Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-9 ~ r- oo O'l ,.......; ~ c-r l-< V ..0 8 v u v 0 David Schultz (6) wrapped up the NHRA Pro Stock Championship when he topped Ric k Gero in the final round of t he ser ies in Pomona. NHRA/Castrol GTX Motorcycle Championship Series: Final round Schultz wins race, title at Pomona By John Brasseaux PO MO A, CA, NO V. 8 The battle. for the inaugu ral Cas trol GTX Motorcycle Championship came down to the last race of the season, the Na tion al Hot Rod Association Winston Finals. Kawasaki cam pa igne r David Schultz led ' long-time Suzuki rider T erry Van ce going into th e race by only 1 62 points - less than 16 o ne ro u nd o f co m pe t i t io n. (In NHRA racing, every round won is worth 200 points.) The rid er wh o would win th e cha mp ions h ip would be th e o ne wh o would last th e longest in el imina tio ns. By th e time th e fin al round in Pro Stock was o ver, Schultz had defeated Ri ck Gero fo r the event titl e. Wh ere was Vance? H e was pu t o u t by Suzu ki-mo unted Gero in th e second ro und, 8. 160 seconds to 8. 164, in a race th a t was . nothing short of a m aj or up se t. Th a i m eant th at Sch ultz had the title, a nd, with th e victo ry o ver Gero, had won hi s fourth NHRA Pro Stock titl e of th e year. Schultz was the most dominant rider during th e seaso n a nd th e most deserving of th e Ca strol GTX Ch ampi onship. Consider th at th e elim inator is con tested a t o n ly seven races on th e 14-race NHRA Nati ona l event tour, and Sch u ltz won four of the events and was runner-up a t a fifth. He broke new grou nd in th e class by bei ng the firs t to use an onboard data recording device, th e first to completel y enclose his Ka wasa ki in a Ninja fai rin g, a nd the only o ne using a rare twin-plug Kawasaki head. Now , man y of the bikes are eq uip ped with t he data-recording devices, and plans a re being made for Vance to debut a full-fairinged Suzuki next year (mod eled after th e new Suzuki Katana ). There has been a maj or step-up in the NHRA Pro Stock ranks over th e past year and it looks to get bett er for next year. At the start of eliminati ons, everyone thought that Schultz and Van ce wou ld meet in a titantic finalro und race. Vance had qualified in th e number o ne spo t with a n 8.03 seco n d , 163.99 mph run , while Schultz was hot o n hi s heels with a n 8.05/ 164.56, good for th e number two po siti on. That meant th at the y were o n op posite sides of the ladder 'a nd wouldn't meet until the fin al. Both progressed impressivel y through th e first round after their o p po ne nts red -lighted. Furt her add ing ten sion to the contest wasthe fact th at Van ce a nd Schultz ran ident ica l 8.04 elapsed tim es in th e first rou nd . ' However , Van ce's hopes for th e Castrol Ch ampionship slipped away fro m him - literall y - in his ill fated meeting with Gero . Vanc e had put a new rear tire on hi s bik e for th at ra ce, as tuner Bryon Hines th ought th e tire on the bike was not fresh eno ugh for the rest of eliminati ons. At the green , th e new tire pulled Vance's Suzuki toward th e centerline as he went pas t th e Christmas tree, As Vance fought for contro l, the rear tire began to spin in the sma ll bits of gravel along the center of the track. Meanwhile, Gero had put a ha lfwh eel lead on th e stru ggling Vance and held it until the finish line. That was it for the Vance & Hines operation; the ch amp io nsh ip was gone. Next, Gero got past his semi-final opponent, Ph il Tannery, with an 8. 14/ 162.66 to Tannery's close 8.17/ · 160.34 effort to meet Schultz in th e final. Schultz clearl y had th e stro ngest" and m ost co ns is te nt, motorcycl e during eliminations. He ran an 8.04 in th e first round win over George Bryce, an 8.05 to hand le .S teve Johns on in th e seco nd stanza , an other 8.04 in th e se m i-fi na ls aga ins t a red -lighting Russ Olrnstead, a nd an 8.032 in th e fin al , which tied Vance for the low E.T. of the even t. Schultz al so ran the top speed of the class with a 164.86 mph bl a st aga ins t John son in round number two. That 8.03 by Vance and Schultz tota lly destroyed the previous track record of 8.26, set last year at th e Winston Finals. Van ce still holds the class record at 7.99 set a t the T exas .Mo torp lex, For next year, Schultz is planning to defend hi s title with a new bike fashion ed around the 1988 version of Kawasaki' s Ninja. Even with a ren ewed effort by Vance & Hines and the rest of th e Suzuki rid ers, it loo ks to be no easy task to tak e a way the - number one plate from Schultz in '88. •

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