Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DRAG RACING AMAIPRO STARDRAG RACING SERIES Round 6: National Trail Raceway (Above) Billy Vose scored his th ird Nati onal win In fou r final-round appearance s. as he blasted to the win in the Pro Mod class. (Above) Gary Clark loc ked up his second strai ght number-one plate after sco ring his fifth Orient Express Funnyblke Showdown win in a row at the AMA Nationa ls In Columbus, Ohio. (Right) Paul Gast (nea r lane) locked up the Lectron Pro Stock Champ ions hip wnh a final-round win ov er Dave Lang (far lane). By Malt Pollio A la a ~ r-, 0\ 0\ ...... N N .... OJ ..0 o .... u o 40 COLUMBUS, OH, OCT 4-5 h en th e AMA Na ti o n a ls w as added to th e Pr os ta r m otorcycl e drag-ra cing sc h ed u le las t se a son, it looked to be a sure winner. Its pla ce on the sched ule was enviable; its being ru n in the fall just prior to the season-end ing World Finals m e an t th at th e po i n ts chase would be heating up and the cool weather wou ld yield breathtaking performances. And being held in Ohio, one of the ho tbeds of the spo rt, meant that racer participati on w ould certainly be strong . ' The ina ugural AMA Nationals hel d tru e to its promise. Cham pionshi ps we re bo th won and lost a t the event an d, when it was ove r, Na tio nal Trail Raceway laid claim to the quickest runs in history in Funnybike, Pro Modified and Pro Stock. The 1997 ed ition had a hard act to follow, and by the conclus ion of qualifying. this year's even t paled by com parison. Bu t that all c ha nged in eli mina tions, as p erfo rm an ce s a t th e AMA Natio na ls o nce again rewrote the reco rd books. After stu mbling in the opening race of th e se aso n , Gar y Cl ar k h a s b een unstoppable in the Orient Exp ress Fun nybik e Showdown. Clark took his fifth win in a row at O h io, locking up th e nu mber-o ne p late for th e second straight year. Clark qualified number one at 6.11 seconds on his Koenig Kawasa ki and let it all han g o u t i n elimi na tions. He caug ht a br ea k in the se mifinals when his seque ncing timers failed and slowed him to a 7.20. His opponent, Geoff Pollard, had ru n a career-bes t 7.93 in qualifyin g, but sp un a crank in rou nd two and limped to a 10.38 in the semifinals. In the final, Clark reco rded the quickest time ever for the class, a 6.740 at 201 mph, to get by th e MRE b ike of To m Perry, w ho p ut up a ga me 6.83. Perry, who is number tw o in the points, was d isqualified a nd los t all poin ts a n d pu rse for th e eve nt w hen, during teard own, hi s bike was fou nd to have a n illegal electronic de>'ice. Billy Vase is a near lock to defend his nu mbe r-o ne plate in the Fas t by Gast Pro Modifi ed series, taki ng his third wi n in fou r fina l-round appeara nces . Vase, who has ridden three different bikes in co m petition th is season, q ualified hi s new Koenig / Schnit z Su zuki nu m ber one at 7.02 and , like Cla rk, came alive as eliminations progressed. In the semifi nals, Vase , who was the first rider in the class to ru n under seven seconds, became the firs t rid er to ru n under 6.90 with a 6.893 blast to get by Mimmo Marciano . In a replay o f last year's final. Vose took on and bea t the Fast by Ga st Su zuki of Rick Bunting, who ironi cally was fresh off his win over Vase at Atco , Bunting, who had never ran in th e sixes coming into Ohio, ran nothing bu t sixes in eliminations, including a career-best 6.933 in rou nd two. The final wa s th e quickest s ide-by si de ra ce e ver. Vase b acked up the record wi th a 6.894 while Bun tin g fell w ith a stout, but losing , 6.951. All Vose has to do now is show up for the World Finals to success fu lly defend his num ber-one plate. Pa ul Gas t has been ru nning a wa y from the Lectron Pro Stock field all season, althou gh he has felt his competitors nipping at his w heelie bars. At Ohio it came in the semifinal s wh en Keith Gray snapped a holesho t o n him and put up a fine 7.58, which was just edged out by Cas t's 752. Ga st , who qualified number o ne at 7.49, locked up the cham pions hi p wi th his fou rth win of the sea son, getting by Dave Lang in th e final. 7.51 to Lang's off-pace 7.87. . The tightest professional poi nts ba ttle is between the ZX-7Rs of Rickey Gadson and lJuddy Forbus in the 750cc Su perbike class. Forb us took the lead for the first time th is se ason w ith his wi n a t Atco, but Gad son regained the lead with a win a t Ohio . Fo rb us qua lified number o ne at 9.71 /1 38 bu t fell off to a 10.44 in th e semifi nals and lost to Brian Lambert. Lam bert, wh o w e nt to th e fina l at Atlanta and runs the onl y Yamaha in the class, got the holeshot in th e final and ran a 9.95 but couldn't hold off Gadson's 9. 77. Ga dson h old s a mere 20- point advantage over Forbus going into the Wo rld Finals. While Gadson kept his hopes alive in the 750cc Pro Superbike class, he los t the cham pionship in t he Met zeler 600cc SuperSport class to so phomo re se nsation Ern ie Velasco . Throughout the season, Gadson has been having pro blems getting his Mu z zy ZX -6R u p to its potential. while Velasco has scored three wins in four final-round a ppeara nces . With the championship on the line, the two me t in the second round of elimi nations at Ohi o. Gadson, wh o had run a best of 10.67in qualifying. stepped up to a 10.53 agains t Velasco, but it wasn't enough. Velasco led wih a .OU -second holeshot and hit a 10.55 to take the win - and the championship by five-thousan d ths of a second . With the number-on e plate decided, atte ntion tu rned to the race itself. Velasco had a semifinal bye as num ber-one qualifier Keith Dennis pu t down the best oumbers of the event for the class at 10.42/129 to get by Steve Knecu m. Denn is, rid ing Wall ace King' s Brock Davidson-tuned GSXR. took the win when Velasco redlighted in the final. The win marked the first time tha t a Suzuki had ever won in 600cc SuperSport competition. In o t he r sportsma n a ctio n, Ja mes Teasky too k his second win in a row in the APE Su per Camp Se ri e s with a fina l-round wi n ove r two -time '97 runne r-u p Joe Lovejoy, a nd Do u g Emge scored his seco nd wi n in th ree races, getting by Jack Mille r in the RC Compoo ents Super Gas Series fi na l. Ji m Spadaro fou od the winner's circle for th e first time in the Star Perf orma nce Parts Top Gas series, bea ting Jim Insley in the final, w hile Jim Ca rro ll took his first wio after beating John Sharp in' the mone y round o f th e Pingel Pro ET series . Roy Damron took home the tro ph y in Street ET with a final-round win over Chris fulmore. '" Nati ona l Trail Raceway Co lumbus. Ohio Res ults : October 4-5, 1997 (Round 6 of 7) FUN NY BK: 1. (Su ,u . wry C1

• Cover