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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127270
GD RAGRACE IHRA Drag Race Series e Elmer Trett regained the Spectro Top Fuel Challenge points lead by defeating Larry McBride at the IHRA Buckeye Nationals in La Rue, Ohio. For Jim McClure the third time was a charm. After losing twice to Chuck Foreman, he finally moved ahead for the IHRA Top Fuel Harley win at Buckeye. .Tre McClure breeze to tt, Buckeye National wins By Greg Guarinello LA RUE, OH, JUNE 23ยท24 esp ite no apparent help from Mother Nature , th e Rese rve Harley-Davidson /IHRA Buckeye Nationals at Marion County Internation al Ra ceway turned out to be one heck of a dr ag race. Though no new records were set du e to gu sting winds and a ra ce su rface th at was al so suffering from th e weather, side -byside com petitio n was the order of the day. , As the tra ck opened on Saturday it was under a mixture of storm clouds and winds that stayed betwe en 15 and 25 miles per hour a ll day. While short intermittent sho wers did appear, it was th e 'w ind that finall y ca used Ra ce Director J oe Swa y to can cel the day's qualifying. Sway waited and waited, and in the interest of rider safety pulled the plug around 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, the sky wasa bit more forgiving as was th e wind. Two rounds of qualifying were run between rain drops. As eliminations moved clo ser, the sky became mostly sunny and the D 26 event turned once again from a meteorologist report to a drag race. Despite not having eno ug h time to fin e-tune their bikes , the racers did a fine job of performing to the co nditions they were faced with. Larry McBride, abo ard the Cycle Speci alist Suzuki, enjo yed th e number on e qualifying position where he faced 0[[ aga inst Jaime Morocco 's U.S; Cycles Kawasaki in round one, of the Spectro Top Fuel Ch all enge. McBride, fresh 0[[ of two straight runner-up fini shes in IHRA compe tition , was looking to go for the gold at the Buckeye Nati onals. In the o ther lane, Mor occo was hoping 10 do th e sam e for hi s home state fans and his spo nsor, Reserve Harley-Davidson, who was also the title sponsor of the race. As th e pair prepared 10 race, McBride wa s down on power as he had on e hurt cylinder. On th e surface he was about to run on , though, that might prove to be an advantage in that he wouldn 't overpower the track and smoke the tire. Morocco was not as lucky as he did hi s burn out, a flash of fire exited the side of th e bik e and a coup le of rods did the same to his bill et eng ine block! T he o bvio us ly di splea sed Morocco estimated tha t he did abo ut $ 10,000 wort h of dama ge 10 th e bike and he , was hoping that he cou ld mak e some of th at back with hi s T o p Fuel H arl ey ent ry. McBride took a solo and ra n 7.27 seconds at 187.50 mph. T he turbos of Tony Lan g and Steve Drake were u p next, and the twoso me fought smo king tir es and handl in g probl ems a ll the way do wn the track. La ng advanced 'with a 7.79/17 3.74 to Dra ke's losing 8.2 l/ 177. l6.' Elmer T reu then too k o n Shaw n Garrigan , as the pair were heading in o p p os i te direct io ns - T rett wa s improv ing o n his q ua lifying time and Garriga n was runn in g slower . T ret t took an easy win running a 7.26/ 200.00 to Ga rrigan's smo king 8.0l/ l71.71. Ch ris Iovine and Ron Krol fini shed the ro und wit h some tir e sp in ning of th eir own, loving running an 8.82/ 150.00 to Krol' s winning 7.69/1 52.02. Round two started with Tony Lang almo st pul1ing off the upset of the even t as he holeshot La rry McBrid e badl y. McBrid e, th ough, had enoug h stea m 10 get by th e Rookie Top Fuel racer and to qualify for a spo t in the fin al s. McBride carded a 7.18/189.87 to Lan g' s 7.54/167.28. The other spot in th e finals was determined right on the start ing line. As Ron Krol brought hi s bik e to the line he kn ew he had a slight transmission problem . Krol kn ew that it was not bad eno ugh 10 sto p him from running. H e also kn ew that Treu co u ld easily smoke the tire and overpow er the race track, giving the win to KroI. As Krol brought the bike into the beam s, he heard the di stinct sound of a rod kn ocking. As he brought the revs up the sound got worse and Krol mad e the decision to sit at th e green whil e T'rett went 0[[ to the fin als. " I knew the rod was bad, and I didn 't think it would be fair of me to oil down th e track at that point," sa id KroI. Treu, meanwhile became the first bike to dip into the 6s where he ran a 6.96 a t 200.89 mph . It wasn't without incident, though, as "Wilber" (th e name affectionately given to the motor in Treu's bike) threw a rod out th e oil pan a nd would have 10 be replaced by "Claren ce" for the finals. In the finals, McBride took a slig ht hol eshot lead as he went in search of his first IHRA Top Fuel title, but the Old Master, Treu, wouldn't allow that to happen . Trett reeled McBride in and set low ET and high mile per hour of the event at th e sam e time. Treu ran a 6.90/207.37 to take, his second IHRA title of the year. McBride was clocked at 7.20 seconds and 186.72 mph as he garnered his third runner-up spo t of the season. Once again , Jim McClure took th e number one qualifying spot in the Primo/Rivera Top Fuel Harley Clash. In round one, McClure faced the Sundowner bike of Ed Sprooll. Sprool1, a transplanted Ohioan, was ba ck home ra cing in front of his parents for the first time . Unfortunately, Sprool1 broke the intake manifold in the burnout and gave McClure the solo. McClure ran a 7.54/174.41 to adv an ce. Next up were 51=year-old veteran, Anson Holly and the all-conquering Chuck Foreman. Foreman took an easy win , running a 7.75/167.29 10 Holly's slowing 8.56/147.05. The round ended with National number one rider, Happy Ring, tak ing on the " Florescent J aime" Morocco. Morocco had some serious handling problems when he left the line and Ring went into the semi fin al s. R ing ra n a 7.92/162.45 for th e win. McClure opened the semi fin al s with a bye run to the final s, run ning a 7.47/ 173.07. .The tightest race of elirnination s was the run between Rin g and Forem an as bo th r iders ra n 7.70 second s at 167.9 1 mph. The win went , 10 Fo rema n . tho ug h, as he cu t a .058 light to R ing 's . 123, Thi s set up th e third straight McCl ur e versus Fore man fina l in a row . With three wins under hi s belt, including the last two over McClure, For em an was the favorite, despite McClu re's obvio us power advantage. T he momentum was in Forema n 's lane but somethi ng was really strange. T he light never had a cha nce to go green in th e final as both riders redl ight ed ! U n fo rt u n a tel y, Fo rem a n jumped first and hi s winnin g strea k was o ver. T he win was McClure's fir st IHRA tit le. Buck McPhaller, two-time IHRA Pro Com p winner, ope ned Pro Camp eli m inatio ns with an easy win over So u the rn Nationals cham p Dennis Strickland. McPhaller ran a 7.67/ 166.05 to Stri ckl and's losing 8.85 1/ 126.05. Anthony Revels handily defeated Dave Cartwright, running a 7.961 161.29 to Cartwright's 8.46/143.31. National Champion Dwight Seldon also had an easy one as Steve Dawson slipped to an 8.71/138.86 while Seldon clocked a 7.6 l/161.29. The sho rt field bye to the finals went 10 th e number one q ua lifier, Buck Mcl'hauer, wh o ran a 7.73/167.28 to ea rn his th ird fin al round of the year. Dwight Seldon ea rned his second straigh t trip to the finals wh en eas ily handled Anthony Revels for the win. Seldon ran a 7.78 /161.29 to Revels' losing 8.03/161.29. 1I The fin als started with starter Danny Voak waving wildly 10 the two riders 10 stage their bikes. From the looks of things , Mc Ph a t ter on th e nitro ma chine was playing games with Seldon on the turbo. Seldon bumped in first and McPhaller continued to sif, trying 10 ca tch Seldon on the dowristroke. After what felt like a lifetime, Mel-bauer finally bumped into the staged beam. His lillie game didn't work, though" as Seldon cranked out the low ET of the event 10 earn his first win of th e season. Dwight ran a 7.58/164.83 10 McPhaller's losing 7. 7~/ 165.44. Dixie Nationals winner, Jim Bernard led the way in Pro Stock qualifying at the Buckeye Nationals. In round one, Bernard took out Keith Gray, running a 7.88/168.53 to Gray's losing 8.18/160.14. Next up were th e Eagle I Ninja of Dave Schultz and the Boy-Rad Goodyear Suzuki of Lance Boyer. Boyer left on Schultz, but didn 't have enough steam to stay ahead. Schultz drove by, running an 8.1 1/169.81 to Boyer's 8.25 /161.29. Ron Ayers ended the round by defeating Don DeTurck, running a 7.95/168.53 as DeTurck spun badly. In the sem i finals , Bernard ran a 7.99/167.28 on a short-field solo to earn a spot in the finals. On the other side of the ladder, Ayers took a holeshot on the MacTools Racing Suzuki and held o n for th e win over Schultz. Ayers ran an 8.05/162.45 to Schultz's losing 8.04/167.28. The final pitted the carbon-copy ma chines of Ayers and Bernard against each other. As the light went green , Bernard got a slight lead over Ayers and cont in ued on for the win. Bernard ran a 7.96/168.53 to Ayers' game, but losing 8.00/164.83. The win is Bernard's second IHRA Pro Stock win of the season. t:I'I lie