Mike Peters rose to the top of the Motorcycle and Sled field during the 2025 WDRA Summit World Championships presented by SunCoast Performance.

MONTGOMERY, AL: Tenacity flourishes through consistent effort, optimism, and dedication to your goals, regardless of the setbacks, difficulty, or current outcome. A quote from Julie Andrews reads, “Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth.” However, for the newly crowned WDRA Summit Motorcycle World Champion, Mike Peters, his perseverance would eventually pay off during his fifth attempt at claiming that coveted title.

The talented New York native has qualified and participated in five world championship events since 2017, including back-to-back invitations for the WDRA Summit World Championships presented by SunCoast Performance, since the introductory Motorcycle and Sled class last season. Peters, representing Lancaster Motorplex, admitted that seemingly minor on-track mistakes left him lacking in the win light department during prior races. Yet, he maintained an admirable outlook on those experiences.

He explained, “Every time I felt like it was just a little screw up, and it just wasn’t my day. I kept telling myself, ‘I know that I’m a good racer, and if I stick with it, then my day will come.’ When you love doing something that’s a win-or-lose situation, I always tell my mom and dad, ‘We might have lost, but so what?’ I’m going home safe, we’re smiling and having fun at the end of the day, and that’s really what it’s all about.”

Peters has proven himself to be a fierce competitor, racking up eight track championships on his now-backup Kawasaki before upgrading to a 2011 Suzuki Hayabusa last winter. He claimed six wins this season to wrap up his ninth track championship and made the 1,000-mile and seventeen-and-a-half-hour trek to Montgomery International Dragway during what would be a life-changing event.

After utilizing Thursday’s test-and-tune session to adjust to the tree and get dialed in for the weekend, he admitted to having total confidence in his machine to aid in getting the job done. Friday’s free $5,000 Gamblers Race ended in a second-round exit against the eventual winner, John Fitzpatrick, before getting prepared for Saturday’s main event. Understandably, prior first-round red lights and unexplainable pressure had to be on his mind. Still, Peters pushed those doubts aside and focused on the present as he earned victories against Sonny Vick (Brainerd Motorsports Park), Joseph Klemme (Midwest Bracket Finals), and Austin Easter (Eddyville Raceway Park) before earning the last bye run of the race.

The final round was a chance for redemption against Fitzpatrick (Mid America Dragway), and it became a close battle with only three thousandths separating the pair’s reaction times. Peters ran 5.594 on his 5.59 dial-in for the $5,000 Motorcycle World Championship win, while Fitzpatrick ran two thousandths under his dial-in. In addition to the cash and long-awaited title, Peters left with a WDRA Champion card and WDRA Rod trophy.

Illuminating the final win light at this caliber of an event opened a floodgate of emotions, including an on-bike celebration while still in the shutdown area, followed by an influx of high-fives and hugs in the pits from friends and family, plus an indescribable rush of adrenaline.

“It wasn’t only my win, it was a win for all of us; the guys that I knew that were there, it was all of our celebration,” said Peters. “The greatest thing for me was making everybody back home happy when I won. I got so many phone calls, texts, and messages saying how proud everyone was. I think that’s what really did it for me, just seeing how happy it made everyone. I want nothing more than to impress my parents and do good, and they know I put my all into this. That’s why they’ve been with me to all my world [finals] and they fit in with everyone and the camaraderie of racing that we all love.”

Although he’s had experience competing against cars and even raced his street truck after breaking his bar bike once, Peters is more than happy sticking to his two-wheel roots. After twenty years of motorcycle competition with less than a handful of missed Friday night points races, he is hooked on the sport like a flip-flop to the racing surface. He credits his love for the sport to his then coworker, Mike “Pugs” Puglia, who introduced him to drag racing at the age of twenty-three. Pugs and a few of the veteran racers, including Lancaster Motorplex’s winningest motorcycle competitor, Al Fletcher, took Peters under their wing and taught him the ins and outs of drag racing. Peters’ fixation even bled over into his full-time HVAC career, where he named his own business Stage Light Heating and Cooling.

Aside from Pugs and Fletcher, Peters would like to thank Dustin Lee at Hard Times Parts and Service, Josh Costa, his parents, Rose and Den, as well as the motorcycle and sled community for all their help throughout the years. He also mentioned his appreciation to the WDRA and their staff for making moments like this possible.

World Championship advice from Mike Peters includes encouragement for the younger generation and gearheads across the country who may be nervous about entering the realm of drag racing, specifically on the bracket racing and motorcycle sides.

“[Drag racers are] just a big family, especially the bikes/sled guys. We always help each other; we always want each other to be better. If someone needs a part, we are digging through the trailer to get you going, and that’s what it’s all about – the sport and having fun. A lot of the younger guys feel like they can’t compete, and they’ll never be good enough, so they don’t even want to try it. But that’s not the case. There are so many guys who are willing to help teach and we want to bring more people into the sport.”

As for what’s next? Peters is still waiting for this reality to sink in fully, but would love to return next season to defend the World Championship honors. However, no matter if he prints winning time slips or finds himself a few thousandths behind at the finish line, a smile will remain because for him, it’s all part of being at the greatest place on earth…a racetrack.