Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Drags (Contin ued from p. 17) Vance's fir st qual ifying ru n off th e trai ler o n April 24 was a thundering 7.24 seconds a t 197.36 whi ch had everyo ne talk ing a bo u t a 200 m ph pass. " I co uld use a bo u t 25 more horsepower," joked Vance whe n as ked abo u t suc h a fea t. H ow ever , hi s fina l ru n of th at q uali fying sess io n p roved the re was p lenty o f p ow er. H e sh u t o ff befo re th e finish , but clocked a 7.17 seco nd pass tha t was good for a new NHRA na tional record. " If I ha d been a ble to keep the power on to the fi nish I'm sure the run wo u ld have broken bo th 200 mp h and th e si x second barrier, " sa id Va nce. "The bike began drifting toward the edge of the track and I had to sh u t o ff to co rrect it." In a ll , si x bi kes q ualified for th e eig h t bi ke fie ld. T he n the ra in s ca me . All six returned o n th e reschedul ed date a lo ng with J ohn Sands a nd h is H onda Fu nny Bik e to help fill th e field. In runs to dial in the track , R oland Stuart broke a cra n k in hi s Su zu ki powered rig . " If o n ly it h ad broken last week a t th e Gain esvill e ro u nd we co u ld have fix ed it,"said a dejected St ua rt. Vance took a bye run in fir st rou nd eli m inatio ns wh ich p roved ve ry lucky for h im. H e broke a head er pipe o n hi s burnout, staged a n d ran eas y, so as n ot to hurt th e engine. L arry :\-lcBride, on the J ohnson High Perfo rm a nce Kaw asaki ent ry, turned in a so lo run a fter Elmer Trett broke the drive cha in on hi s Tretr's Speed an d Custom Kawasaki coming off the line. Frog Thacker, on another Johnson High Performance Kawasaki entry, earned his way to the semis with a solo run due to Smart's broken engine. John Sands need ed an edge if he was go ing to beat Chris Hand and that would mean getting th e hol esh ot. Sands was too quick and red-lighted , g iving Hand th e win. The semis pitted Vance against McBride and Thacker against Hand. McBride grabbed th e holeshot an d had a lead on Van ce at the halfway p oint. " Wh en I pushed the button for th e transmission to shift into high, it wouldn 't shift," said McBride. " We' re not sure what th e problem was." Van ce ca me on strong to win a t 7.33/193. _ Thacker 's bike crept a he ad once staged and tripped th e red light befor e the sta rt. H and blasted o ff unaware o f Thack er 's misfortune. Near the fin ish line th e bike erupted in flam e, engu lfin g H and for a sp lit seco nd . " It sca red th e hell o u t of me ," said Hand. A crac k was evident o n th e left side of th e cylinder head, running th e length of two cylin ders . The Hickm an /H and crew was dejected a fter sizing up the p roblem . Vance and his crew offered assistance in rebuilding th e eng i ne . Whil e Hand's crew stripped th e head o ff, Byron Hines was busy se tt in g up th e good parts in H and 's spare cylinder head. There were eig h t pe ople working o n th e bike. U n fo rt u n a te ly, time ran o ut. Van ce co llected $1,500 for hi s winning effo rt s, a sum eq ua l to o r better th an five o f th e ei g h t classes run in the NHRA car progra m. " Condit ions have to be just right to run 200, " sa id Vance's tuner Byron Hines wh ile waiting for th e troph y presentation. " We lost a bit of th e edge we had wh en we qu al if ied two week s ago becau se we ran a no the r m eet in between . It didn 't h urt th e top speed as much as th e elapsed times. If I had to pi ck a tra ck wh ere co n d itio n s are right for 200 miles per hour, I'd say it would be Indianapoli s Ra ceway Park wh ere we run o n Labor Da y Weekend." • . o ~ ~ , " ~ .... s ~ ._ " ~. 0 ~.2 <> · The last Su perbow t at t he L A Coliseum ~_ because of construction HONDA SRri~ • DelTaco A FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT SPECTACULARl Bu y by M all . save $3 o n eacn ad u lt nc set en, ldl en 10year:.and unaer puce o f regular ad ult pnceo nc ke t O ff er expi res Jury 2 . 1982 M ak e chec ks payable to and matI to MI L L ER HI GH LI FE SUPER BOWl 0 1 MOT OCRO SS 3939 S Fig uer oa $1 . Los Anee tes. CA 9003 7 Ouesuons ? Call 12131 74 8- 6 131 Charge Lme 12131 74 1·2 16 4 = f lc k e l S Ad u l t S18 @15 . . S15 @12 . . . S12 @ 9 . . . . . TOTAL x x = TICKETS, _ - Sub· TOI'lI C ndd Sub -To l il l X $9 .00 $ 7 .50 $.6.00 x X - x __ - TOTAL _ _ I o ta r s s S _ __ _ "Ptease en cl o se a stam ped sel l -ad dressed oos .oess size env elo pe Tic ket s will be return ed 10 yo u In o t he rwis e t h ~ y WIll be he ld at WILL CAll WINDOW You ca n Cha rg e you r ticke ts 0 VI S A 0 MAST ERCARD Ac co u n t Int erbank = Ex p Dale _ ttus envelope = Name Ad dr ~ s s Da y Pho ne _ _ CIty CN-19 MARK BARNETT Takes w in at Arrowhead 0 .1.0 Cha in used exclusively by Team Suzuki DAIDO COR P O R A T ION , 885 Centennial Ave., Pisc ataw ay, N .J . 08854 ( 2 01) 885- 1800 19

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