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Top Fuel winner Bo O'Broc:hta gives It the number one sign In victory circle. O'Brochta turned In four runs under five seconds in record-breaklng eighttHnlle
compethion.lInset1 Pro Stock winner Ron Turner lights up the tire before tIIklng • run.
Kawasaki Super
National. O'Brochta'.
tenttory
By Tom Pitts
LOUISVILLE, KY,JUNE6-7
Bo O'Brochta continued his winning ways in
International Drag Bike Association Top Fuel
competition, topping the fourth annual Kawa·
saki Super Nationals at Ohio Valley Raceway's
eighth-~e facility. Ron Turner,
Terry Kizer and. Bu~dy Stevenson
also notched WinS In Pro Stock,
Bike and Pro Com re-
speetively.
Alth!,ugh rain delayed the start of
the meet by six houn, the weather fmal·
I broke and the ro am was run off
with little trouble. Most of the field
qualified late Saturday, but for those
who didn't. there were two additional
sessions early Sunday.
When the sun did shine it was bright
for Top Fuel champ Bo O'Brochta.
The Terminal Van Lines/Murdock
Racing team was geared up for the
quickest eighth-mile performance ever.
Making one pass on Saturday afternoon
Bo qualified first with one of four record
breaking passes and four· tenths of a
second in front of the number two
qualifier. "1 don't plan to make another
run until the fll'lt round of eliminations
this afternoon and I'll back up the
record then, " said a confident O'Brochu.
His 4.91 seconds/155.58 mph qualifier
was only the second time any Top Fuel
motorcycle had ever broken the five
second barrier. A back-up 4.94/
155.84 clinched the record, but the
MTC sponsored Kawasaki powered
'Fueler reached back and found more.
A 4.86/151.51 pass left the croWd
buzzing and O'Brochta said, "we may
go faster next round. " .
O'Brochta had sidelined Chris Hand,
sponsored by Hand-Hickman. in one
semi. Denny Hickman said, "We still
have a long way to go to get the bike
producing the horsepower it's capable
of. We think we have gotten our handling problems correCted, now we are
concentrating on ge~ting more honepower."
Number two qualifier Dennis Sargent
trailered veteran Larry Hayes on his
way to the final to meet O'Brochta.
The racen staged and Sargent leaped
off the line trying to catch O'Brochta
with a holeshot, but caught a red light
instead. "It caught me by surprise
when Dennis left early" said O'Brochta.
Bo had taken no chances and rolled
off a 4.98/149.79 in his last run for the
WJn.
The sunshine was equally as bright
for Ron Turner and his Suzuki spon-
