How did a retired Egyptian policeman, who spent time in Special Forces and the UN come to be the King of Poland? We spoke to Ali a.k.a. Maverick, how it came to be that he holds the Polish record for the 1/4 mile drag race in his class and services and tunes bikes at VCruiser in Poznań…
Hi Ali. How long have you been in Poland?
Since March 2017
Do you have drag racing in Egypt?
It’s not legal in Egypt so I used to race in the streets with my friends. There are no race tracks in Egypt 🙁
Did you know you were fast?
Of course. No one could catch me. I broke the throttle stop pin many times. In the end, I used to carry a spare one with me in my pocket 🙂
Did you go to mechanics school?
No, I’m self-taught. I have it in my blood!
First bike?
Honda Shadow 400cc
How did you get into drag racing in Poland?
I heard about the Polish Cup and decided to give it a try. I entered a class above what I should have to make it interesting. I wanted to test myself against bikes that were modified and with bigger engines and longer swingarms. My bike was a stock bike.
How did you do?
I broke the Polish record in that class for a 1/4 mile with a time of 9.472s 🙂
Did you know the record run was fast before you saw the time?
I did about 50 practice runs and altered many settings every few runs. I knew that particular run was going to be fast even before it ended!
Which settings did you change?
Tyre pressure and rear shock settings for example. The devil is in the details!
How did you connect with Vcruiser?
The MD of the company is also a racer and we met at the King of Poland drag races. We seemed to always be competing for the top spot and we became friends. One day he asked me if I was interested in working with him in his salon and it started from there:)
Is he a good racer?
Hahaha. He was a King of Poland in 2018 so he’s not bad 🙂
What’s your main job?
I have a huge knowledge of how to prepare a bike for racing so I get clients to tune their bikes. Of course, I also do everyday mechanics such as servicing bikes at Vcruiser.
I heard you are on a team right now.
Yes. It’s called ‘Wroclaw Motorcycle Racing Team’. There is me and also other King of Poland champions, Norbert Perlinski and Anna Piechucka.
What is the team about?
Thanks to our sponsors we take part in many races around Poland and we are very successful. I’m the main mechanic so if we keep winning, riders will come to us to get their bikes tuned. It’s a long-term project so let’s see how it goes.
What’s your biggest client achievement?
One of my clients asked me to tune their bike for a competition called ‘ Speed Weekend’ in Arsunda. The client has a Suzuki GSXR 750 and we tuned it for him. The event is held on a frozen lake and the point is to achieve the highest top speed possible. He set a new world record of 224 km per hour. It might not sound that fast but remember this is on a sheet of ice!
Wow! quite an achievement. Well, it has been a pleasure to meet you, Ali. Finally, I would like to ask you how you got the nickname Maverick.
I was a little crazy when I was in the Special Forces and my colleagues used to tell me it would get me killed one day. They compared me to Maverick from the movie Top Gun and the name stuck 🙂
