Three years ago Humberto Rives was an emerging talent in local motorsports.
He had a fast Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. It was one of the first bikes to nab a perfect reaction time of 500ths of a second launching from the starting line at Breakers Speedway. It was also one of the first two-wheel machines to run the 1/8 mile track in six seconds.
In 2011 the Mount Pleasant resident is making a new legacy as Cayman’s fastest bike racer. In March he set the new local record in the motorcycle class with a time of 5.702 seconds. This month he claimed the bike class at the Cayman Islands Drag Racing Association drag meet and beat association president Sammy Jackson and his white Chevy Corvette in a heads-up challenge.
Rives, 28, states he is so pleased with his Hayabusa’s performance he feels the bike has no equal.
“I don’t think there’s any competition for this bike,” Rives said. “If I continue to ride the way I have I’ll be on the podium every time. It’s very easy for me to ride. The more power you add to your ride the more difficult it is to control. But the Hayabusa has enough that it’s fast but not too hard to ride.”
For the record the Hayabusa is far from stock. Years ago it started off rated at 1300cc with polished headers, an aftermarket exhaust system and a 10 pound bottle of wet nitrous capable of increasing power by some 50 horses. These days the bike has more engine work and makes over 200 horsepower. Rives, who has been through some 16 bikes with his first being a green Kawasaki 900, states all of the work on his Hayabusa was done by hand.
“The Suzuki was built here. I got guys from the States to help but it was done from scratch. The frame, motor and everything else was done here little by little. The engine is heavily modified with bigger cams, rods and pistons and it’s on a different level now. It’s a race engine now that makes 230hp to the wheel. The engine is also now 1400cc and it’s bored and bigger than the stock 1300cc motor.
“There’s a new nitrous system too that can add 50hp more and I haven’t even used that yet. The Hayabusas have a lot of aftermarket modifications and parts, just like a car.”
Interestingly Rives’ rise in the motorcycle ranks comes in spite of fierce competition from Dante ‘Ross’ Hydes. The West Bayer was the last local racer to hold the bike record as he ran his Honda CBR 1000 to a time of 5.994s last March. Since then he has shipped the Honda to Florida to compete in meets there and is running a Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Breakers.
Rives, who started racing in 2002, states that Hydes is both an inspiration and a great challenge.
“Ross’ Suzuki is turbocharged and makes over 300hp. It’s hard to ride, it’s very modified and it can fly like a plane. He’ll get it figured out one day and once he does that’s the guy that can give me a good run.
“It’s nice he can race in the US. If I could go to the States I’d do the same thing. There’s a lot of different experiences there for him and I’m happy for him. He’s lucky to have two bikes and the Honda is the more consistent and competitive bike in my eyes. Everyone is different because if it was me I’d take the Suzuki up there because there are a lot of guys there that deal with turbo bikes.”
The next drag racing association meet is scheduled for 31 July at Breakers. With a little over a month to prepare, Rives states his focus is not only on winning but running a time that’s close to the overall track record. That mark currently stands at 5.567s and belongs to another West Bayer in Billy Ebanks, who has a Dodge Daytona muscle car.
“Back when Breakers first opened I had the bike record for awhile with a 6.4s run. Then I took a year or two off and that’s when Ross broke it by running under six seconds. Now I’ve run a 5.7s time. All of those drops (in time) are a lot on a 1/8 mile track.
“This month I had issues as I lost power on the battery and the spark plugs weren’t firing. I still ran a 5.8s time but the bike is fixed now as I put in a new battery and spark plugs. Next time I’m hoping for 5.6s or 5.5s.
“I’m happy with my time and victories but I know the bike is capable and I can do a 5.5s time. I will have to ride more and learn it more. But I think I can break the record again.”
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