By David Podolsky



To sort of give you an idea of who we are and what we are doing let me introduce the Chicken Hawk Racing Team first.

You may know the name of Chicken Hawk Racing from the company who manufactures Tire Warmers here in the USA and supplies most of the AMA Superbike paddock.  Since most of us in the motorcycle business are here out of choice, CHR does have some serious enthusiasts who ride and race in different areas (even cars) and I road race flying the CHR banner.

I have always raced twins and singles, and I'm not sure why.  I just started on a Honda Hawk and progressed to Ducati, Aprilia and now back to my current race bike  - the new Ducati 1098S.

We also have a super-cool single that I race; we fondly call it the Mini-Mono as a spoof of the Ducati Super-mono.  It is a Tig-craft chassis with a Yamaha 426 motor in it and it looks exactly like a 125gp bike and uses a 125gp front-end, swing-arm and sub-frame that are off my old bike!

I had an A kit Honda 125 back in 1999 and won the AHRMA Sound of Singles Two Stroke National Championship on it in 2000 & 2001. Tuning was not hard, but required maintenance.  Once my crew chief, Erik Madsen, took a “real” job for Suzuki he couldn’t travel and he thought up the concept of the mini-mono figuring a 4-stroke wouldn’t require so much attention.

Since then we’ve won 3 AMA Sports National Championships on it racing against everything from FZR 400s, EX-500s, Motards and SV650s.  It is a hoot and let’s you get away with a lot a big bike wouldn’t.  Unfortunately the recognition and sponsors only like premier class bikes, but I enjoy racing both anyway.

The Ducati 1098S has required more set-up than I would have thought; we needed to change some front fork valving and the rear shock spring but it is coming along well and in the ballpark now.  The motor honks and we only put on the Termignoni system and mapped it at Celtic Performance (Chaz Davies´ team).  The bike carves a nice tight corner and changes direction better than any twin I’ve had.  The Michelin Power Race tires seem well suited to the bike too.

So far we’ve had one win, four podiums and three top fives with only one DNF, but the more important thing is I’m about a second off the pace I need to be at to be fighting for the win and I think I have it in me as my confidence grows on the bike. Our last race weekend was at Mid-Ohio the last weekend in July.  The Mini Mono was getting some updates and it has not been raced this year but was ready for Mid-O.

It was the first time this season I raced both bikes back to back.  Believe me, I am not Ben Spies, but riding these two back to back is harder than him going from 600 Supersport to his Superbike.  The Ducati weighs over 400 lbs wet and makes about 148 HP whereas the Mini weighs 215 lbs wet and makes about 58 HP.

The extra 200 pounds and 90 horse make it pretty tough to get off the Mini and get going on the big Duc.  I feel like I got out of a Honda CRV and got into my Ford Van – lots more power and can’t make a turn.  It takes me about 3 laps to wrap my brain around the effort to turn in, the braking zones and how to open the throttle.  Believe it or not I can get off the Ducati and go fast right away on the Mini – somehow after all that horsepower, speed and weight the Mini seems safe even when you riding like a nut!


Post your thoughts and questions for David at our Chicken Hawk Racing forum.