

“It is straight out of the box and we have a few tweaks to do with it first,” said CJ’s sales manager David Polkinghorne.

“In the US the bikes are raced ‘as is’ and the same will apply here for the foreseeable future or until there is a specific category established,” David said.

“There are around 10 of these particular drag bikes in the country already and once there are a few more then a dedicated category can be organised.”

In the meantime it becomes CJ’s flagship race bike and it will be raced at drag strips at Calder Park, Heathcote and Eastern Creek.

Costing $60,000, the limited edition V Rod Destroyer is mean, lean and very quick, its performance coming courtesy of a 1300cc V twin liquid-cooled engine pumping out 123kW of power.

The VRXSE Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod Destroyer, to give it its full title, also features a five-speed racing transmission with MTC multi-stage lock up clutch and electric-over-air shifting and a ceramic-coated 2-into-1 exhaust.

It sits on Dunlop Screamin’ Eagle slick tyres and comes complete with a wheelie bar with side panels.

The only choice of colour is orange and black.

It is purpose built to tackle both eighth and quarter mile drags but the CJ team will use it primarily for quarter mile events in pro-stock or modified classes.

Although the CJ’s Racing Team Destroyer has yet to fire a shot in anger, David Polkinghorne said the team was confident it would do all it was designed for from the start.

“The team has a successful racing history in other categories and drag bike racing will add to that,” he said.

The CJ team has been involved in just about every facet of the sport, from flat track, dirt bikes, quad bikes, snow mobiles and even water craft.

“If we can race it, we will,” he said.

“We have dabbled in drag bikes in the past but now it is time to get real serious.”