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/126638
(A bove) Jim Dodich took the Pro Comp w in w hen Gary Godwin red -lighted in the final Sam Wills. who ran a 7 .72-second ET at 170.77 mph against ~hris Hand. " run. (Below) Top Fuel went to 'DBA National Chamllionshill Drag Racing Series: Round 1 Tonglet battles for Gulfport Pro Stock win Photos by Tom Riles G ULFPORT , MS, APR. 9-10 Gary T o n g let, the number 16 qualifier in a 16 bike P ro Stock field, came away with the win in th e Sprin g Nationals, the opening round o f the 1983 IDBA season at Gulfport Dragway. Tonglet, riding a Suzuki sponsored by Paul Cashio Engineering downed Joe Fol , gore, on a Cypro sponsored 22 Suzuki, with an 8.915 seco nd, 146.47 mph pass to Folgore's 8.963/14 1.73. The Top Fuel win went to Sa m Will s, o n th e Racing Innovations sponsored Kawasaki , while Charles Israel, aboard a Star Cycle sponsored Kawasaki , topped the Funny Bik e field. Jim Dodich, riding a Wiseco! MRE IRBM sp o n so red Kawa sk i , topped th e Pro Comp field. Record rainfall a nd flo oding a ll alo n g th e Gulf Coast led man y spec tat ors a nd com pe tito rs 10 pass up th e even t. Flooding of th e main intersta te access a n d seco nda rv road s halt ed anyone co m ing from 'th e direction o f New Orlean s. The four bike Top Fu el field was reduced to t h r~ wh en. Elm er Treu ~l?lodedan engme on hJs~~dqualifying p ass o n Saturda y. HI SIir st pass was at8.00/192.71 and set o H specu lation of a p ossibl e 200 mph run . Chris H and dr ew a bye run in h is sem i when Treu couldn 't show. On th e other-end, Sam Will s was run ning very stro n g a nd put Larry Hayes' bike on the trailer. In th e fina l it was Wills with a 7.721 170.77 to pu t Hands' Motorcycles U nlimited sponsored "Redneck Express" Kaw asaki into th e runner-up slot. H and turned in a n 8.02/1 83.93. T he T op Fu el Pushrod class had on ly o ne ent ry. J ames McDon ald, o n a sing le-engine bl own H arl ey-Davidso n, breezed to th e class win. The Funny Bike class was sched u led to be a 16 bike field, but on ly 12 ent ries mad e it to Gulfport. To make th in gs even mor e inte resting, mech anica l problems and human erro r took a heavy toll o f cro wd favorites , Bo O 'Brochta , th e number one qual ifier, got a gift in th e opening round o f th e four rounds of eliminations when Carl Caruso got nervous on the starting line and red-lighted away his chances. Chuck Custer beat event ua l winner Charles Israel, but d idn't go to th e fu el ch eck after his win and was disq ualified. Dave Covey lost to Jon Baugh when his bike's transmission didn 't want to work properl y. Willi e Morris and Phil Jimenez had a good dice with Morris coming out on top. Terry Kizer's day ended with a loss to George Bryce while John Crowder took aneasy win when Jon Cornell broke. .' " I know the number one q ual ifier is supposed to win the race," said O'Brochta after having been outpowered by Israel. " I don't know what happened." Baugh benched Morris to end his day while Crowder made it to the third round with a win over Bryce when Bryce's engine went to th e "Big Junkpil e in th e Sky ." Israel go t a freebie so lo run in the nex t round an d a n a u to m atic ticket to the final. Crowder and Baugh decided the other slot with the nod to Crowder. Things had been so topsy-turvy in Funny Bike, one m ight have figured Crowder to have a strong chance at taking the win. Unfortunatel y, Crowder broke his Kawasaki and Israel peeled off a 8.36 /162 .38 for the victory. There was a full 16 bike field for the Pro Comp class. The first round winners were top qualifier Jim Dodich, Mike Puglia, Mike P izzitola, Dan Zimmerman, Harold Windham, Harry Lartigue, Gary Godwin and Steve Bishop. As in Funny Bik e'! breakage and other problems knocked out some more familiar names. 2 In the second round of eliminations, Dodich beat Puglia easily wh ile Pizzitola did a number on Zimmerman. Lartigue retired Windham a rIcJ Godwin ousted Bishop to advance to I the semi finals. Pizzitola had visions of ending Dodich's day, but things turned out the other way around with Dodich going to the final. Godwin earned the other berth in the final with a strong win over Lartigue. On the final run, Godwin , on th e Krol Racing/ Wiseco sponsored Kawasaki, gave it away. He ran an 8.671 151.26which was beuerthan Dodich's 8.70/149.64. However, he red-lighted on th e st art and a sl ow ET will beat a red-light anytime. The qualifying field in Pro Stock was led by Randy Mason, wh o had ea rlier low ered th e IDBA Nati onal record for ela psed time to 8.679 seconds from th e previous 8.73 whi ch was held by " Su pe r bike Mike" Keyte. On th e o the r en d o f th e 16 bik e ladder was GaryTonglet , wh o was on ly abl e to mak e one qual ifying pass and just made it into th e field. Tonglet spent Sa tu rda y with hi s wife a t a hospital where she presented him with a new bab y. T onglet made h is pass in the sing le qualifying sessio n on Sunday. Mason, Barry Kogut, Charlie Gressman. J oe Fol gore, Chip Soll ey, Russ Nyberg, Don Plessor a nd Tong let ca me away with wins in the first ro und of eliminations. Bett er kn own rid ers whose racin g ended in thi s round included Keyte, Vicki Farr, Dave Schu ltz, Sid Pogu e a nd Steve T artaglia. In th e quart er-fina ls, Kogut C U I a qui cke r light than Mason and sent him to spectate. Folgore put Gressman o u t of th e co m pe tition while Nyberg red-lighted a way h is cha nces of def eating Soll ey. Pl essor broke and T ongl et took a free ride. It was Suzuki vs. Suzuki in th e fin al. Tong ler's reacti on tim e o n th e gr een light mad e th e difference in th e outcome. Tonglet broke th e beam on th e start ing light .225 o f a seco nd afte r the gr een , Folgor e's reaction • was .286. Floyd Huntz, sponsored by Broadwa y Kawa saki and Fast by Gast on a DDI A Kawasaki with a 9.40 record, met Buddy McBride, riding a BIM Kawasaki, sponsored by MREIMCU I Power EnterpriseslFourmotion Performan ce in th e fin al of Super Eliminator. McBride's record wa s 9.47. Huntz came a way with th e win via a 9.42 /137 .82 to McBride's losing9.54! 133.81. Competi tion Eliminator was won by the Goe Kawasaki sponsored ElM Kawasaki of Gary Hyer on a 10.79 record wi th a 10.86/ 118.42 run. Stacy " ith , riding a Jackson Motor Sports Sm BIStock Suzuki red- lighted in the final. Nel Cameron, riding a HH! A Yam aha sponsored by Suburban Cycles , Ltd., was th e Combo Eliminator winner. Cameron ran a 12.05/92 .43 off a n II. 71 record. Jim Hargon, o n a L ISS 400cc Suzuki, wa s runner-up. •