VOLUME 56 ISSUE 39 OCTOBER 1, 2019 P33
her. That moved her into
the semi-finals against
Eddie Krawiec and
eventually the final where
she met Hines. All of this
came after Stoffer's team-
mate, Savoie, was beaten
in the first round by Lucas
Oil EBR's Hector Arana
Jr. Savoie came into St.
Louis as the champion-
ship leader but tumbled
to number-five following
the loss.
"After Jerry went out,
we had a talk and our
team said, 'You have to
do something to get us
out of this. You have to
limit the damage.' I told
them I'd do my best to try and fix
it. I had to run Eddie and then
Andrew, and they are two big
heavy hitters. Tim [Kulungian,
crew chief] just told me to do
what you've been doing. He said
he had the bike set up the way
he wanted it, and I just managed
to go out and do it. Any time you
can beat both Harley's you've
done something. They are a pro-
fessional team and they set the
bar pretty high."
A year after going winless,
Hines continued his record-
breaking 2019 season by
reaching his ninth final round,
bouncing back from a second-
round exit at the most recent
race in Reading. Hines rode to
wins against Michael Ray, Angie
Smith and Reading runner-up
Steve Johnson. Hines now has
a record of 36-5 in elimination
rounds this season, the best
record of any NHRA pro racer,
regardless of class. More impor-
tantly, Hines has also regained
the points lead with four events
remaining, but he's now being
pursued by Stoffer, who is just
34-points back. The top six rid-
ers are separated by less than
100-points, which sets-up a dog-
fight that likely won't be settled
until the final race of the season
in Pomona.
"Who thought I would even
be here?" said Stoffer "Back in
January, we made a deal for me
to come back, and now I'm in the
top 10, and I've won a race. And,
we're in the hunt for a champion-
ship, which is something that
I haven't been able to say too
many times in my career. That's
just phenomenal."
Stoffer's win has also helped
put the focus on the Suzuki
brand, which has struggled in
recent years in the NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle class. Suzuki
four-cylinder bikes have now won
the last three events, including
Savoie's two wins in Indy and
Reading. Steve Johnson has also
been extremely competitive with
his self-funded Suzuki.
"We've had some tough years
with the Suzuki program," said
Stoffer who has never ridden
anything other than a Suzuki.
"We've gone through a lot of
challenges, but right now things
are going very well. During my
career, our team has never been
a big budget team or gotten a
lot of factory support. We come
out here with a lot of passion,
but not huge amounts of money.
It's great to look around and see
where we are now."
Kevin McKenna
Matt Smith was one of Stoffer's
many victims in St. Louis.
