in the field, Savoie was seventh
quickest with a 6.813 and began
his march to the final after Hec-
tor Arana Sr. fouled in round
one. Savoie's biggest win, argu-
ably, came in the second round
when he took out points leader
and five-time champion Andrew
Hines, 6.819 to 6.904. Savoie
also defeated his White Alligator
teammate, Karen Stoffer in the
semifinals to reach his third final
in eight races this season.
Even though he came up
short, Johnson's run to the final
might have been one of the most
impressive performances of
the season regardless of class.
Forced to end his 32-year streak
of perfect attendance after dam-
aging an engine, Johnson came
into Reading with just one round
win in seven appearances this
season. Appearing in his 434th
career event, by far the most in
the history of the class, Johnson
tied his best qualifying effort of
the season (number four) and
rode to the final by beating Kelly
Clontz, Hector Arana Jr., and
reigning champion Matt Smith.
Johnson, who has at times had a
bitter rivalry with Smith, left first
by a hundredth of a second and
then held on for a narrow win to
reach his 21st career final and
his first in five years.
After qualifying, the Vance &
Hines Harley-Davidson team ap-
peared poised to dominate with
their new FXDR bikes, but riders
Andrew Hines, Eddie Krawiec,
and Angelle Sampey were each
defeated. Sampey's loss was
especially tough to swallow after
she outran reigning champ Matt
Smith but lost on a starting line
holeshot. Smith's chance to
take over the points lead ended
a round later when he fell to
Johnson in another unexpected
upset.
The Pro Stock Motorcycle
class will be back in action in two
weeks when the tour visits World
Wide Technology Raceway near
St. Louis for the AAA Insurance
Midwest Nationals. That event
will be the second of six events
in the Countdown to the Champi-
onship playoffs.
Kevin McKenna
FINAL
1. Jerry Savoie (Suz)
2. Steve Johnson (Suz)
IN
THE
WIND
P56
Savoie went up against
Steve Johnson, making it
an all-Suzuki final.
