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/127144
. . T.J . Hofmeister claimed his f irst Funny Bike win of the 1988 season at the Firecracker Nationals, beating Bill Timmons in the final. In Pro Comp, Tony Lang qualified sixth on his Suzuki but rose through the ranks to beat Steve Jones in the f inal w ith a 7.87/170.77 time. ( Bobby Baker and his Star Racing Kawasaki were defeated by Terry Kizer, but no t before equaling T.J. Hofmeister's mph record of 200.44. Dave Schultz was back in form aboard the Eagle 1 Kawasaki, w inning t he Pro Stock event and setting the low ET and high mph mark. IDBA National Championship Drag Race Series: Round 5 Hofmeister wins Funny Bike at Firecracker Nat'ls By Tony Lee COLUMB US, OH, J ULY 8-10 T.]. Hofmeister won his firs t' Funny Bike final of 1988 when he clocked a 7.212 / 193.13 time while facin g Bill T immons a t the IDBA National Trail Raceway.. Timmons was forced to shut down duri ng the pass and his slow time of 9 2/94 53 e . _ . ' . gav an easy WIn to H ofmeister, the 20 world's first Funny Bike rider to log an official 200 mph ru n. Nearly 400 IDBA ra cers came from 38 states and Canada, braving record heat and qualifying their number down to 8-, 16-,32- and 64-bike fields in the eigh t legal eliminators, p lu s the hundred or so en tered ET Bracket racers. It rained Sunday morning and th e practice round was dropped as well as th e usual pagentry a n d parade of number one qualifiers, but the raci ng was completed on tim e. H ofm eister's win makes the Funny Bike points chase a five-way horse race to the World Fin al s with Bobb y Baker, Steve T ra cy, T .]. Hofmeister, T erry Kizer and Cha~les Israel in order, less than 400 potnts apart. . In Pro Camp, J ohn Sands and hi s Honda fueler earn ed th e number-one qualifying spot with a 7.77. But Sands found that good spo rtsma n ship doesn 't always payoff wh en he ga ve Don Raybuck extra time at th e line to refire hi s Kawasaki. With Sands' fueler runnin g, Raybu ck used every seco nd the rules allowed to stage. When th e ligh t hit gree n, Sands' Honda was too hot and died on the line. Tony Lan g, sixth qualifier, got the win a t 7.87/ 170.77 aga inst Steve Jones' 8.15/164.83. In P ro Stock , Dave Schultz of Ft. Meyers, Florida, was back in fu ll form on the Eagle I Kawasaki . The wr ist-ca st s ' from h is ladder fall accident had been removed fin all y. Schultz's machine had go tten him low ETand hi gh mp h marks at every IDBA Na tio na l so far this year, and this meet was no excep tio n. Schultz qualified first a t 8.16/1 63.63 and p lowe d th rough the field until he met second qualifi er George Bryce and his Suzuki. ' . In the fin al , Schu ltz belied his 40 years and beat Bryce, 33, off the line with a reaction tim e of .438 compared to Bryce's .478. Wh en Schultz saw th e win light, his clocks read 8.12/1 64.83 to Bryce's 8.24/ 161.57. T he Nati on al Trail's even t left Bryce in th e lead for points by a ha ir, 3535 to 3320, wit h three wins for Bryce and two wins for Sch ultz. (Eac h rider will drop one low-points race for th e final tabu lation and George has a 540 point race, whi le Dave has a 0 point race.) Scott Barger was the num ber one Top Gas q ualifier in th e 8.20 standard eliminator with an 8.23/ 148.51. Marcy Bo yl e of Mansfie ld wa s number 16 at 8.89/147.74. Marcy had wor ked her way up through th e Sportsma n ranks and was in - her second Top Gas effort. At the Firecra cker Nationals, sh e became th e first woman to win an IDBA legal e1minator. (In 1976 Vicky FaIT won ET Bracket at Lakeland Dragway in Memphis, T ennessee.) In the fina l; Mar cy laid down an 8.64/134. 73 for an easy win when Dave" Cartwright had a troubled 9.13/141.50 runner-up pass. In the h eads-up Super Camp eliminator, qualified from an 8.60 st a ndard, hometown sta r Cra ig Massie qualified first with an 8.60/ 153.58. Number 16, Mac Nutt was o nly .3 ou t at 8.90. When th in gs ar e that tight. any qualifier can be th e winner. Number two qualifi er Mik e Wett stein of Boys Racing T eam got th e Super Camp win at 8.7111 34.52 over runner-up Marty Doughert y. Another heads-up situati on qual ified on a 9.20 sta ndard in P ro Gas. Rob ert Ha skell was nu mber one on the standard at 9.20. The entire 64 ' bik e field was o nly about 1.5 seconds a part. , T o m Sudman and his Kawasaki got th e win with a 9.21/1 35.74 over Pro Gas Ch ampion Mike Phillips o n a Kawa saki at 9.16/139.53 . The 64-bike Super Gas field was even tighter. The bump on th e 9.90 I field was on ly .42 off the standard. Craig Weaver and his Kawasaki qualified first on the 9.96 standard and went on to prove that, even in tight IDBA heads-up fields, the I number one qualifier can wind up the winner. I Weaver' s winning tim e was a 9.95/ 123.62 to the runner-up 10.00/ 129.49 laid down by Super Ga s Champion Ron Piacent ine. In th e handica pped Super Eliminator, th e winner was Robin Ra y on a D/ SS Kawasaki a t 12.02/94.63 on an 11.42 record. R unner-u p was Mik e Hill on an AL/XG 'H ar ley-, Davidson at a broke 15:53/ 56.35 on an I I.72 record. Number-one qualifier in Super, Elimina tor was William Graczyk of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani a, on a GG/ M Yamaha, running at 11.06, .668 below h is class record of 11.73. The ET winner was Reuben Peebles o n a Kawasaki, running a 9.53/ 122.28 pass on a 9.35 di al -in for the win against Norman Felger on a Suzuki wlio laid down a 10.39/126.05 pass on a 10.32 dial-in . •