Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DRAG RACE ProStar National Championship Drag RaceSeries: Final ronnd ~ In the T op Fuel final, Larry McBride (near lane) edged Brian Johnson (far lane). In the Pro Comp fin al , Robert Giard (far lane) lost to Andy Gotsis (near lane). 'M r ered h in Florid c id ot B a By Tony Williams BRADENTON, FL.NOV 10 . arry McBride topped Brian J ohnson in the EBC Brakes T op Fuel Class ic final at the concluding round of the ProS tar Nation als, held at Desoto Memorial Drag Strip. McBride co ntinued his la te season domination of the class with a string of mid-six-second elapsed times on his APE / A R T / M eg a C yd e/ W h i p p l e In d u stri es/ Cycl e Specia lis t- ba cked Suzuki. McBride scored h is fourth Top Fuel Classic win of th e season, and locked up the EBC Brakes ProStar World Ch am pionship with his defeat - of Elmer T rett in the semi-final round. McBride led q ua lifying wi th the third-q u ickest pass in ProStar hi stor y at 6.510 seconds, sett ing to p speed of the meet in th e process with a 208.09 mph charge. Also qual ifying with sixsecond time slips were Brian J oh nson who zipped to th e number two spot o n hi s Yama ha with a 6.741 and Elmer Trett, who took the th ird rung on the ladder wi th a 6.823 effort on his P erfo rmance Machin e/ T subak il Tre tt's Speed & Cu stom -backed "Mou ntain Magic" Kawasaki. Both McBride an d Johnson easi ly sawed their way through the elimi na - L 14 tion rounds. In . round one, McBride dispos ed of the turbo Kawasak i of Steve Drake, 6.6831207.80 to 7.6411182.77, whil e Johnson blasted T ony Lang's turbo Suzuki fro m th e sho w with a low elapsed tim e of the ro und at 6.679/ 203.25 to La ng 's 7.735/ 179.14. McBride and T rett squared off in the semi-finals with McBride blasting to a 6.682/ 198.58 win , while Trett blew thetire off on a smoky 7.630/145.39 loss. Brian J ohnson con tin ued h is sixsecond pace aga inst Ron Webb , h itt ing a 6.769/201.61 as Webb drew a red light and shut off his Kawasaki. The fin al proved to be the most exciti ng race of the day as McBride took an early starting line advantage over J ohnson , .495 to .527. By midtr a ck, however , J ohnson an d his Ya ma ha m ov ed a he a d . McBride pl ugged h is Suzuki in high gear and bar ely put his front wh eel ahea d of J ohson 's at the finish lin e to win by l I-tho usa nd ths of a second, 6.608/ 206.42 to 6.587/ 200.93. " Harold Adcock , my crew ch ief, sai d I had better be on ti me aga inst Bria n ," said McBri de, " beca use the Eng lishman had hi s deal hopped -up for the final race against us. It 's amazing that two motorcycles can run so q uick and so fast together li ke Bria n an d I j ust did. " Dave Schultz was the class of the field in the Orient Exp ress Pro Stock Shoot-O ut on the Van ce & Hines/ Eagle I-b ack ed Kawasaki. Sch u ltz q ua lified fastest at 7.688 and fro m that poin t on never loo ked back. After a first round sing le at 7.708, Sch ultz h it consistent 7.60s th ro ughout th e remaining' elimination rou nd s. A 7.663/ 174.85 did in La nce Boyer's 7.861 in the second ro und and a lo w estimated time of th e meet sho t at 7.637/ 173.41 too k ou t the foul starting Suzuki of John Mafaro in th e semis . O n the ot her side of the ladder was J ohn Myers at th e controls of the Star R acin g /Wax Shop -backed Suzu ki . Myers bea t Will iam Ziros' Suzuki by a tenth of a second in the first ro und, 7.783 to 7.866 and took a 7.716 to 8. 109 decision from Rickey Gadso n in the second stanza. Myers blasted to his best lap of the weekend on a sing le run in the semis, h itti ng a superb 7.662/ 172.44 to get set for Schul tz in the finale. ~ Sch ultz was not to be beaten o n this day, how ever , as his 7.695 /173.61 ' overw helmed Myers' 7.812/1 64.56 to give the Van ce & Hines/Eagle One team their fifth Orient Express Pro Stoc k Shoot-O u t victory of the season. Bill Fu rr capped off a tremendou s seaso n by winning th e Rivera/Primo T op Fuel H arl ey Cla sh World Cham- p io nship as well as the Cycle- Rama World Fin al s title aboard his Ora ngeburg Cycl e/D ixie Fram es/ Wood y's Pawn Sh op-backed 145-cubi c inch H arl ey-Davidson. Furr beat defe ndi ng champ J im McClure, in the semi -fina ls, 7.358/ 176.26 to 7.450/1 83.07 and locked up the titl e before meeting Johnn y Vickers on J on Marchman 's Brazos Vall ey Racing Sportster in the final. Vickers had run as quick as 7.686 on only his th ird pass , but was no match for Furr in the money ru n. Furr record ed th e q uic kest pass at 7.260/ 184.08 m ph to sto p Vickers' 7.885/ 172.84. " I rea lly wanted to en d the year with th e first 190 miles-per-hour Top Fuel Harl ey pass," said Furr, " bu t tha t 7.26 certainly made up for it." The Slick 50 Pro Co m p Ch all enge saw some outstanding perform an ces turne d in o n the sticky quarter mile. Even tua l winner Andy Gotsis hit a spec tacular 7.129/191.97 on h is Heyser 's Kawasaki -sponsored Kawasaki turbo to the quickest Pro Comp ride r. ProStar National s cha m p, Bob Mall oy jum ped on John Sands' nitro Honda and promptly became the qu ickest injected-nitro rider with a stunn ing 7.354 ela psed time, backed up with a . 7.39. The Slick 50 Pro Comp Challengefin al p itted Gotsis agai ns t Rob ert Giard 's injected-ga so li ne burning Kawasaki. Gotsis stole the win with a 7.815/13 3.63 to Giard's 7.875/164.56. Cl'I

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