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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127566
Ron Ayers (left) defeated Lance Boyer in the final to earn his first National win. The event was the first to run under a nl!W weight rule, which resulted in ~ lot of close racing. • i ers sur rIse WInner at ouston BAYTOWN, IX, MAR 6-8 reliminary rounds of Pro Stock eliminations usually end up being a formality; everyone knows that John Myers, David Schultz, Byron Hines, and either James Bernard or John Mafaro will hog the four semi finals spots, so why bother with qualifying and the first two rounds, right? At the Slick 50 Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, jaded fans got their answer. There, for once, none of the riders who have dominated the sport since Terry Vance retired in 1988 were still around for the semis, and since the event was the first of the expanded ll-race NHRA season, none currently hold their usual positions atop the Winston points standings. In a refreshing change of pace, the final four at Houston consisted of Lance Boyer, rookie Michael Phillips, Ron Ayers, and John Smith - hardly "nonames," but with exactly zero victories between them, definitely not the ones anyone expected to see. Sure enough, the longest long shots of the four, Boyer and Ayers, survived the semi finals to appear in perhaps the least likely final ever. Ayers, appearing in his first final on his three-year-old Mac Tools Suzuki GSXR, defeated Boyer whose only previous final-round experience had come at the 1989 Springnationals, where he lost to Mafaro P 22 - for his first major title and the top spot in the points standings. Ayers, who rose from the number 12 position, sped to an effortless 7.88 - a time that would have positioned him just 13th in the 16-bike field had it come during qualifying - to take the lopsided final virtually uncontested. After gaining a slight early lead, Boyer was rendered powerless when his transmission refused to engage third gear. "1 don't know what to say," a breathless Ayers said after the final. "This is definitely the highlight of my career. 1 had no idea it would be as exciting as it is, but 1 was fairly consistent, didn't make any mistakes, and here 1am." To get there, Ayers upset surprise number five qualifier Gary Tonglet in round one, 7.84/166 to 7.86/170. He then slowed to a 7.90 in the second round but still won easily when Paul Gast fouled. The pext round, the semi finals, came even easier: He took a single when Smith's Suzuki broke a valve behind the starting line on his "dry hop" practice launch. "After we got to the final eight (round two), 1 really felt that John Smith was the one to beat," Ayers said. "But behind the starting line, the track was so good that it was pulling the motors down as we did our dry hops. 1 said to myself, 'Someone is going bust a ~ain or something: and then 1 heard John's engine go. 1thought, 'Hmmm. 1 can win, lean win.'" Ayers, besides being one of just a handful of riders other than the established hitters - reigning champ Myers, three-time champ Schultz, preseason title favorite Hines, perennial late-round finisher Bernard, and Mafaro, the 1989 event winner and series champion - to win an NHRA race, has to be the only one to do it without facing any of them on his way to the top. Bernard didn't show up (he'll open his season at the Gatornationals, where he won last season); Mafaro was beaten in the second round by the fast-rising Smith, who stunned everyone but the insiders when he took the pole with a 7.71 and set low e.t. of the first two rounds at 7.74 and 7.77; Hines was upset in round two by Phillips, who rides Harry Lartigue's Suzuki GSXR; and Myers was knocked off in the same frame by Boyer's Ohio-based '91 GSXR, which set top speed of the meet at 178.04 mph. But at least those four still had a bike to roll back into the trailer after they were defeated, which is more than Schultz can say. The veteran racer, among the two top-ranked riders in the world since 1987, crashed at the height of his first official run of the season, a 167-mph charge in the opening qualifying session on Boyer's backup bike. Schultz apparently was victimized by Houston Raceway Park's infamous rightlane bumps. "1 knew 1 was in trouble, but 1 didn't think it was that bad. 1 just thought 1 was going to lose the run," Schultz said of his scariest ride. "With every bounce, 1 kept getting closer to the wall. I've been riding a long time, but this time, the bike just wouldn't respond." Schultz's right hand was broken, but he has every intention of being back in competition in two weeks at the Motorcraft Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.. By then, it should be apparent whether the Ayers-Boyer Slick 50 Nationals final was an aberration or if the new weight-break rules changes imposed by NHRA in the off-season (bikes no longer are classified according to weightper-ec; now all must weigh 615 pounds) really do signal the start of a new era of Pro Stock parity. Maybe now half of the field - not just the established superstars of the sport will have a legitimate shot to win. c:I' Results NHRA WINSTON SERIES PRO STOCK POINT STANDINGS Wter 1 of Ueventsl, 1. Ron Aye.. (1110); 2. Lance Boyer (914); 3. John Smith (782); 4. Michael Phillips (712); 5. John Myers (530); 6. Byron Hines (528); 7. Paul Gas! (526); 8. John Malara (518); 9. Gary Tongl" (324); 10. David Schultz (322).