Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DRAG RACING AMAIPROSTAR U.S. MOTORCYCLE NATIONALS Round 2: The Rebel Nationals (Left) Defending Funnybike Champion Gary Clark won his first race of the se'ason at the Atlanta Racew!y, clocking a 7.08-second run to beat Tom Perry. (Above) Neil Lane recorded a 6.91-second at 199.20 mph in the Funnybike class during qualifying - the quickest ever in the class. (Below) Bill Vose drops the hammer en route to winning the Pro Modified class. By Matt Polito ATLANTA, GA, MAYlO-ll fter being rained out on the first attempt, the rescheduled . AMA/Prostar Rebel Nationals, held at Atlanta Dragway, saw spectacular weather, booming Pro Modified performances, and some new stars emerging in the sportbike classes. Rain during the original date of the event on April 25-27 not only washed out the Rebel Nationals but the NASCAR Talladega event and the NHRA Virginia race. All three were rescheduled for the Mother's Day weekend. Defending Orient Express Funnybike champion Gary Clark took his first win of the season in typical fashion, qualifying on pole position and scoring the quickest run of the event. Clark, riding his injected-alcohol Koenig Kawasaki, fought traction problems throughout the event but stepped up to a 6.863-second elapsed time in the first round of eliminations. In the final, Clark turned back the MRE bike of Tom Perry, 7.08-7.13. Perry was looking for his second straight victory. At the opening event of the season, the Sunshine Nationals in Gainesville, FJorida, Billy Vose became the first Pro Modified rider to crack into the six-second zone, running a historic 6.97 to become the charter member of the "Fast by Gast Six Second Club." Vose opened the floodgates, as a total of 10 were recorded at Atlanta. The first one was controversial, as former FUI).nybike Champion Neal "Fast" Lane, riding Scott Crippen's electronically fuel-injected, turbocharged Suzuki, stormed to a pole-securing 6.919 at 199.20 mph - the quickest ever for the class. The run drew an uproar from the majority of the competitors who run nitrous oxide-assisted, normally aspirated machines. While they have always maintained that turbocharged engines provide an unfair horsepower advantage, their real protest centered on the EFI system. Though legal for the class, A EFI is in conflict with the traditional drag-racing dictum that no electronic devices are allowed to control any real-. time functions of a vehicle. While Lane lived by the sword, he died by that same sword as his turbo failed in the semifinals, allowing Rick Perry to advance. On the other side of the ladder, Vose and Tony Sabino were on a six-second collision course. Sabino, riding Joe Franco's Suzuki, hit a ~pectacular 6.92 in round one of eliminations to join Vose and Lane in the Fast by Gast club. Both Vose and Sabino recorded sixes in the second Iound, leading up to their semifinal meeting which saw the first side-byside sixes, with Vose taking the win light, 6.96-6.97. Vose took his second victory in a row - and closed out eliminations with all sixes - beating Perry in the final, 6.937.13. In a shocking move, Vose sold his Koenig Suzuki at the conclusion of the event, making the rest of the season - and his defense of his number-one plate uncertain. Paul Gast continued his dominance of the Lectron Pro Stock series, taking his second victory in a row. Gast held a comfortable performance advantage on the rest of the field and took out first-time finalist Ron Riddle in the final, 7.54-7.81. Defending Kawasaki Pro Superb ike Champion Buddy Forbus looked to have the Atlanta title in his back pocket. Forbus came to the event with a new Jerry Cooper bullet after impaling a piston with a valve at the Sunshine Nationals. Forbus took the number-one qualifying spot and, in his first-round bye, recorded the low elapsed time of the meet with a 9.479 clocking - more than a tenth quicker than the rest of the field. But drag racing is an unforgiving sport. Forbus had semifinal opponent Rickey Gadson covered, but momentarily lost a grip on his ZX-7R, opening the door for Muzzy Kawasaki of Gadson, who took the win, 9.97-10.07. In straight-track racing, there is no second lap to make up for a mistake. Gadson met first-time finalist Brian Lambert in the money round and, after losing the holeshot to Lambert's Yama- ha, rode around him for the win by a 10.01-10.07 margin. The win was Gadson's second in a row. Gadson has been the star of the Metzeler 600cc SuperSport series, holding the number-one plate in the class as well as taking the win at the opening event of the year. He found himself in the unfamiliar position of being in the third qualifying position at the Atlanta event. Even more unfamiliar, Gadson lost in the second round to Gerald Byrd. With a strong headwind hampering qualifying, the 600cc field was well off pace with one exception - Ohio's Jon Cornell. Cornell, who won the 1996 AMA/Prostar Northeast Nationals, took the pole with a personal best of 10.56 seconds. Proving the run was no fluke, Cornell sprinted to the quickest time ever for the class at 10.342 seconds in round one of eliminations. Clutch problems kept Cornell from retaining his performance advantage as Ernie Velasco, who was the runner-up to Gadson at the first race of the year, plowed through the field with consistent 10.40s. The two met in the final, which saw Cornell red-light, and Velasco take his first title. Shawn Gann took the win in the Star Performance Parts Top Gas series, leveraging a stellar .412 reaction time to get by Mike Moore Jr. in the final. Former Pro Gas Champion Juan Cintron took his first event win in more than a year, scoring the APE Super Comp win over Randy Smith, while Joey Cole took his second RC Components Super Gas title in the last three. events, beating Jack Miller in the money round. Mike Wolf proved to be the best of 110 entries in the Pingel Pro ET series, taking out perennial late-round finisher Doug Emge in the final, and Richard Benson proved that the third time's a charm, bringing home the Street ET trophy after losing his last two final-round appear.ances. Benson, a former Rookie of the Year, beat Ray Metzger in the final. ("N Atlanta Dragway Atlanta, Georgia Results: May 10-11, 1997 FUNNY BIKE: 1. Gary Clark (Kaw); 2. Tom Perry (Suz). PRO MOD,!. Bill Vase (Suz); 2. Rick Perry (5uz). PRO STOCK: L Paul Gast (Suz): 2. Ron Riddle (5uz). PRO S/BK: 1. Ricky Gadson (Kaw); 2, Brian Lambert (Yam). TOP GAS: 1. Shawn Gann (Suz); 2. Mike Moore Jr. (Kaw). SUPER COMP: 1. Juan Cintron (l

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