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/126481
o 00 (j) ....-4 . Sam Willis couldn't edvence pest the semi finel round efter encountering eventuel winner Bo O'Brochte. O'Brochta, Carpenter & Kizer on top at Darlington drags By Tom P i~s DARLINGTON , SC,jULY 19 The IDBA Su nshine Nationals turned into a literal run against the clock, The event at Darlington In te r nation al Dragway was squeezed from a normal easygoing three-day affair into a hectic one .d ay plus due to . but the dampness from th e afternoon South Carolina's blue law against rain kept the records in place. Sunday sporting events. The Danny. johnson, on a blown switch from the orizinal TennesKawasaki , shattered the old !op Fuel 0 - _ see site to South Carolina left little t~me to obtain .t he necessa ry disperu:anon from vaTlOU governing bod ies S needed to race on S~nday. Ho,,:ever ; the racmg was well worth the tryt~g times and after three rounds of the six-round IDBA schedule. the po ints b~ttles in all the .Pro divisions are shapmg up to go ngh~ down to t~e final event before crownmg cham- Pl(~,ft;s hard on everybody ," said IDBA ... 30 - pit boss John Eudy. "T ry to cram two days of racing into one. Alloted times for call -up and staging are . not flexible , racing is almost non -stop and we have to be finished by midnight Saturday." . As if this wasn't enough , a thunderstorm delayed the event for two hOUTS late in the afternoon . On ce it stopped, spectator.; helped by driving up and down the strip trying to dry it. Many records would've been broken Saturday night when it turned cooler, IDBA record before the rams came with a number one qualifying time of 7.67 seconds/I 94.80 mph. . Top fueler Roy "Frog" Thacker encountered problems after qualifying third early Saturday. "We blew a head gasket off the line and initially thought that was our only problem " Thacker found out shortly they had a broken crank. " It 's one thing to be eliminated by another racer, but to lose like this. " Sem~ ~ction in T op Fuel saw ., n~o Harley s In one and two Kawasaki s In the . other. EI~er Trett squa red off aga~nst Pete 1-!11l• .Trett . ~n a ? ouble e ng in e hog SIdeline?, Hill With an 8.26 /175 .78 run to HIli s 8.76 / 159 .51 . The other semi showed the importance of the holeshot as Bo O'Brochta ripped off a 7.91 /181.25 tr ip to Sam Willis'losing 9.91 /191.56 . It was a classic Top Fuel final as the double Harley paired off with the invert ed blown Kawasaki . O'Brochta, the victor, put Trett's Harley on the trailer with a 7.88 /182 .55 winning ri& . • The big surprise in Pro Stock Eliminator was the entry of Mr . R .C . Engineering, Russ Collins himself. The Top Fuel champion showed up with Bob Carpenter's old Kawasaki 1000 . Collins said, " I would've run Top Fuel here , but the bike is being re -worked and it's just not quite ready. We do plan to run Top Fuel at all other IDBA events this year. I plan to compete in Pro Stock at all . other events, including NMRA and NHRA sanctions . Pro Stock racing is what R .C . Engineering promotes and the competition is very challenging. I haven't ridden a sit-up street bike in eight years and Carpenter's bike was a good opportunity for me to compete in a different division. Bob had decided to ride the Suzuki this year so I wasn 't going to let it go to waste ." Collins had a very imp ressive effort his first time out. He qualified seventh, but ironically was eliminated by Carpenter in one of the quarter final runs. Carpenter blistered the strip with an 8.98 /147 .54 rid e in one semi defeating "Superbike Mike" Keyte . Mike's 9. 17/1 44.64 had gained a berth to the semis setting down top qualifier Sid Pogu e. Carpenter. sponsored by R.C . Engineering. was to duel Terry Vance in th e fina l. Va nce. sponsored by U.S. Suzuki a nd Van ".. & Hin es Racing , gained a ride to the final by eliminating Hamp Osborn in a quarter final run . Vance then burned a 9.00/141.76 to ambush Wayne Buckler. For the second time in three event s. Carpenter took the Pro Stoc k points home with a winning 9.05 /147.05 to Vance's 9.10 /148.02 . The point standings are very tight in th is eliminator division . Super Eliminator produced top action with Mike Bruso in one sem i against Bob Malloy. Bruso layed down a record -borderin g 7.88 /175.09 rid e o n his Power Enterprises-sponsored Kawasak i to defeat Malloy. In the other semi . Terry Kizer , sponsored by MTC. ga ined a berth to the final defeating George Babor. Kizer's winning 8.!l51I47.05 edged out the slower Baber. Kizer pulled off the win in the final in a very close run. Kizer's 8.21 /168 .22 was just enough to edge Bruso's 8.22/174.41 in a wild finish . The race was won off the starting line. Pro Comp Eliminator is the only Pro division that has a handicap between a normally aspirated machine against a turbocharged power plant. Larry Pavlick gained a ride int o the final winning out over Bruce Tweedell. In a tight race , Pavlick's 9.41 /141. 7!1 squeezed out Tweedell's 9.45 /14!1.08. Other Pro Comp semi act ion saw the Orient Express-sponsored Kawasaki rid de n by jon Bau gh defe at Elraldo Ferracci. Bau gh 's qu icker 8.36 /164.22 pr oved too mu ch for Ferracci's 8.68/ 159 .85 . The hand icap d ialed into the tim ing computer did littl e to make any d ifference as Baugh red-lighted, handing Pavlick the win . Larry's winn ing time was 9.IIII!l9.78. •