Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RDRAG RACE NHRA Winston OJampionship Drag Race Series: Round 2 e John Myers (near lane) won th e NHRA Gatornationals final over R uss Nyberg with the q ui ckest run in' Pro Stock Bike history - 7.69 seconds at 174.35 mph. Gatornationals faU to Myers By Todd Veney GAINESVILLE, FL, MAR. 14·1 8 u n n in g th e remaining six events of th e eigh t-race NHRA drag ra cin g seaso n see m s a m er e for ma lity. For John Myers, the new king of Pro Stoc k racing, an NHRA cham pio ns h ip is sim p ly a matter of . tim e. . Myers hasn 't come close to being beaten thi s yea r, winning th e seasonopenin g Fram Supernati onals a n d now th e Motorcraf t G atornationals in record-breaking fashion . And in drag racing, ea rly-season promise means every th ing, as year afte r, yea r, th e event ua l NHRA cham pion dom inates rig h t from the o utset. Myer s' la tes t batterin g o f t he stra igh t-line set was punctuated by a 7.69-second fin al-round time - th e first in history under 7.7 seconds. The h istori c run was Myers' fifth o f th e weekend , eac h o f which was quicker th an th e last. T he 32-year -old Alab am a , racer reset th e track mark every time he swu ng a leg o ver George Bryce' s technol ogically su perior Star Ra cing Suzuki GSX R , starting with a 7.8 11 172.77 in q ualifying. That number, the same he used two R 16 week s ea rl ier to tak e th e pol e at th e Supernationa ls, was a full tenth o f a seco nd and four miles per hour a head of hi s nearest challe nger, home sta te rid er Russ Nyb erg, who ran a 7.911 168.38. Defend ing NHRA cha mp io n " P izza J ohn " Mafaro a nd Supernational s runner-up Keith Gra y were th e .o nly o the r rid ers to co ver th e quarter m ile in less th an eig h t seco nds. Mafaro qualified third a t 7.93/1 68.31; G ray (r id i ng Mafaros c ha mp io ns h ip · winn in g ' 89 S u zuki Katana ) was fourth a t 7.96/ 167.31. T he rem ainder of th e field stretched fro m Sch ult z's fifth -best 8.00/ 170.39 to Bru ce Dickson' s 8.69/1 38.18. Myer s dominated elim ina tio ns as he never has befor e, primaril y becau se hi s o n ly serio us threat s took the msel ves out of co mpe titio n befo re they go t far eno ugh to lose to h im. Mafaro did the impossibl e in th e second ro u nd: H e lost o n a si ng le run. Needing o nly to idl e to the starti ng line to claim the win - (NH R A rul es don 't require th e rid er to ac tuall y leave th e line; he only needs to tak e th e green ) - Mafaro got stuc k in th e wa terbox wh en th e clutch in his Van ce & Hines-ba cked Suzuki locked up. Two-time NHRA cha mp ion David Sc h u lt z m et th e same fate in th e wat erb ox a round earlier - but at least he had a n opponent. Schultz had to co ncede th e loss to Lance Boyer wh en hi s transmission sh aft weld ed itself into th e clutch basket. With those two out of th e way, Myers and Bryce toyed with th e remainder o f th e light l3-bike field . On hi s winning elim ina tio ns-ru ns , even more than in qualifying first, Myers .showed just how far he and Bryce hav e pulled a head o f th e co m petitio n in th e last six months. On a first-round sing le run (he rece ived th e by e on th e ba sis o f qualifyin g first in th e odd-sized field ), Myers cha rged to a winning 7.79/ 171.82. Betw een-rounds adj us tme nts b y th e cra ft y Br yce p ared fiv ehundredths of a second off hi s winning seco nd -ro u n d tim e, whi ch wasn 't necessary becauseNorman DeVine was d isqual ified for entering Myers' lane. Myer s th en tem porari Iy set th e NHRA record .w it h a 7.22 /174.62 poundin g o f Ronald Ayer s' 8.09 / 165.53 in th e semi finals. Ayers did well to ge t th at far , com ing from th e lowly number II qua lify in g p os it ion to eliminat e two of th e bigger nam es on the National circuit - Gray and Boyer. In th e final, Myers faced Nyberg, who had an even easi er time getting to the final than did Myers. In wh at ' must be a first, Nyb erg breezed a ll th e way into the finals wi thout having to race anybody ! His fir st-round opponent, Bru ce ' Dickson, broke behind th e line; he received an odd- lot single (because of the short field ) in the short round; a nd Mafaro wasn 't eligible to race h im in the sem i fina ls because he co u ldn 't sta ge on his quarter final bye. In fairness to Nyberg, he was quicker than every rid er but Myers , and th ere was nothing to s u g ge st th a t h e wouldn 't have reach ed the fin al anyway - no matter who pu lled up beside him. Nyberg even managed to stay with Myers in th e final - for th e fir st 500 feet. Nyb erg - looking into th e nightthrough a dark visor with only th e fini sh line lig h ts more th an 700 feet away to guide him - automatically di squalified himself by wandering into Myers' lan e. The young rid er th en drove over a py lon, but managed to keep hi s s pe edi n g bike under co nt ro l. Myers, unaware th at Nyb erg was right behind him a t more tha n 150 mph , pulled a wa y to the unheard o f 7.69, the quickest in Pro Sto ck history and th e most significant in drag racing si nce Terry Van ce 's 7.99 in 1987. With no one else in his league at th e moment, Myers will hav e to be content demolishing his own records. H e'll get his next cha nce at th e 'NH RA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia, April 19-22. CN

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