Pit Bull Owner/Founder Charlie VanValkenburgh Breaks Land Speed Record At The Bonneville Salt Flats

Pit Bull Owner/Founder Charlie VanValkenburgh Breaks Land Speed Record At The Bonneville Salt Flats

© 2012, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Pit Bull is happy to announce that our owner/president Charlie VanValkenburgh has captured the 1000cc Production(P-P) land speed record at Bonneville. We purchased a BMW S1000RR immediately after its introduction in 2010 with the sole intent of capturing this record with the help of our partners. The bike was taken from BMW of Atlanta straight to KWS Motorsports, where Kevin Hunt and Michael Godin began working on it along with the other companies that were helping to support the effort by making prototype parts for the motor. Charlie V has made trips to Bonneville whenever possible since 2010 and has found the bike to be increasingly competitive as our team learned more about the motorcycle and how to make it go faster. In 2011, Barry McMahan began helping us not only by working on the bike at his shop just outside Huntsville, Alabama but also accompanying Charlie V to the Salt Flats to provide on-site support. We really felt like the bike was ready to break the record in October 2011, but the event was rained out so we had to wait till August 2012 to go back and complete our mission. On August 17, 2012, Charlie V made back-to-back runs 199.326 and 197.166 to break the old record of 197.116 and set a new record of 198.246 mph! Quote from Charlie V: “It took a lot of work to get a record at Bonneville and it was definitely a team effort. The qualifying run and back up run were the 82nd and 83rd trips down the salt with the same bike. I would like to thank and congratulate Barry McMahan for building a bike that will go 199 mph with a stock pipe and air box! My fiancé Carolyn has been there through the ups and downs of this struggle and ridden down the return road many times to pick me. My favorite sponsor is the collective group of Pit Bull customers who made this all possible. Paul and Becca Livingston of Spider Grips for getting me addicted to the salt. Rod Falkner of DuMonde Tech for making great lubricants and for tech support. Scott Moore of Fast Finish for giving the bike the look it needed to go fast. Dave at Worldwide Bearings, Kevin Hunt and Michael Godin of KWS Motorsports, Karen McMahan, Sportbike Track Gear, Walt Schaefer, Millennium Technologies, Web Cam, CP Carillo, and Chicken Hawk for quality goods and services. For support on the salt my daughter Abbey plus Doug Tate, Ben Tate, Billy Pruitt, Craig Watson and Terry Hulbert.

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