Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDRAG RACE e 2nd Annual ProStar Sum emationaIs m Dave Sch ultz (far lane) top~ J ohn Myers in the ,Orient Express Pro Stock final . In the Top Fuel Harley final, Jim Md:lure (far lane) edged Bill Furr for the win . Schultz smokes' yr Summernationals Mesat By Tony Williams jACKSONVIW, NC, AUG. 4 ave Sch ul tz an d J ohn Myers met for the fourth time this seaso n in the Orient Exp ress Pro Stoc k Shootout, this ti me at the Surnrnernatio nals, held at Coastal Plains Dragwa y. This ti me, however, it wa s Sch ultz powering his Vance &: H in es/ Eagle O ne-sponsored Kawasa ki down the eighth-mile dragstrip fastest, Myers, the defending ProStar Summernatio nals Cha m pion, was Saturday 's fast q ualifier aboard the Star Racing/Wax Sho p Suzuki GSX RllOO, with a run of 4.983 seconds at 143.76 miles per hour. Schultz took a different approach to qualifying. After posting Saturday's second fastest time of 5.02 1/1 45.63 aboard the Vance &: Hines Su zuki , he returned aboard his tri ed and tru e Kawasaki in Sunday's one shot Pro qual ifying session. Schultz burned down th e dra gstrip for an identical 5.021/145.63, posting a new ProStar National speed record. As was the norm for this event, Sch ultz and Myers stayed within twoh undredths of a second of each ot her throughout eli mi na tio ns, and met i n the Orient E xp res s P ro Stoc k Shootout, D 24 In the final, Sch ultz nailed Myers o n the tree wi th a reaction time of .458 seconds to .493, and went on to score the win wit h a slower time of 5.057/ 138.46, top ping Myers' quicker 5.038/ 138.03. . Sportsma n Eli m i n a to r victori es were pu lled in by Steve Sanders who padded his points lead in the Star Racing Top Gas Series, and Rick Perry in the Vance &: H ines Super Camp Series. Jim Sh ifflett's APE Pro Gas Series victory moved him up to first in points. Defendi ng World Champion Bob Carlson. won both th e Mikuni Super Gas Series and th e Pingle E.T. Seri es, while Bill Sauer topped the Super Mod ified class . In the EBC Brak es T op Fuel Clas sic, Ralph Smith rod e hi s Big 4-spo nsored Kaw asa ki to h is first ever ProStar Na tional event victory. Sm ith 's biggest break came in round one, when he mat ch ed up again st fast qua lifier Elmer. T rett, wh o q ua lified with a 4.447 aboard hi s T rett Speed &: Cu sto m/ Moun tain Magic-backed Kawa saki. Smith, who had qualified with a stout 4.709, deep staged in h is ru n with T rett. That threw Elmer off, as he left before the tree was acti vated and gave Smi th the au toma tic win wit h a 4.737-133.13. Smith's final ro und opponent was Tony La ng on the Pingle Enterprise/ Falicon/Lang T uning-backed Suzuki. Lang hel d a slight performance advantage , posting a 4.699-145.63 defeating Larry McBride in round one, and a 4.733-156.25 effort against T erry Kizer on the Orient Express Suzuki in the sem is. However, Lang bogged off the starting line in his bout wi th Smith and that was all Smith needed, as his 4.743/ 173.07 made Lang a bridesmaid for the third time this year. Smith's 173.07 was top speed of th e meet, J im McClure successfu lly defended hi s ProStar Summernationals Champ ionship in th e Rivera/Primo Top Fuel H arl ey Clash. McClure, on his Ri vera Engin eering/P erforman ce Mach in e/Mast er Performance-back ed Harley-Davidson met and defeated Bill Furr in the final. MCClure, who qualified fastest, in the four-bike field with an effort of 4.794. was actually tra iling Furr in the final , but the motor gave up in Furr 's motorcycle at abo ut 500 feet, allowing McClure to sq ueeze by for the victory, 5.081-143.76 to 5.269at a slowing I 14.50. For the first time th is season, -someo ne o ther th an R ickey Gadson won the Slick 50 P ro Camp Challen ge. Dwight Seldon o n th e Gimb le &: Seldonsponso red Kawasa ki scored the victory. Seldon simply out-horsepowered the field, including Gadson, strapping a new ProStar ational record performan ce o n the four-time winner at 4.578 in the semis, blasting Gadson 's 4.792, Seldon's semi run was the fastest of the day . In th e final, Seldon met up wi th Mike Wettstein on the Boy's Racing Team Kawasaki. Wettstein, who was running in the 4.80s, was no match for Seldon , as he la id a 4.598-153.58 on Wettstein 's vain 5.055-134.32. Man y ProStar National records were set. Schultz rode to a new eigh th -mile sp eed record at a fast 145.63, ba cked up with a 144.69. Dwight Seldon pu t , himself int o the record books with a 4.578, with Ri ckey Gadson sett ing a new FX/ AT speed record at 155.17. Also getti ng into the record books was Robert Giard , who set both ends of th e B/ GP Nati on al record at 7.381-89.10. Don Plesser bagged both ends of the B/GN reco rd wi th a 5. 149- 135.54 performan ce. a

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