At this year’s Nitrolympx we will welcome a special guest, Tak Shigematsu from Japan who will come to race with us in the FIM-E Supertwin ( STB) series. Tak is currently the quickest guy in the world on a Harley Nitro bike, setting the record at last year’s ManCup event at Valdosta, Georgia, USA with a 6.021 sec. run. This run at Valdosta could easily have been the first 5 second pass in the world on a Harley if his handlebars had stayed in one piece. At the top end of the track his handlebars broke that made him hit the wall at a speed of approx. 345 kph. Nevertheless he managed to bring the bike to the finishline, setting this record of 6.021.
It wasn’t the first time this happened to him : in 2008 at a race in Bristol Tennessee he rode his bike to a win after braking his handlebars at the start and making his whole pass with only half of the handlebars left. While living in Japan, making his money as a Harley-Davidson dealer, he crosses the Pacific on a regular base since 1999 to compete successfully in various US series with several Eastern Championships and even a National runner-up title, setting ET and Speed records many times. With all these performances in combination with a special style of driving he deserved his well chosen nickname “crazy Tak “, a name that is widely spread among US dragrace fans. In Hockenheim Tak will campaign a bike that is owned by Juha Hintukainen from Finland and most likely he will bring his crew chief from the US, a guy that is equaly famous among dragracing fanatics, Donald Johnson, aka DJ, aka as the “Nitro Santa”, a guy that constructed numerous dragbikes with great success.
With the entry of the Hockenheim 2018 Nitrolympx, one of Tak’s long standing dreams comes true and we are very happy to have him racing with us. It will be a joy for the spectators and an interesting addition to the series for all of his competitors.
