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 Born
February 28, 1983 in Montross, Virginia, Darion Antione Payne grew
up in the small east side of Virginia nestled between Richmond and
DC where there was nothing to do but play sports or video games. One
glorious day, Darion’s cousin Derek showed up on a 4-wheeler. Darion
would sit for hours and watch him ride until he was finally invited
to ride on the back (not that we condone riding on the back of an
ATV) of the 4-wheeler. One day Darion finally worked up the nerve to
ask his cousin to teach him to ride, which he did, and Darion said,
“I never looked back after that.”
Darion got his first bike at the age of 8, a Yamaha 80, but had no
clue how to use a clutch. In order to teach himself to ride he would
go out to a long dirt road and throw the clutch away giving him
plenty of room to learn to shift; and crash if needed.
After mastering the 80 Darion graduated to a Honda 200 enduro at the
age of 10. His stepfather always said, “That boy is fearless and he
scares me when he rides that bike.” Darion said, “My stepdad would
also say that I was going to be a great rider one day because I
wasn’t scared to do anything on that dirt bike.” At only four feet
tall he finally graduated to a Honda 250 but could barely touch the
ground.
Darion’s uncle Butch Shelton, and Darius Carey introduced him to
motorcycle drag racing. Darion said, “They had drag bikes with
wheelie bars.” Wow, practically cavemen. Just a side note here to
all those new world racers who where born after 1980. We cavemen
used to street race before being introduced to drag racing and back
in the Stone Age, every class was a wheelie bar class. If you really
want to go fast you need two things, a car tire and wheelie bars.
The truth is we old guys are flat out jealous of street bikes that
own a record only one and a half seconds off McBride’s Top Fuel
record. Anyway, Darion used to go to Colonial Beach Dragway and MIR
with his uncles and soon he set his goal of becoming a great
motorcycle drag racer himself.
Once Darion graduated from high school and got a job he purchased
his first street bike, a Suzuki SRAD 750. He loved that bike with
its custom blue paint job and chrome wheels but once his cousin
showed up on a brand new GSXR1000 and let him ride it, Darion found
a new love and one year later moved up to his own GSXer. The day he
bought it, he took it to the track and with stock height he ran
6.9’s in the eighth. Once he lowered it he went a 6.32 on his first
pass. With instant success at the local eighth mile track, Darion
decided to take it to the quarter mile. Right off the trailer he ran
a 9.52 which caught the attention of Norman Jackson who suggested
that Darion try running 1000 SuperSport.
 Not
having the money to run a full SuperSport package nor travel to all
the AMA events, Darion had to put those plans off for another day.
In November 2006 that day came when he met Mike Mace at a MIROCK
event. Mike gave Darion a chance to showcase his talents on his
grudge bike. The next season, Darion became a force to be reckoned
with in the grudge racing world. Darion won 75% of every race he
entered. That gave him a recognizable name on the MIROCK circuit.
The following season, MIROCK started their new Real Street class,
which Darion got a ride on Shelby Barnes’ HTP Performance built GSXR
1000. Luckily for his new team the first race at Rockingham got
rained out because the bike was not ready. They arrived at the
second race, again at Rockingham, early to give the bike its first
shakedown passes during a test session. The class record was held by
Norman Jackson at a 8.30, Darion qualified #1 and reset the record
to 8.18. At the next event at MIR he set the MPH record at 172mph.
He ended up #4 in the points.
The 2009 season was
spent setting up a new bike with Mike Mace which they repeated
another #4 plate in 2010. For this coming season Darion is either
going to make the jump to Pro Street or make a run for the MIROCK
Real Street championship using power by Lee Performance for the Mace
Motorsports Team. Whatever he chooses to do, this young man is
making steady progression in the sport of drag racing and his
stepdad can rest assured, Darion has turned out to be a great rider.
Other Areas of Interest
Residence: Ft. Washington, MD
Occupation: Case Administrator
Home track: Maryland International Raceway
Team Name: Mace Motorsports
Crew Members: Mike Mace, Donald Actie, Ed Murphy,Derek
Shelton, William Fulcher, Jr., William Shelton, Rickey Gorham,
Demetrice Carey
Sponsors: Lee’s Performance, Brock Performance, T & G Photos,
Bike Paparazzi
Accomplishments:
2006 Fast by Gast Spring Classic Street ET Winner
2008 FBR Shop Bike National #1 Qualifer Mirock Real Street
2008 Honda-Suzuki of Sanford Spring Bike Open Winner Real Street
2008 Mirock #4 Plate Holder Real Street
2010 Mirock #4 Plate Holder Real Street
History of racing bikes and classes: Real Street, Grudge, Pro
Et, Quick 32, Street ET
Current race bike / class: 2008 Hayabusa 1300/Real Street
Goals: To be a class Champion, and a NHRA PSM rider
Interest outside of racing: Basketball, Football & Family
Favorite foods: Pizza, Chicken
Favorite movie: Love & Basketball, Juice, Harlem Nights,
House Party
Daily driver: Chevy Tahoe, Honda Accord
First motorcycle: Yamaha 80 (dirt), 1998 Suzuki SRAD 750
(street)
Hero: My Step Dad William Fulcher, Sr. & Mom Bonita P.
Fulcher
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