Alan Thoresen: Black Thunder at Bonneville

Alan Thoresen's 50th birthday was a wakeup call. He was running out of time for all the adventures he wanted to experience. One of those adventures was to follow in the footsteps of a famous New Zealand racer named Burt Monro, and race on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Monro is an inspiration to many racers, but for New Zealanders, it is a special honor to step upon the salt where Monro rode the Worlds Fastest Indian.

Thoresen returned to drag racing in preparation for Bonneville, and he had a very successful first season. Thoresen came in second overall in the NZ Drag Association (NZDRA) Points Series for Modified Bike, winning the Season Points series at Meremere for Modified Bike, and Breaking the NZ National Record for Modified Bike twice, as well as a successive series of wins at other venues.Last year was Thoresens first attempt at setting a record at Bonneville on his modified Kawasaki ZX1400. Thoresen was doing well, improving his times with each run. His attempts ended abruptly, however, when he crashed through a timing tower at 180 mph.

Undeterred, Thoresen has returned to Bonneville Speedway with a goal of hitting 197 mph. His ZX1400 has been repaired and reconfigured to run in the stock class. We caught up with this very spirited Kiwi at the starting line on August 19, 2008. Thoresen spoke of his crash last year and what he is doing differently this year in this video podcast.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Peckhammer
• Bonneville
• Salt
• Flats
• Motorcycle
• Racing
• ZX
• 1400
• Kawasaki
• Thoresen
• Alan
• New
• Zealand

[peckhammer]

Alan did not set a record... yet. Setting a land speed record can take many attempts before getting the right formula for the bike/rider.

Alan recently bought a second Kawasaki ZX-14 so he can work on his original ZX-14 Black Thunder.

Back in NZ, he's taken First Place in Modified Bike at Tokoroa Drags, and took a second in the Norther Nationals at Meremere, as well as resetting the NZDRA NZ Record for Modified Bike. So he's definitely working on his game.

[RoninNZL]

So did he get the record? What speed did he reach?