Michael Ray confirmed to Competition Plus that he will make his 2017 Pro Stock Motorcycle debut at NHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals June 22-25 in Norwalk, Ohio.

Ray, who has been competing in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class – part-time and full-time – since 2011, is filling in for David Hope and will be piloting a Buell owned by John Hammock.

“I’ve raced for John and he was the first guy who was brave enough to let me ride a Pro Stock bike,” Ray said. “He and I have had a great relationship over the last 10 years. David can’t go to Norwalk and John called me last Wednesday or Thursday and said you know me, you know the bike and he asked me if I wanted to ride the bike and I said, ‘heck yeah, man.’”

Ray finished 17th in the season points standings a year ago after competing in 10 races – the final one being the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

“It will be fun to get back out there,” Ray said. “We had a blast racing last year and, unfortunately we just didn’t make the Countdown. We just want to go have some fun and get John’s bike down the track and let me ride a little bit.”

Ray works as a human resources director and safety manager at Kenergy Oilfields Solutions in Nixon, Texas, when he’s not racing.

Ray said he will have a test session on Hammock’s Buell June 21 at Dragway 42 in West Salem, Ohio.

“We are going to test there and make sure I still remember which side the brakes are on and go from there, that way Q1 on Friday (June 23) isn’t my first pass dropping the hammer,” Ray said.

Ray competed full time in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class from 2012-14. He has three career national event wins – Dallas (2012) and Englishtown and Chicago (2013) – and finished a career-best second in the points standings in 2013 to world champion Matt Smith. Ray also was sixth in points in 2012 and 10th in 2014.

“I’m definitely not closing the door on Pro Stock Motorcycle, but the new addition with the Top Fuel Harleys coming on board (in NHRA this season) has really peaked my interest and I tell you that is my focus right now to put my Top Fuel (Harley) program together for 2018 and beyond,” Ray said. “We are interested in running a two-bike team and I can’t really say who the other bike is but if this happens it will be a pretty big deal, not only for NHRA, but for the Top Fuel Harley class as well. We are planning on trying to test in the next few weeks and if I’m comfortable and everything goes well we might hot shoe that thing out to Seattle (Aug. 4-6) for the last race of the year for those guys. Pro Stock (Motorcycle) was always my passion, but I always wanted to ride one of those Top Fuel bikes. If all goes well we will run it in Seattle and if not, we will test the rest of the year and just get ready for Pomona (Feb. 8-11, 2018 Winternationals).”