debuung- '''''' ... ,_-.m new- Kawasaki,
which, except for some chrome and a
black stripe, looked very much like
his old Pro Stocker. Until he took it
down the track; unlike the old one,
this one tracks straight as a string.
But even a straight line wasn't going
to help against the £lying Keyte. When
the lights came Keyte was out first
and never looked back. Keyte had
climbed back into his bag of tricks
and pulled out another 8.30 pass but
this one was sweet. It was an 8.32 at
161.57, the old mph record held by
Terry Vance.
Mafara had tasted the 160 mph
barrier at this track and had felt an
8.31 here also, and now that he knew
what he had to do to make his Suzuki
work here, he wanted a piece of Keyte's
mph record. Mafaro has been known
for a handful of gas and a handful of
clutch which at some tracks is just
too aggressive a driving style on a
200-horsepower motorcycle. Even at
the NHRA tracks where traction is at
a premium, Mafara has had to temper
his launching style.
So here he was on "a bike with
which he had made three 8.20 passes
on the week before at another track. A
bike that Mafara had blatantly refused
to detune for this track with the
Cajun Nationals only a week away.
So it was up to him to drive it like be
had to drive it.
When the last yellow blinked out
Meyers was already gone to a red
light trying to gel thejump on Mafara.
This left Mafara with nothing to
concentrate on but busting the new
record. When he got to the big end
the announcer was screaming; Mafara
had just turned an 8.33 at the identic
