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/127213
Happy Ring defeated Jaime Morrocco for the win in t he Top Fue l /Harley division; Morrocco red lighted with King turning in a 8.06 / 163.62 pass . Dave Sch ult z grabbed t he ho leshot on his Eagle One Kawasaki and w ent on to defeat John Myers in t he Pro St oc k cl ass at Atco Raceway. Terry Kizer rode his Orient Express Funny Bike to the cla ss win over Trett; Kize r posted a 7 .07/1 90.56 run. IHRA U.S. Nationals Kizer bests Trett at Atco By Greg Guarinello ATCO, Nj, SEPT. 10 The 25th Annual U. S. Nationals saw the return of nitro-burning bikes in two classes an d some of the closest, side-by-side drag racing in years. The vocal crowd was witness five 200-plus mph passes by Elmer Trett five six- second 'b d runs - f o~r y Trett an one by T erry KIzer, and sub-record to 16 runs in a ll th e professional classes. Trett es ta b l is hed n ew IHRA National records - 6.79-second ET and 205.64 mph , while Kizer did lik ewi se in th e Funny Bike divi sion with 7.07 a nd 190.56 numbers. The weather for the IHRA Motorcycle Division 's kick-off event was magnifi cent a nd th e ra cer s wer e read y to rock and roll wh en they pulled into th e front gate a t the fabl ed Atco Racewa y. It was on ly fittin g that a new start begin a t the track whi ch lays cla im to bein g th e birthplace of san ctioned motorcycle drag racing in the United States. The big news a t .A.tco was . the ret u!"!1 of b.lown a nd mJ ~t~ , rntroburning bik es to co rnpeu uon. The lik es of Trett, La rry McBride, Jim Man gus andJaime Morrocco on T op Fuel bik es joined th e Funny Bikes of Kizer, J ohn Phillips, Steve Tracy a nd Ru sty Quesenberry 10 put on a sh ow that one spec ta to r ca lled " a dream co me true for mot or cycle fan s." The first ro und of eliminations began wit h Treu and the " Mo unt ain Magi c" bik e he cons truc ted himself taking on Tracy, wh o was aboa rd the number five qualifier, th e nitrouseq uipped Suzuki. T racy logged a 7.36-second, 183.94 mph run but was bested when Trett ran a 6.81/204.9 1. Mangus, aboard a Top Fuel Kawasa ki, then defeated number three qualifier McBride, 7.57/166. 31 to 7.76/168.20. Kizer th en had an easy shot as he took the Orient Express Suzuki 10 a 7.48/146.67 pa ss to top a breaking Rusty Quesenberry. The final pairing of th e round sa w j ohn Phi llips advance with a 7.44/ 161.87 over Robert D'Addio's losing 8.07/ 174.93. D'Addio had made th e field when Morrocco broke during the last pass of qualifying. In round two , Trett h andil y defeated Mangu s, 6.80/ 204.62 to 7.63/187.30 and in th e o the r sem ifin al Kizer had a cha nce to expe riment as his schedu led o ppone nt, Ph illips, was sidelined with motor problems. Kizer made a stou t 7.07/ 178.53 pass stepp ing up anticipation for the fin al runoff aga ins t Treu. As T rett and Kizer went a bo ut their burnout routines for th e final , th e odds on the race sh ifted a little. Kizer had don e a not her pi cture perfect burnout whil e in th e ot her lan e th ere was a definite problem . Trett had bu zzed the motor a little too hi gh and had burned th e porcelain off one of th e plugs. Trett kn ew that th ere was nothing to do but hope he bu ilt eno ug h heat in the mo tor to light th e plug in high gear. As the lights went green , Kizer was off lik e a shot. By the ha lfway point Kizer had ab out two bik e length s on Trett and was hoping that hi~h gear would be enough to hold him off. The race got tighter as th e two bik es di sa ppeared down th e strip, but when the win light ca me on it was in Kizer 's lan e. Kizer had bested Trett with his best run of the weekend, 6.99/189.23 to 7.08/200.66. In the T op Fu el/Harl ey divi sion, top qua lifier honors went 10 Mac T h rashe r -with a 7.67 pas s, but th e wi n went to Happy Ring when 'J aim e Marrocco rcdlight ed at the sta rt of th e fin al. The fin al numbers showed Morrocco running a 7.63/ 172.3110 Kin g's 8.06/ 163.62. Unfortu na tely, th is tim e the numbers did not tell th e story a nd th e event titl e went to the 18-year-old fro m Ohio, Ha ppy Ring. Pro Stock drew a stellar field a nd the top th ree qua lifiers ra n in the seven-second ra nge - j ohn Myers on th e new Sta r Racin g Suzuki a t 7.79, Dav e Sch u ltz o n th e Eagle One Ka wasaki a t 7.90 a nd joh n Mafaro o n the Mu g Roo t Beer Suzu ki a t 7.95. T he final pitted Myers against Sch u ltz. In the sem i-fi na ls, Myers, th e favorite, had pu lled o ut th e chase and pa ss routine after he let it be known that toda y a t least he was not overl-y sharp o n the lights. Schultz picked up on this one chink in Myers ' armor and thi s time it 'wo uld take all that Myers had and then some to cat ch up. Try as he m ight My ers co u ld n' t narrow the gap between he and th e disappearing Schultz and the win light cam e on in th e Eagl e One lane. Schultz's winning n umbers were 7.89/17 1.59 over a quicker a nd faster but slower starting Myers' 7.87/ 172.31. In Pro Comp, Reggie Showers set a ET record in round two of eliminations by back ing . u p his first round 7.55 wit h a 7.56, but he lost it heading for th e return road and instead of co mpe ting in the fina l was tak en to th e hospital for observation before being released with a slight sho ulder separatio n. With hi s com pe tition out of the battle, all Dwight Seldon had 10 do was granny through the lights to take the Pro Comp win, and that's what he did. In the semi-finals of Top Gas, R ick y Gadson defeated Mimmo Maruno and j ohn McRa e o usted Ed Ziegl er. In th e final , Gadson took th e win with a n 8.23/ 152. 13 10 McRae's losing 8.39/ 158.16. joseph Ford defeat ed Ken Fuegel and Ron Bonatitus beat Tom Ha rper in th e semi-finals of th e Super Comp class. In the fin al, Bonatitus took an 8.64/148. 38 win over Ford's losing 8.67/148.79. Pro Gas saw Tom Ga lligan tak e an easy win in th e final when J ohn Lippy redlighted a way hi s chance at the ti tle. Galligan ran a 9.29/139.07 for the win . Barr y Stephens took a 10.27198.17 win over Brian Pro pp 's 10.39/125.98 to top the Super Gas cla ss. Super Modified competition saw Steve Abel post a 10.59/113.71 to defeat Bruce Eld er's 10.62/121.30 to take the win. •