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/127200
John Mafaro (foreg round) held off Dave Schu ltz to win the Sumrnernaticnals at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. NHRA Castrol GTX Championship DragRace Series: Round 5 Malaro moves in on crown By Todd Veney ENG LIS HTO WN, NJ, J ULY 6-9 John Mafaro watched other riders win National Hot Rod Associat ion even ts and Castrol GTX Drag Race Series Cham- 38 pionsh ips for so long th at he just cou ld n't take it anymore. Ma faro gave h im self an ultimatum at the end of his win less 1988 raci ng season, one of the most dismal in his nin e-year Pro Stock ca reer. He vowed tha t he wou ld retire fro m active compe titio n at the end of the '89 ca m pa ig n u nl ess he wo n drag racing's most coveted prize, the Cas trol GTX Ch ampionship. Now tha t the eig h t-race Cas trol GTX Ser ies has passed its midpo int, it would a p pear that Mafaro 's drama tic rise to Nationa l prominen ce is co mp lete. By winning th e Bud weiser Su m me rnatio na ls a t Raceway Pa rk in English town, New J ersey, his fourth victory in five N HRA races th is season - " P izza J oh n " virtually ass u red h imse lf th e season -lo ng Castrol points ch ampionsh ip. Mafaro 's wire-to-wire Summerna- . tiona Is triumph was a carbon copy of hi s win s earlier th is yea r a t the Fram Supernati ona ls, AC -Del co So u thern Nationals, a nd Budweiser Sp ri ngna tiona ls, The Saddlebrook, New J ersey, ace mad e th e fast est ru n in every rou nd of elimina tio ns and qual ified number one with a 7.84seco nd / 170. 71-mph trac k- reco r d blast. . Qualifi ed im med iate ly be h ind Mafaro was the rider who 's been in h is shadow si nce the beg innin g of the '89 season, Dave Sch ultz. Sch ultz, wh o had domina ted th e two-wh eeled conti ngency since 1986, hasn 't won a NH RA race a ll year. The 1987 and '88 Castrol GTX Cham pion rode his two-valve, I395cc Kawasaki Nin ja to a 7.86/ 170.81. . Sch ultz was the on ly racer wi thi n a 10th of a second o f Mafaro a t Raceway Park. The rem a in in g six riders in th e fast half of the 16-bike field were Gatornationa ls victor Phil T annery, Katan a , 7.95/166.91; J o h n Myers, Suzu ki, 8.00/ 166. 11; Lan ce Boyer, Ka tana, 8.03/ 166.91; Keith G ra y, N inj a, 8.05/1 61.72; Ra nd y Mason, Ninja, 8. 11/164.35; a nd Rick Stetson, Suzuki, 8.13/169.17. Ea ch .o f th e top ei ght rid er s defeat ed their slo wer-q ua lified op ponents in the firs t round in an attempt to deny Mafaro and Schultz their see mi ngly in evitable final -rou nd sho wdo wn, but non e co u ld match Mafar o 's a nd Sch ultz's seven-second pace. Mafa ro 's openi ng -ro u nd win over Guy Guar agna came by th e u n usua lly wide-m a rgin of four -tenths of a seco nd . Maf a ro du pl icated hi s track-record qual ifying pass, ridi ng his MUG Root Beer-backed Kata na to a brilliant 7.84/1 69.52; G uarag na 's Suzuki tra iled a t 8.23/ 158.61. Sch ultz rem a in ed wi thin str iki ng d istance o f Mafaro, running a 7.99/ 168.31 in crus h ing Su zu ki rider Steven Meiterrnan 's hapless 8.32/ 159.15. Mafaro's performance b u l~e was diminish ed consid erabl y III th e following round. In winning h is second -rou nd bout, he slipped to hi s slo west run of elim ina tio ns - 7.90/ / 168.79 - just as Sch ultz step pe d u p to h is best - 7.94/1 68.41. Mafar o 's 7.90 sti ll covered fellow Ka tana r id er L an ce Bo yer b y a ~ ua rter-secon d. Boyer, who lost to , Pizza J o h n " in the final ro u nd o f th e recent Sp ri ngnatio na ls, bowed ou t a t 8.14/ 164.08. Schu ltz's 7.94 was u ncontested. H is sc hed u led opponent, Kei t h G ra y, was unable to race, having broken h is 1394cc Ni nja mill in taking a first-round decisio n from Andre Carter. Although Schultz rolled th rough th e semis with relati ve ease, he lost ground a gain on the see mi ngly unbeatable Mafaro , who was able to maintain h is second round pa ce. Schultz put down hi s o n ly eig h tsecond run, an 8.00/164.77 , and sti ll sto mped man y-time Nationa l Ch ampionship winner Rick Stetson, who clocked an 8.23/ 157.15. / Mafaro dupl icated h is secondround effo rt in th e se m i-fin a ls, dr opping first-year Van ce &: H ines rider Phil Tannery, wh o has tak en th e place of motorcycle drag racing 's all- time king, T erry Vance. T annery reacted better to th e " Ch ristmas tree" lights th at start eac h race, but hi s 8. 11/163.63 was buried by Mafaro 's superior 7.90/1 68.57. Sch ultz ju m ped o u t to a .05-second lead on Mafaro in the fin al like Tan ne ry had in th e sem i-finals, but his radical Kawasak i Ni nja didn ' t have eno ug h pow er to mai ntain th e lead. Mafaro ran him down right in the lights to win by .0 I-seco nd, 7.88/ 169.04 to 7.94/1 68.63. T he victory virtua lly ass ured Ma faro the Cas trol GTX Cha mpionsh ip, a nd th ere's no end in sight. If he ca n advance to th e middle rounds a t the three events rem a in ing o n th e Castrol GTX schedul e, Schultz wo uld ha ve to win th em all to stay eve n, a nd tha t's no t very likel y. Ma faro 's 17-1 wo n-loss reco rd this season sug gests th at hi s current win strea k is far from over. " I hav e every intention of winning th e last three races this year," Mafaro sa id. " T he cham pions hip has been a long time coming, a nd no o ne is going to tak e i t a way from me. For years, I'v e been trying to catch up with Schultz. Now everyo ne ca n chase me." Sch u ltz a nd th e rest of the Pro Stock pack will ge t anothe r shot a t Mafaro Au gust 31-Septem ber 4 a t ro u nd six o f the eig h t-race CastroI Ser ies, th e NH RA U.S . Na tio na ls in Indiana po lis. - Wind (Con tin ued from pag e 4) The American H i s to r ic R a cin g Motorcycle Association (AH RMA) is in viting vintage an d classic bike riders to participat e in th e August 6 Mi d- Ohio Vintage Tour is t Trophy, a scenic tour o f approximately 65 m iles from Dick Klarnfot h's H o nda Hills in Lin nville, ' Ohio, to Mid -O hio Spo rts Ca r Course, si te of that weeke nd's AMA National Champions hip Road Race Series meet. T he day prior to th e Tourist Trophy, vintage motocross a nd tri als w ill be co n d ucted a t H onda Hills. For additional informati on, call Dick Klamfoth at 614/ 228-0690 or Chris Stein a t 609/9248977. John Gregory, owner/president of JT Racing, announced on Tuesday, July 11, that Max W. Gnehm has joined the company as managing director. Gnehm was most recent ly president of TransPacific Holding Group, Inc. and CEO for Malcolm Smith Racing Products. . Ed Youngblood, president of th e AMA, just returned fro m a tri p to Australia where he a nd rep resentatives of FIM-affiliated sanctioning bodies from Australia, New Zeala nd, J apan, Mal aysia and T hailand met to d iscu ss the -Pa n-Pacific Ch am p ionship Road Race Ser ies. Sche duled to beg in wi th a th ree-ro u nd test series .in 1990 with races to be ru n in Aus tralia, New Zealand and Ma laysia, 1991 rounds will involve all six co u n tries m entione d and possibly Indonesia a nd India. " We're loo king a t ru nn ing classes tha t would be com pa tible for a ll the invol ved nations," sa id Youngblood. " T hey wi ll probably include a Superb ike cla ss run under th e FIM World Championship Superb ik e formu la, something like the 400cc Su pe rstreet class that some of the na tions are already running, and 125 and 250cc G P-type classes ." Youngblood sai d that a Pan-Pacific Su pe rcross Ser ies was also discussed as was a one-event P a n-Pacific observed tri als meet. MARRIED: Don Kenworthy, track manager of Ohio's Kenworthy's GP Club which was the site ofthis past weekend's AMA National Championship MX, and Andi Glotfelter, on Tuesday, July 11 . If you 're h eading to Goodma n, Mis souri, for the Pol e Pen Enduro, a round o f the AMA National Champio ns hip Enduro Seri es, make su re yo u 're th ere on July 23. That's whe n th e event will take place, not on the date that was listed in th e Southern Enduro Riders Association/Central Mississippi Enduro Team's adver tisem ent in ou r J ul y 12 issue. Got it ? The Pol e Pen National Enduro runs on Sunday, July 23. Speedway racer Chip Stockwell is in a coma as a result of injuries suffered at Speedway USA in Victorville, California, Saturday, July 8. Stockwell is hospitalized at the Loma Linda Medical Center. Kawasaki 's Team G reen support crew wi ll have par ts and tech assist-ance avail ab le a t the u pcoming N MA and AMA Am ateu r MX National Champ io nsh ip s. Tech assis ta nce will be avai lable af ter p rac tice; with an exce p tio n being mad e for those riders who trave l fro m the NMA even t at P onca Cit y, Oklahoma, to the AMA event a t Loretta Lynn 's in T en nessee. Emergency race parts (no tires) will be on sa le af ter p racti ce at both events. In addition, the 1990 KX lin e and the 1990 KDX2 00 will be on di splay a t bo th events.