Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ o ...... ...... ... . l-o 0. < Consistency was "Pizza" John Mafaro's trademark all weekend. He won with a 8.456 /155.87, (Above) Terry Vance ran strongly until he met and lost to Randy Mason in their sem i, 8 .501 /158 .73 to Mason's 8 .398/158.95. (Below) Mason bogged his eng ine off the line in the f inal to lose to Mafaro . NHRA National Championship Drag Race Series: Round 1 Mafaro quickest in Gatornationals By George Hoffman GA INESV ILLE. FL, M AR . 16-l i -18 ... A record setting Monda y cro wd looked on as " P izza" John Mafaro and his Vance & Hines/ LAW/High Performance/Web-Cam Suzuki beat out " R acin" Randy Mason's Kawasaki it em o n th e list of th ing s to talk a bo u t were Dave Schultz's rum ored 8.34 a n d 8.35 passes m ad e at De'So to Spe edwa y in Bra denton , Florida, o n M on day a nd Tu esday. H e is runn in g o ne ~ of Van ce & H in es ' Ka wa sa ki m o to rs. ers drop into th e 8,30s a total o f fi ve When firs t ro u nd qual ifyin g fin a lly times, Mafaro 's co nsistency a n d touch ro ll ed aro u nd everyo n e wa s exci ted to for th e track wa s th e key to h is su csee w h a t Terr y Van ce wou ld tu rn o n cess. Wh ere som e rider s tim es were up a n d d own, Mafaro stayed in th e th e n ew bi ke. As usual , h e let n o o ne down , hi s fir st p a ss down th e tra ck hi gh 8.4 0 a n d low 8.50s br ack et a ll ga rn ere d him a n 8.384 seco n ds a t th e way from qualifying to th e final. 156.52 mil es p er h our. T h is p a ss set Saturda y broke g rey a n d threat enth e to n e, If yo u ra n slow it wa s yo u or ing for quali fyin g . Ther e wa sn 't a lot yo u r eq u ip m en t not dampn ess or to do in th e m orning so everyo ne p oor tr action. T h e n umber two q ua l. ta lke d a n d looked o ver o ne a noth er 's ifi er wa s Ran d v Ma son w ith 8.5 i5 / eq u ip men t. T h ese in cluded Va nce & 154.49. After th e p a ss, R a n d y exHines ' n ew GS 1150E-ba sed Su zu ki as pl ain ed , "I h a ve a n ew ch ass is, m otor w e l l a s Bob Ca r pent er ' s n e w a nd h ead com bi na tion a n d we d id n 't GS IIOOES-b as ed P ro S to cker . bot h finish puttin g i t all togeth er u nt i l p a rt o f th eir support co nt racts they had.....signed .wii h, Suzuki A no ther__ . I;OQa.tn , Fr ida y morning. W~ w eJ~'! '! _ fo r th e top spo t ov er o ne o f th e fas test Pro Stock fields ever. Th e rain stretched three-d ay C atomationa ls sa w three rid'- 30 su re wh at to expect. Larry Coo k o f Cook 's Accel erated Cycl e o f Ma ri etta , G eo rg ia , sen t m e a h ead h e h ad a bout a hundred hours in p o rt ing o n a n d it got br oken. • h ad put it o n th e ben ch a n d go t great numbers fro m it a n d felt it would work beaut ifull v, so I ca lled h im a n d told him 10 do a noth er o n e a s qui ckl y as possibl e. H e d id it, we bolted it o n, a n d n o w we're number tw o qual ifi er. " Num ber three quali fier wa s Bob Carpent er o n hi s wh i te. go ld a n d g reen S u zu k i w ith a n 8.5 93 / 153.3 i. T h en Maf ar o g ra b bed th e fou rth spot w ith a n 8.64i a n d to p speed o fj h e m eet , a 159.iO. As Da ve Sch u lt z ca me to th e line to sa y a ll eyes were o n h im wou ld be a n un d erst at em ent. T hat wa s w h en h is bike sta rted to br eak up . Dav e hung in th er e 10 a t lea st m ak e a p a ss a n d wh en th e ligh ts ca me dow n. no th in g happen ed , th e bik e sta lled. As Da ve s ta ted lat er , " So m et h in g happ en ed to th e batter y, wh en I lef t the tra iler it h a d 12.i volt s, when. got it ba ck it was down to i volts." An easy p roblem for h im 10 rectify. Th e n ext prob lem p ro ved tougher. As qua lifying wo un d u p it beg a n to ra in . T he n the word came dow n th er e wou ld n o t be ti m e to ru n a nother rou nd of qua lifying, so th e field wo ul d run as q ua li fie d o n th e ba sis o f th e fir st p a ss. Th is m eant Da ve Sc h u ltz wo ul d not make th e field. E veryo n e stayed arou nd a ll aftern oon in case th e N H RA co u ld sq ueeze th em in somew h ere fo r a secon d p a ss bu t, as th e rai n co ntinu ed it looked bad . T hen as th i n g s loo ked wo rse, th e wo rd ca me th ere wo u ld be o ne qua lif yin g p a ss m a de: S unda y m orn ing , weather p ermitting . Da ve co u ld fin all y tak e a breath . Su nday mo rn in g looked worse than Sa turd ay. T h e m orni n g turn ed 10 n o on, As fa r as a n yo ne kn ew, th e qu a lifying p ass wa s o ff. So m e sp iri ts su n k, Fin all y th e wo rd ca me th er e wou ld be a qu alifyin g p ass a n d th en th e eliminations would be held as th ey co u ld . Dav e Schultz j u mped ou t 10 m ak e hi s p as s. H e li tera lly bl a sted down th e tra ck a t 8.3ii/ 158.00 to becom e th e n ew number o n e qual ifier. Vance to ok h is crack bu t a m isa lig n ed wheel ie ba r ca used h im to rea lly coo k hi s rear tire b u t h e still turn ed a n 8.'10. " S u pe rbi ke" Mike Kevre cli m bed o n th e ba nd wagon a n d bl is tered an 8.48 / 154.75 10 rab .. - -.. . -- ' th e number three qual ifi er. T hi s p a ss m eant th e to p si x qualifiers were a ll runnin g under 8.60. Then the ra in ca me an d th e tempe rature beg an d ropp in g . T h e race wa s go ing to be run a t night but th e temperature wa s goi ng to fa ll to th e hi gh 30s so NHRA sai d , " We' ll run Monda y." When th e tra ck open ed Monda y it wa s 42 degrees a n d not a cl oud in th e sky. Fi rst u p o n th e lin e would be nu mber o n e q ua lifier Dave Sch u ltz to go aga inst Ba rr y Ko gut 's Kawa saki . from R eg ency Ka wa sa ki o f j a ck son vi ll e, Flo rida . Ba rry ca me o u t first a n d h ard , th e ti re broke loo se a n d o ff went Dav e. Even th ough Sch u lt z did t he o n e-q u a r rer th e lon g wa y by waveri ng side to side, h e burned a n 8.398/ 158.06 to Ko gut 's 8.548/ 156.i3. N ex t up wa s Mafa ro aga in s t S teve M il es o f M&M Cy cle. M iles was ri d in g th e Kawa sak i Terry Va n ce se t th e P ro S to ck record o n (8.31/ 16 1). M &M h ad p ur cha sed it la te la st yea r to run in Pro Co m p but a t th e u rg in gs o f Va n ce, wil l run it in th ese N l-IR A Pro Stock ra ces. Mi les h ad tr a sh ed a transmissio n o n S u nda y a n d was a b le to ch a nge th e m o to r in 24 mi n u tes so n ow h e wa s ac tua lly runn in g the reco rd - h o ld i n g m o tor. Mil es h a d turned a n 8.90 and a n 8.i O th e d ay s p revi o u s, wi th a broken tra llSm i ssi~n a nd wa s wa nti ng to show w ha t h e co u ld d o . 0 h e j um pe d ou t a nd staged qu ickl y. Ma fa ro took h is ti m e staging h o p in g 10 brea k a us ua ll y t q ui ck Miles' co nren tra rio n . T wo rked , w he n th e lig h ts carne d own Ma fa ro wa s o u t fir st to a n 8.4 i3 / 154.i9 to Nliles' 8.65 i / 154.3i . Ma laro 's rea ct io n ti m e wa s ,56 to M iles' .6 13. C har lie G ressm an was o u t n ex t o n h is Butch Spencer-o wned Van ce & H in es S u zu ki to tak e o n j o hn Sach s jr. Sachs red li ght ed while Ch arlie tu rn ed h is fa stest p a ss o f th e wee ke n d - 8,603/ 150.85. Keyt e got a b ig h o les hot o n Mo sca in th e fo u rt h p a ir in g th at was n ea rl y o ne-tenth of a seco n d. Keyte's S uz u ki stro ll ed to a n 8.602/ 155 .22 10 Mo sca 's 8.6iO/ 150.i5. j o e Fol gore's Suzu ki let him do wn n ext a n d Vance m ad e a cl ean p ass at 8.32 2/ 159.63 , Bob Carpe nt er had been h aving problems with hi s n ew rear wheel a n d tire fo ldi n g a n d un lo adin g a ll week end. H e kn ew h e was going to hav e to leav e h a rd a g a i n s t Ru ss N yberg's C&W C ycle Kawasak i whi ch is alwa ys ca p a b le o f a g reat p a ss desp i te Russ' qualifyin g l -Ith . wh ich would co m p o u n d a ll hi s pro b lems . When th e lights ca me dow n Ca rpen ter ' s rea ct ion t ime wa s a .485 to N yberg 's .531. Bob's good rea ction

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