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/126607
" Superbike Mike" in the final, 8.70 seconds at 151.51 mph t08.77/150.25. (A bove) Byron Hines and Terry Vance flank the trophy girl during the awards presentation with Steve Crosby standing by . (Below ) Bob Carpenter (near lane) lost to Mike Keyte in the semis. Vance takes Gatornationals ProStock--------By Steven Crosby Photos by Auto Imagery GAINESVILLE, FL. ;\IAR . !3-]4 The National Hot R od Association's G a tornatio nals can o nly be described as h ot. T here was a re cord turnout of Pro Stock bikes ru n 10 ni ng a t near record ti mes in 90° pI us hea t before a sta nding room only crowd. The fina l carne down to the classic match up of the number one and two riders and the two low qualifiers, Terry Vance and Mike Keyre, The end result was no surprise as Vance's Suzuki had a 10th of a second performance advantage all weekend. Vance defeated Qualifying . , The first event of the season always produces a combination of nervous. ness and expectancy, especially when a Tider only has two shots to qualify. When Vance, first out in his usual style, ran the Bryon Hines-prepared machine to low elapsed time and top speed of the meet at 8.65 /152.54, nervousness took over. To compound ihe imapct of that first pass, racers remembered that Vance had set the national record (8.62) here one year ago. And that was only the seventh run ever on a bike which was barely completed in time to make the long cross-country haul. Theremainder of the first qualifying session produced no other great numbers as several riders had problems. The bump spot, the number eight position, was 9.19 seconds. In the second qualifying session Mike Keyte powered his Kawasaki to ' a 8.78 at 151. J o h n Mafaro ran a persona l all-time best of 8.82 on his number two bike 10 qualify third. Bob Carpenter rounded out the top half of the field with a 8.89 on the SuzukizCypro ma chine. Randy Ma- . son was happy 10 qualify with a 8.96 but the bad news was he would face Vance in the first round. Joe Fo lgore, the other half of Cypro, ran the new Katana to an 8.98 but bent a valve in the process. Two local favorites filled out the field: Charlie Gressman, now turning Pro, ran 9.06. Jacksonville's Ron Turner. wounded in the pits, survived having his first round 9.08 bumped out of the final eliminations. Eliminations . Vance and Mason started things out and Mason, gambling at the starting line in hopes of a holeshot, red -lighted his chances away . Vance ran 8.66/151.77 . "Pizza John" Mafaro ran a 8.92 /148.51 to defeat Gressman's 9.13 /145.16. Carpenter and Folgore had rebuilt the Katana in time for the first round bu t Joe lost to Keytc in a close race. Keyte rail' a 8.78/150.75 to Folgore's 8.95/150.50. In the closest race of the event Carpenter grabbed a .04 second holeshot over Ron Turner, but Carpenter's motor bogged badly right off the line. Turner was gone and Carpenter had 1300 feet to play catch-up and barely nudged Turner·s8.99/147.05 run with an 8.98 /1-18.76. The semifinals had the top four riders of last season matched up . ' ;\Iafaroalso red-lighted against Vance in hopes of a holeshot. Van ce ran a n o t h e r 8.65 /151.51. Carpenter gra bbed a .11 second holeshot from " S u p er h ike Mike," hut a jelling change between rounds worked against him as he ran an off pace 9.03 /147.78. Keyte was able to overtake Carpenter at the top en d with a 8.82 /150.75 run . The final was a famili ar one: Vance versus Keyte, Suzuki against Kawasaki; number one going h ead to head with number two. Kevte and crew had been voted best appearing crew by NHRA over all the 500+ cars, famous names and all, at the Gators. The prestigious award helped soften the blow of defea t as Vance ran a 8.70 to Mike 's 8.77 . Vance had wanted a new national record all weekend hut in the final when he shifted 10 fifth the motor dropped back to founh and that slowed him down. But the Vance and Hines team still collected their 14th :\'HRA event crown in a race where. if you believe them, they never had a " good " run . • Results NM RA PRO STOCK POINTS STANDINGS, t. Terr yVance. 55 8 (Suzl: 2.Mike Kevte. 407 (Kaw); 3 . J ohn Ma la,o. 306 (Kawl ; 4 . 80 b Car pem er, 30 5 (Suz); 5 . Ra ndv Mason. 204 (Kaw) : 6 Joe Folgo re, 20 3 (Suz); 7. Charlie Gressman, 202 (Suz); 8 . Ron Turner. 201 ( Suz~ . '.