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/126793
z ~ ~ ::E ... ... 0 :I: w a:: 0 w e (:l (:l > III ~ (J) 0 ~ 0 00 ~ :I: ll.. ~ ~ G(j ~ V ~ 0 .... u 0 (Above) George Bryce ran a 7.617/192.30 solo in the Funny Bike final to win. (Below) Dave Cook was second in Pro Gas. IDBA National Championship Drag lace Series: Final round Titles decided at Gulfport By George Hoffman GULFPORT, MS, OCT. 13·14 When the sun set on the final run of the IDBA World Finals at Gulfport International Raceway, five national championship titles had changed hands in the professional ranks. Brian Johnson, Terry Kizer, Mike Keyte, Jim Dodich and Dave Cook earned titles in the Top Fuel, Funny 10 Bike, Pro Stock, Pro Comp and Pro Gas ranks, respectively. Interestingly, not one of the above was a class winner during the weekend. Johnson's problems started in Saturday's qualifying when he scorched two pistons and cracked the head on his Kawasaki-based fueler. To make things worse, Sam Wills put down a 7.32 second pass which was .08 of a second faster than the IDBA national record of 7.40 and EI mer Trett posted a 7.401. This put Johnson's enginedamaging 7.498 pass at third quickest. Chris Hand qualified his Motorcycles Unlimited Kawasaki fourth at 7.661 with Craig Burns, on the Race Design/BHP Kawasaki, the fifth rider in a four-bike field. _Wills, otUhe AfF Racing Kawa- saki, returned to the track later in the day and posted a time within one percent of his earlier 7.32 second run and turned that figure into a new national record. On Sunday, it looked as if Johnson would be facing top qualifier Wills, but in the final qualifying session Burns turned in his fastest pass of the season to drop Hand out of the running and move onto the ladder as the number three qualifier. The round of Top Fuel' eliminations opened with Johnson facing the Mountain Magic Kawasaki of Trett. The Mountain Magic ·entry was detuned for Gulfport because of the ttack' s lack of traction. "We had a set of cylinders with a pretty good leak down rate so with the amount of power loss due to tbe compression leakage we thought they'd be perfect for conditions at Gulfport," aid Trett. . .Tr.et 's,i,dea.appeared toJ>.<:rigbtQn (Above) Terry Vance set a Pro Stock ET record and won the final. but Mike Keyte got the title. (Below) Allen Mueller won Comp Eliminator. target becau e when the green light came on Johnson and Trett left the line like they were glued together. They stayed neck and neck until about 90 feet from the timing lights when Johnson's motor went up in smoke. Even with a cracked head, Johnson's Race Design/Richie Rich Racing Kawasaki turned a 7.624 second run all81.63 mph. Trett's time and speed were unknown due to the clock breaking in liis lane. Even though tbe win light came on in Jobnson's lane, he maintained Treu beat him by half a bike length and Trett moved to tbe next elimination round. Wills made it look easy in his run against Burns with a 7.502/189.07 against Burns' too late top end charge and 7.804/192.30 clocking. Tbe final piued Wills again t Trett. Although Wills was running consistently faster than Treu that didn't mean anyone counted Treu out, least of all Johnson. However, as Treu pre-staged to-heat up his massive rear tire he lost a seal on the right side of theengineandoil began leaking out. The leak appeared far enough from the rear wheel so it wouldn't cause any problems, but as Treu staged it became obvious the leak would cause a puddle and Treu would have to run through il on the start. When the green light flashed, Treu's rear tire went up in smoke as the oil took away all traction. Wills walked away from Trett for his first IDBA Top Fuel win of the season with a 7.6291185.18. Treu's figures were 7.952/182.37. "We've been working on our V-8 Top Fueler for next year all during the season," said Wills of his limited racing this year. "The new bike consumed all the time we basically had so we borrowed bike to run just to keep involved." The Funny Bike final could have bee~ called the ,s~ar Cy.cle Show as Star Cycle owner George Bryce faced Bobby Baker. Bryce was on his turbocharged, nitrous oxide-boosted Suzuki II OOE while Baker was on a Star Cyclebuilt turbocharged, nitrous oxideboosted Kawasaki. Baker was the number one qualifier in the field with a 7.74 while Bryce was a heanbeat behind at 7.76. Bryce and Baker found themselves in a similar situation this year in another e~nt and that time Bryce had handcuffed Baker wilh a holeshot on the start of the final and beat him. Baker wanted revenge. As it turned OUl, this wasn't to·be Baker's day either. When Bryce and Baker did their burnouts, Baker's Kawasaki began vibrating violently as his rear tire went flat. Bryce staged for a solo run and posted a 7.617/ 192.30. The new Number One in Funny Bike and IDBA's Pro Rider of the Year, Terry Kizer, had his day end in the quarter-finals. It was an identical show to what he had done in the season opening round at Gulfport. In both instance, Kizer had come off the line easy because of the lack of traction and then had the engine bog. To get back into the race he nailed the throttle and the rear tire went up in smoke. Jim Dodich came to Gulfport leading the Pro Comp standings by 600 points and when the weekerd was over, Dodich was still on top of the standings despite being beaten in the quarter-finals. The semis in Pro Comp saw Mike Pizzitola put Mike Brusoon the trailer. In the quarter-finals, Bruso had downed Dodich when he turned a superb start into the win while Dodich saw his hopes go up in smoke as be sat spinning the rear tire on the line. Mark Novak fa ed Sonny Michalowski in the other semi. Novak, who was having his best outing of the .year:, put a holes.hot,on ¥ichakowski.