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/126904
(Above) Winner Rick Stetson in action. (Below) A happy Stetson is flanked by (left) partner Bob Thompson and (right) crew member Gary Lindsay. NBRA Gatornationals Stetson shines inftorida By George Hoffman GAINESVILLE, FL, MAR. 23 An estimated 50,000 spectators looked on as Rick Stetson took his Harry's Machine Parts/ VHR-sponsored Suzuki and rolled by the ignition-problem-plagued SUZUKi of John Mafaro to take the Pro Stock win at the 17th Annual Gatornationals combined car and bike drag race meet. 10 Stetson, the number threequalifier, had a near perfect string of passes in the 8.30-second range and after the first-round eliminations of the top two qualifiers, he took control of the quick seat and never looked back. Postponed from the previous weekend due to rain, the event was greeted with cool temperatures and slight crosswinds. Neither seemed to have much effect on some of the fastest qualifying Pro Stock motorcycles ever seen. Terry Vance opened and closed Saturday'S qualifying in the number' one spot. The Suzuki-mounted champ's first pass of 8.22 seconds and 163.51 mph was the quickest and fastest, but it breathed new life into a few competitors. Those few were the teams that had worked long and hard over the winter to put together consistent 8.30 machines, only to see Vance blast down the track at the Winternationals to the tune of an 8.10 while taking part in the filmjng of a Suzuki commercial. Round one of qualifying closed with three of those teams coming in under 8.40 and hot on Vance's heels. Round two closed with Vance turning in an impressive record-setting time of 8.199. The next four qualifiers - Steve Miles, Stetson, Barry Kogut and Charlie Gressman - weren't about to let Vance romp away and they picked up the pace and lowered their times as well, making it five teams under 8.40. Though the field is still slower than Vance, they seem to have opened the season with a handle on the problem. Round one of eliminations on Sunday opened with some surprises. Vance received his only defeat last year at the Gatornationals and this year would be no different for the Pizza John Mafaro made it all the way to the final. but an ignition problem wrote finished on his day. champion. Terry's opponent in the first round was Randy Mason, the number nine qualifier and the man who had trailered Vance last year. Mason had spotted Vance .2 in qualifying and he jokingly told Vance before the run that he had better cut a good light. When the lights flicked down, that's what Vance did, only he" cut them too quickly, the red light flashed and that was it for the Californian. The next pass saw the number two qualifier, Steve Miles, go out with yet another broken transmission, allowing Russ Nyberg to move to the next round. Stetson would meet first alternate Benny Mens and ills Mens/KaczaLasponsored Kawasaki after Lou Couviello couldn't fire because of a broken crank. Mens' stay on Sunday would be short Lived as another high-powered Kawasaki losl its transmission and Stetson breezed to the win at 8.387/ L56.35. Barry Kogut would trailer Marty Blades in the next match-up. Blades jumped out to a quick lead that·was gobbled up almost immediateLy due to a spinning rear tire. A drifting Kogut took the win with his slowest pass of the weekend, an 8.49/156.53 to Blades' 8.615/146.57. The winner of the Best Engineered Award, Dave Catalano and his beautiful candy apple red and black Suzuki, ran the fifth qualifier, Charlie Gressman, next. Gressman was originaJly scheduled to run against Mike Keyte, but when Superbike Mike couldn't show, Catalano was called in. Gressman was out first and Catalano promptly broke. Gressman coasted to the win in 8.619 seconds. Earl Timmons would get out first in his bout with John Mafaro, who was nursing a broken foot. Timmons appeared to come up short in the horsepower count department and Mafaro took the win despite drifting left. Pizza John logged an 8.447/ 155.87, while Timmons went down to defeat with an 8.60/151.71. Ed Dohrmann and Lance Boyer were up next and they left the line close together, but Boyer's Suzuki just couldn't stay with the Kawasaki of Dohrmann and it was all over. Dohrmann's winning run was an 8.486/156.30 pass, while Boyer's losing marks were 8.716/151.10. The next pass saw Suzuki-mounted' George Bryce run away from the exDave Schultz mount with Dave Sawyer aboard. With the field narrowed down to eight competitors, only four would continue to have smiles on their faces after the next round. The first racer to lose his smile was Gressman. Mason came out of the hole and never looked back, taking his blue Kawasaki to the 'win over Gressman's Nick Parten mount. Stetson met Dohrmann next and both bikes spun tires coming off the line. The pair stayed close to the halfway mark where Stetson hooked up and walked away with an 8.4031 157.61 win over Dohrmann's 8.512/ 156.30. This was Stetson's only pass out of the 8.30s during the meet. The pain in Mafaro's foot had to be a little less after he joined the rest of the fast guys by dropping his time into the .30s with his Web-Caml L.A.W.lVHR Suzuki as he sent the C&W Cycleworks entry of Nyberg's back to the pit. Nyberg was out first but Mafaro was able to pass him in second and laid down a very straight 8.358/158.06 to win over Nyberg's 8.478-156.84. Barry Kogut then sent Bryce and his Star Racing Suzuki back to Americus, Georgia, with a back-on-thepace and winning run of 8.3561 153.53. Bryce is building an FJ 1200 Yamaha Pro Stocker and is hoping to debut it at the upcoming Cajun Nationals. The start of semi-final runs saw Stetson trajler Mason, who gave it his all in the form of his fastest pass of the weekend at 8.425. That wasn't enough as Stetson turned in an 8.357/ 157.61 winning run. The pain in Mafaro's foot was now showing in his face as he rolled to the line to contest Kogut. Both had posted nearly identical times in the round before, so it was anyhody's race with the big factor being just how badly was Mafaro's foot bothering him. It must have been bothering him a lot because he did everything to get the race over as quickly as possible. When the lights came down Mafaro jumped out first and turned in his fastest pass of the weekend, an 8.341158.28. Mafaro's holeshot made the differenceas he took the win despite Kogut's quicker pass at 8.328/158.00. Mafaro's reaction time was .559 over Kogut's .591. The Gatornationals Pro Stock final could have been one of those drag races you tell your grandchildren about years down the road. Mafaro's last two passes had been 100th of a second quicker than Stetson's, but Stetson's reaction times were an equal amount faster than Mafaro's in both his runs. What was shaping up was a dead heat. But we'll never know what might have been because as Mafaro rolled his Suzuki to the line it got that hollow sound of a four-cylinder motor running on three cylinders and everyone including Stetson and a dejected Mafaro knew what the outcome would be. Stetson ran unmolested to the Gatornationals win, making his fifth pass of the weekend in the 8.30 range., an 8.375/156.90 romp. •