Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126421
lAbovel Crewm8n DennIs McCabe, Mias WInston CherI C8mer0n..NMRA'. o.wIn Doll. Pro Stock winner Bob C8rpenter and crewman flip MOler .,.I ....,. the winner'. circle. (Belowl c.rp.,,~ (far lanel got the Jump on TeiTy Vance In the f1.... (Bottoml Vence defeeted Wayne Budder In the aeml-final. n. Gardena. CA. recorded a quarter-mile clocking of 9.11 seconds at 145.59 mph. In an attempt -to close in on Carpenter during qualifications. Vance excited the large crowd when his looocc Suzuki blew an engine in dramatic fashion. Utilizing an air shifter, Terry shifted into second gear off the starting line and the transmission shattered. The break caused the motor to over-rev, and the crankshaft went right through the bottom of the bike. In fact. the explosion was so great that the motorcycle's chassis needed to be repaired before the eliminatiOllll began. Rounding out the qualifying lineup for Pro Stock· was Harley-Davidsonmounted George Koney of BiUcrea. MA. at 9.50 and 140.62 mph. twotime national event winner Wayne Buclr.ler of Nonh Fan Myers, FL. aboard a Kawasaki. at 9.56 and 159.55 mph. Kawasaki-mounted Michael Keyte of Ft. Lauderdale. FL. at 9.57 and 145.51 mph. Albertson. New Yor!r.·s Jon Baugh. riding a Kawasaki, at 9.55 and 159.55 mph. and Mark Ruff of New Milford. NJ, a1Io on a Kawasaki. at 9.92 and U5.55 mph. With Carpenter being the No_ 1 qualifier. he ~ved a single run in the opening round of competition. However. Bob didn't let up one bit with a stellar timing of 9.05 IeCOnds and 144.92 mph which easily made him the favorite for the eventtitlc. Koney, the only Harley rider in the event. defeated Baugh in the next tint round battle, as· George recorded a strong 9.29 at 159.51 mpbto Baugh's 9.50 at 158.42 mph. Vance. after repairing his bike and replacing an CD· gine. had little trouble with Keytr when the Kawasaki rider red-lighted his chances away. Terry went on to did the lighu with a 9.12 clocking and a top-eod speed of 144.00. 'while Keyte managed a 9,45. In the final race in the' first roUnd. Buclr.ler. winner of the Garomationals and the Cajun. Nationals early this year. Put away Ruff in the allKawasaki matchup. as Wayne timed a 9.69. 158.67 to Mark's off-pace 10,42, n5.12. ' NHRA Summernationals Carpenter quickest Pro Stocker By Tom Blattler Photos by Leslie Lovett ENGLISHTOWN, NJ,JULY 12-15 Veteran Bob Carpenter, riding his 1976 Z-1 Kawasaki, dominated the Pro Stock motorcycle competition at Raceway Park in the 10th an24 nual National Hot Rod Association- Summer- nationals drag races for his first national event victory of the 1979 campaign. Carpenter, a !SO-year-old president of C8tM Performance Produet5 out of Comwells H~ghts, PA, recorded the quickest quaner-mile elapsed times of the '79 season in the Summer Classic with consistent cJockings of 9.00, 9.05, 9.00 and 9.04 to defeat Suzuki factory rider Terry Vance of La Palma, CA, in the fmal round for the Pro Stock tide. The final round apPearance for Carpemer was his second of the year foUowing a runner-up placing in the first Pro Stock event of the circuit, the Gatornationals in Gainesvile, FL. For Carpenter, his dOr,tination began in qualifying when he piloted his machine to the quickest E. T. of the year at 9.008 seconds with a top speed of 145.65 miles per hour. Only Vance was able 1.0 keep within striking distance. The 25-yeu-old general I1l'aDliget' of R.C: Engineering in Foul startl made up the semi-fmal· competition, as the two .favorites seemingly had tbeir opponenu covered in previous clockings. So. in the first contest. Koney attempted to cut a quid light off the starting line but came up shon. and Carpenter took the automatic win. Bob didn't coast towards the finish line either with a stout time of 9.00 at 145.65 mph. the top speed of the event in Pro Stockl In the other semi-final matchup, Buckler also tried ro get a quid stapt on Vance, but the results were the same as Koney with a red-light. Terry piloted his Suzuki to an elapsed time of 9.15 at 145.51 mph, while Buclr.ler recorded a 9.40 and 159.55 mph. The stage was then Set fen the fmale with the favorite Carpenter taking Oll Vance for the top honors in the East Coast's largest and richest drag racing event. In the fmal. Carpenter kept his consistency by defeating Vance quite handily with a 9.04 and a top speed of 145.76 ro Terry's 9.24 and 142.65 mph. For Vance, the runner.up fmisb was his second straight in NHRA action this year. In addition to the .motorcycle competition, some 700 competition 'brought their four-wheel machines to Ra,ceway Park with Jeb Allen capturing the Top Fuel dragstcr category and Raymond Beadle and the "~Iue Max" taking the Funny Car division. ..