Gaige Herrera Stages Dramatic Comeback
W
hen it comes to winning
his third NHRA Mission
Foods Drag Racing Series Pro
Stock Motorcycle Championship,
RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki's
Gaige Herrera was not about to
go down without a fight. Facing
a sizable points deficit against
teammate Richard Gadson, Her
-
rera needed a strong showing as
the series headed to its penul-
timate event at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway, October
31-November 2.
Herrera got just what he
needed with his seventh win of
the season and the 28th of his
career in just 50 starts. Racing
against Denso Buell's Angie
Smith in the final round, Herrera
rode to a 6.809 to win by a nose
over Smith's competitive 6.819
run.
"This couldn't have gone any
better," Herrera said. "Me and
my teammate [Gadson], facing
off in the semis, with him in the
points lead, so I needed him to
go out to get a little closer. What
a race between me and him, my
0.005 light to his perfect 0.000
light. It just doesn't get any bet
-
ter than that. It also just goes to
show how hungry we both are
to get this championship right
now, and it's kind of crazy that
it's under the same tent. We're
good friends, but we aren't at the
moment.
"Going up for the final, I was
kind of like, 'All right, let's just go
make another lap,' but Angie put
up a good fight there," Herrera
said. "We both ran really well. I
could hear her bike, and I took a
little peek over and saw she was
close."
With the win, Herrera was able
to shave Gadson's lead in the
standings down to just 21 points
with just one event remaining,
the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals
in Pomona, California. With such
a slim margin, the championship
WIND
IN THE
P50
Gaige Herrera scored a
big win in Las Vegas.
