Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Te rry Van ce made his next-t o-last race before retiring a m em orable one by winn ing the Pro Stock class and setting a new record along the way. Terry Kizer piloted the Orient Express to the Funny Bike class win and took his second consecutive Funny Bike Championship. IDBA National Championship Drag Race Series: Final Round Vance, 'Kizer on top at World Finals By Nina Henderson BATqN ROUGE, LA, ocr. 14-16 Terry Vance and Terry Kizer both set new records on "th eir way to winning the Pro Stock and Funny Bike classes a t the IDBA WorId Finals at Baton Rouge. I n his next-to-Iast race · Vance advanced tothe quarterfi - ' before ' retirement Vance nals with a 7.901/168.85 run, which brought th e National record . established a ne~ mph record ?,:er Lance Boyer. FIfth-place qualifier . d ?wn In t h e P ro S k cIass toe George Bryce earned the right to face - 18 WIth a 7.89 second, 167.91 mph run over Russ Nyberg. . After Kizer piloted his Orient Express Suzuki Kata na to a '6.88/ 197.36 run in Sunday's qualifying runs, he came back wi th a 6.934/ 194.38 trip in the final to knock off Steve Tracy and take the Funny Bike Championship. The record slashing in the Pro Stock class began in round one when Dave Schultz first went into the sevens at 7.963/166.35. Vance Iollowed wi th a 7.951/1 66.97 run, good . for th e number one spot, while Nyberg turned in a 7.958/ 166.35 pass. By the time eliminations were · completed only4/10ths of a second separated the top 16. Vance af ter easily p utting Chip Solley away. Sch ultz advanced over Lester Jenkins when J en kins pulled a red light and would face Keith Gray, who advanced wi th a 8.076/ 161.87 run over C.]. Smith. Nyberg bea t Benny Mens off the line and kept stretching his advantage to the finish to earn his trip to the quarters. Charlie Gressman left the line ahead of Bobby Chi ldersand was first across the finish lin e by 0.2 seconds and would face Nyberg in the next round. Perry Pemberton 's red light gave Paul Gast a free ride to the quarterfinals where he would face John Mafaro, who beat Gary Tonglet. Tonglet left the li ne .021 ahead, but Mafaro ma de up th e tim e and won by .026. ' In the q uarterfinals Bryce edge d Vance off the line, bu t by th e 60-foot mark Vance had taken over th e lead and won with a 7.933 run. Bryce still had enough points to take second in the series. Schultz eliminated Gr ay in th e next round to get to Vance , while Nyberg barely edged ou t Gressman a nd would face Gast , who also just sq uea ked out a win over Mafaro, in the semifinal. Van ce took the lane choice over Schultz in the first semi, bu t Schultz had the better reaction time and led at 60 feet. But Vance took over soon after and won the round with an 8.005/160.97 run over Schultz 's 8.039/ 164.53. Nyberg h ad a relatively slow reaction time to Gast in the other semi, but he quickly made up for it and turned in a 7.999 run for the win. The final featured a meetirig of the past and fut ure of drag racing as the young Nyberg took on Vance, holder of more championships and records than any other racer. Nyberg got the jump off the lin e and led past 60 feet, but Vance pulled it o ut again and clocked an 8.051/166.35 for the win. Funny Bike co mpetition saw Terry Kizer and his Orient Express crew take the ID BA Funny Bike Championship for the second year in a row . T]. Hofmeister went into the event with a 385 point lead, and to lose the dtampionship he would have to qualify low or go out early. Kizer, on the other hand, had to qualify high and eit her win or win the sem ifina l pass and take a new record. Hofmeister kept his hopes alive with the second best q ualifying time of 7.081/198.67. Kizer started out the qual ifica tion rounds fifth , but a run of 6.977/1 93.54 put him just ahead of Hofmeister when qualifications ended. In th e first round Kizer sq uared off against fifth -fastest qualifier ' Steve Drake. Kizer got the lane choice but Drak e was quicker off the line. It was a close race a t the finish wi th Kizer making it to the semis by .033 after his 7.103/191.48 run. Chris Iovine and Rusty Q uesenberry rolled out for the second race of round one, and Quesenberry kept Iovine from making it out of the firs t round the whole seaso n by knocking him off with a 7.203/180.72-7.331/ 168.85 ru n . H ofmeister met Bobby Bak er next, and Hofmeister was delayed getting off th e line. The dela y cost him not only the ro und, but th e cha mp ionsh ip as well. Baker had th e q ui ckest mph a t 201.34, whi ch beat Hofmeister's faster ET of 7.151. Steve Tracy and Bill Timmons paired of in the final race of round one. Timmons was ou t of the hole , first , but lost the lead somewhere at mi d-track and Tracy made th e winning pass at 7.096/190.27. Quesenberry got a .021 jump on Kizer at the start of the first semi; and at the 60 foot mark Kizer had the lead. Then smoke came from Kizer's lane as he left an oil trai l to the end of the strip. Kizer eked o ut the win, 7.254/163.04-7.279/1 75.45. Kizer had only 'one mo tor left an d very few parts, pl us only one hour before the final , where he would have to win or ba ck up his 6.88 pass in order to take the championship. In the second semi Baker jumped . ahead of Tracy. . and at the 60 foot mark it was still Baker by a hair. T he n Tracy's bike leapt forward and took the win by .02 seconds. Kizer had hi s Orient Express back to the line for the final and was first off th e line. Tracy ma de it to the 60 foot mark first on a 1.124' to Kizer's 1.147, but the fin ishes would be very different. T racy clocked a 7.144/ 202.24, but Kizer turned in a 6.934/ 194.38 to take the win and the Funny Bike Champions hip. In the Pro Comp class Tony Lang fou ght a tough battle all year long with Dwigh t Seldon, and although Lang wo n the class at the final it was Seldon who wrapped up the cham pionship. Seldon made it to the semifi nals by beating Jim Coo p er, but then Buck McPhatter , who eli mi na ted Bill H ahn in the first round, ended Seldon's advance wit h a 7.624/1 63.33 run which put McPhatter in his firstever IDBA final. Lang would be his opponent after knocking off J im Argo in the first rou n d , th en disposing of Keith Crabtree in the sem i to mak e . the main. At the start of the final Lang shot off first while McPha tter had a deadly reactio n time in the high , sixes. Lang won on a 7.791/171.42 pass, his slowest of the event. La ng and Seldon had an eq ual number'of wins during the season, bu t Seldo n , got the title du~ to many record's. ..'

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