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o 00 (j) Frog Thacker out-ran and outlasted the Top Fuel field. winning at Edgewater Sports Park with a solo run , Terry Vance warms the tire. Vance, , The all Suzuki GS 1100 fina l ca me to the lin e in th e usual fas hion but Va nce was having problems with his machine . Terry had a fouled plug a nd tried vainly to clear the cylinder. After a few seconds t he plug cleared and Terry inc hed towards th e line. Again the pl ug problem ca me up though . and Terry decided that he was either going to red light or cut a bulb on Carpenter. And cu t a bulb he did. No sooner d id he bump int o a staging beam d id the ligh t turn green and Vance was gone , so too was the fouled plug and na y cha nce of winning . for Carpenter. Vance took his third straight NM RA event with a 9 .21 /144 .69 pass to Carpenter's 9.24 /141 ,95 . Thacker power to Midwest Nationals wins By Greg Guarinello Photos by Joel Breault CI NC IN NA TI , OH ,JUNE 14·1 5 The NM RA Midwest N at ionals scored a big crowd of both b ikes and spectators for the firs t ever event a t Edgewater Spo rts Park. An estim at ed 4. 000 spectators a nd 200 motorcycles spent a hot and muggy weekend participa ting in the race. Top Fuel 18 Top Fu el qu a lifying led off with the world reco rd holder . Bo O'Broch ra on the Termi nal Va n Lin es Kawasak i. run ning a 7.709 at 177.86 mph . The number two spot went to the Kawasaki of Dariny Johnson . Joh nson clicked off a 7.779 /184.04 . Jim Bern a rd took the Teson and Bernard Yama ha to a 7.862 run at 184.42 mph for the nurn ber three spot. Elmer T rett of nearby Oxford , OH . was number four with a 7.9821ln .74 run with the HarlevDavidson. Sam Will is took th e M oto~ · cycles Unlimited machine for th e fifth spot. The sixth spot ill the field went to Fro g Thacker with th e Kawasaki run ning an 8.346 /145 .16. Thacker destroyed a motor in qualifying and with the help of Elmer T'rett, who lent him his shop. and Terminal Van Lines . wh o loaned Frog a motor . he was able to compete in eliminations. Eliminations got underway with O 'B roch ta taki ng the Kawasa ki to an easy win over the Motorcycles Unlimited Kawasaki of Sam W ills. O 'Brochta ran a n 8.150/188 .28 to Wills' 8.881/1 25.17 mph. T he second pairi ng saw J im Bern a rd pull out a sq ueaker over Chris Hand . Bernard 's time was a n 8.08 11 175.78 m ph while Hands ran an 8.205 / 162 .1 6 m p h . The win was costly for Bern ard tho ugh, as he h urt a pa ir of pistons bad ly enough to end his race . T he nex t pa iring saw th e on ly sevens of th e ro und as both Danny j ohnson and Frog T hacker ran in th e seven seco nd zone. Thacker came fr omthe nu m ber six .spot to upset Johnson in th e first round . Frog ran a 7.808 /1 83 .67 mph to Johnson's losing 7.944 /1 70.77 . The final pass of the ro und saw a nother upset as Rola nd Stuart took his Harley int o th e semi s a t th e expense of Elmer Tret t. Stuart ra n an 8.494 / 157.34 to Tretts prima ry chain breaking 14.66 a t 47. 97 mph . The semi finals were a rather strange lot to say th e least. Only two bikes showed u p to make a pass and t hey were sched u led to face each other. Fr og T hac ker took on Rola nd Stuart in the first pa irin g . and though T hac ker d id win th e ro und Stuart threw a big sca re into h im . Rola nd left first on the green and held his lead well int o th e m id range wh ere T hacker fin all y ca ught u p to him . Stu a rt ran a healthy 8.088/16 1 to T ha cker's winning 7.966/ 1 79. ~8 . On the other side of the lad der sheet th ings were not going as well . J im Berna rd was definitely ou t d ue to his motor problems from ro und one a nd Bo O 'Brochta was not sure if his bike would run due to a ma lfunct ion ing cl utc h . While O 'Br och ta tried vai nly to ge t th e bike fixed the rou nd was called to th e lin e. The Termi nal Va n Lin es crew wit h t he help of Sam W ills tried sta rti ng the mo to rcycle propped u p on b locks a nd ro lling it off in a n ef fort to mak e t he ro und . Twice th e bike did fire . but when it was lifted off the ro llers it would lose fir e wh en the big slick touc hed th e ground . This gave T ha cker a solo in the final round where Frog d id no t loa f. running a 7.912/ 174 .75 m ph for th e unconteste d win. T he win puts th e Naff-Lewis-Tha cker mac hin e int o th e T op Fuel points lead . Super Elim inat o r Mike Bru so took th e Power Enter p rises Kawasaki to the top of the Su per Eliminator qualifyin g list with a n in credi ble 7.83 seco nd pa ss at 167 .28 mph . Rig ht behin d him was th e Orient Express A/DT ridden to the second spot by Jon Baugh. Ba ugh lai d down an 8.164/1 69.49. Thi rd qual ifier was the Kawasak i of Bob Malloy. who ra n a n 8.303 /161. 57 . Jim Cooper was the fourth qualifier with a pass of 8.590/ 152.54 on his A/ DT Ka wasaki. T he first ro u nd got u nderway wit h Mike Bru so do ing away with fellow Florid ia n Mike Murdoch . Bruso tu rned a 7.854/1 72.4 1 to Mu rdoch's 8.9 72/153 .06 . Next up wer e Bob Mall oy and Dick Frey. Ma lloy on th e A/ DT did in Frey's Fu nn y Bike, 8.360 / 159.01 to 9.496 / 150.75. Orient Express teamma tes faced ea ch other in the next pa ir in g as Jon Baugh adva nced with an 8 .508 / 161 to George Ba be r's losing 8 .94 7/148.51. Jim Cooper ended the ro u nd by defeat ing Sonny Michalowski. ru nning an 8.821/1 53. 58 to Michalowski's 10.574/90.45 . The second ro und opened with Bru so ha ndling Mall oy. Thoug h Ma lloy did get ou t on Bruso he could not hold him off. Bruso ran a 7.865 at 170 .77 to Malloy's 8.386 /158 .73 . The ot he r side of the la dder had Jon Baugh faci ng J im Cooper. Cooper ha d prob lems t ho ug h and ended his d ay in th e burnout area when a wh eeli e cas ter fell off his bik e . Baugh took th e win wit h a n 8 .364 /164 .2 3 . The fina ls brought Bruso and Baugh toge ther again . This race Baugh was no match fo r Bruso . The O rient Express bike had lost a motor j ust p rior to elirnin a tio ns and were forced to use an older set up for eliminations. Bruso. meanwhile was on th e top of his game. When the green ca me it was Bruso fro m sta rt to finish . turn ing a 7 .97 /170 .13 mph to Baugh's losing8 .53 /162 ,16 . Pro Stock Terry Vance was th e top qualifier in Pro Stock as th e Suzuki pi lot ran a 9 .148 a t 145.86 mph. Second spot fell to a Su zuki as well - althou gh thi s on e . belon ged to Bob Carpenter! Bob debut ed his Suzuki in NMRA com petition wit h a run of 9.22 /142.85 mph. Number th reewen t to Mike Keyte as the Florid a Kawasak i pilot ra n a 9.365 / 140.62 . Mike ha d his problems thou gh , as he broke a wris t pi n a nd was force d to beg . borrow and /or steal a replace ' ment powerplant for elimina tions . T he number four spot went to Mike Pine's Kawa saki based out of Bu tch Pace's Edw ardsville . IL, shop. Pine ran a 9.389/ 139.53. Vance opened up eliminations by putt ing awa y Dick Speed . Vance ra n a 9.25 1/143. 54 to Speed's 9.5 82/136 .77 m ph . The next pairing turned ou t to be a big upset as Ed Rya n took the Rya n and Korey Ha rley to a big win over Mike Keyte. Ryan holeshot Super. bik e Mike and held on for the win . Ryan ran a 9.54 1/13 7.61 and Keyte ran a 9.902 /135.95 . a nd any cha nce that Keyte had of catching Rya n was gone whe n he shifted th e bike into third gear way too early. T he R .C . Engineering racing tea m ran against each other in the nex t heat as Bob Ca rpenter sq uared off with Vick i Farr . Vick i took he r Kawasaki out first ahead of Ca rpenter b ut. Bob mot or ed past with the Suzu ki in the m id ra nge . Farr ra n a losing 9.375/139 .31 to Ca r pent er 's 9.282/14 1.2 8 . T he fina l run of th e rou nd was a solo as Butch Pace was not a ble to fire . T h is gave Mike Pine a n ea sy run into th e semis. The semis sta rted with Terry Vance end ing Ed Rya n's day with a run of 9 .316 /143 .08 to Ryan's losing 9.5 06/ 136.98 . Bob Ca rpenter was taking care of Mike Pine on the oth er side of th e ladder. Ca rpent er ran a 9.2 86 /14 1.95 mph to Pin e's 9 .722/11 8 .26 . ProComp The final saw Geoff Masters' Kawa sak i take an ea rly lead over Rick Stetson's Honda and hold on for the win. Mas ters turned in a 9.321 /139 .75 to Stetson 's 9.608/138 .88 m p h . The win was Masters' first N MRA natio nal event title. Comp Eliminator In th e finals Martin Blades took his Kawasaki to a fine 10.40/1 10.29 to de .feat Suzuki-mounted Pat Doyle's 14.43/ 54. 11. T he win was a first for Blades on th e NMRA circuit. Modified Elimi nator In the final Mike H arris (Ka w) got an eas y ride as J ames Pa tterson red lighted away th e win . H arris' winning time was 11.66/88 .32 m ph . Stock Elim inator The final saw Mike Ph illips red lig ht awa y the win to J im Dodich (Kaw) wh o ran a 12.05 /104 .65. Combo Elim inator In the finals it was all Bruce Eva ns as he too k the win ru n nin g a n 18.57 / 70 .92 with th e Honda Hawk to J ohnston's losing 26.35 /50 .42. Youth Eliminator The fina l in You th Elim inator saw Rod Carrier's Honda defeat th e Yamaha of Joe Folga re , J r. Folgare go t to the finish lin e first bu t, in doing so he brok e out , h anding th e win to Carrier. ET1 · Rick H aupt took his Kawasaki to the winner's ci rcle when he defeated the Kawasaki of Les Stra ck. Haupt ra n a 10.27 /105 .75 in th e fina l to Strack's losing 10.96/117 .0 3. ET2 Donald Green e (Ka w) was th e victor in ET 2 as he took t he win by defea ting th e Ka wasak i of Br ian Ireland. Greene turned a time of 12 .70 / 97.71 in the fina l 10 down Irel and 's 12.25/104. 28. •