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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127789
DRAG ·RACE AMAJProstar Drag Racing Series Round 5: Lebanon Valley Dragway , (Left) Gary Clark grab bed his third s traight Orient Express Funnybike title dur ing the . AMAIProstar Northeast Nationa ls at Lebanon Valley Dragway. Clark has been undefeated s ince the debut of his new, turbochar ged, alco hol-Injected Kawasaki. (Below) Steve Drake (near lane) stormed past Rick Bunting (far lane) for the ArlaslS&K Pro Mod victory. By Matt Po lito WEST LEBANON, NY, JUNE 89 t was deja vu all o;er again at the second an nual AMA / Pros t a r Northeast Nationals at Lebanon Valley Dragway. It was a lmost as th ough the 1995 even t was rerun with nearly identical occurrences - fro m the weather, to the lack of Top Fue l bikes, to the Pro finals. Even the sportsman classes had an eerie feeling of redundancy. The wo rst part of the 1995 event - the co ns ta n t th reat of ra in - was b ack in 1996. Midway th rou gh Saturday's second profession al qualifying session, the skies held b ack no mo re, forcing the fie lds to rem ain open u nt il Su n day morning . "Get 'em back to th e lan es" was the battle cry during eliminations as the finals were run with no semblance of order ot he r than w he never the op ponents .were ready. Rain came just minutes after the last fina l was run. The big bu zz was the absence of Top 1 Fu el bikes for th e se con d year in a row . Wh ile Top FueLw as not schedu led to run in 1995, the class w as p osted thi s ye ar, bu t not on e bike sho we d . Each racer individual ly cited th e cost of traveli ng to New York - for man y the farthest eve nt of the seaso n - alon g with the lack of season endin g p oints fund . Whi le the term " boy co t t" wa s nev er u s ed , i t sure smelled like it. The Orient Express Funnybike final looked much like it did in 1995 bu t with a much d iffe rent resu lt . Both years' fin als sho wcased Gary Clark on a hot s tre ak facing o ff against Keith Lynn, who wa s man a g ing to go round s despit e hav in g h andling problems . Clark kicked out a rod out during the fin al-rou n d b urnou t in 1995, hi s lu ck held ou t a year later. Clark put down a stout 7.04-second shot at 193 mph to get easily by Lynn, who shut off and recorded a 7.78/132. The wi n made it three in a row for Clark. who continues to ru n spectacularly since the d ebut of his new Koen igchassised, turbocharged, injec ted-alcohol Kawas aki. Sinc e his m aid en voyage in Alaba ma, C la rk 's m a ch in e h a s rem a in ed u n d ef e ate d in competi tion, compiling an 11-0 record in e li m in a ti on rounds. With tuning help from Rick Stetson, Clark has reached new performance levels, culminating in a career-best 6.94second elapsed time , run in the semifinals, against a resurgent Steve Rice . Ironically, Clark sees even more poten tial for the new ride. "We are getting a han- . d ie on the tuning mor e w ith every p ass," Clark said. "Once we ge t the 330-foo t times where we wa nt them this bike will be a so lid 6.80-second performer." (Left) Jon Cornell (shown ) became a first-time winner, grabb ing the Metzeler 600cc Supersport crown after opponent Rickey Gadson missed a sh ift. (Below) Former Super ModChampion Ron Blake (right) didn 't appear to be hampered by his part-time competitor status, as he became only the third rider In AMAIProstarhistory to capture to National classes at the same event . 40