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DRAG RACE • AMA/PROST ORIENT EXPRESS AR U.S M TOR . O CYCLENATIONALS . -r··:' ";~:<" _" " "'.-"~"_ ... ~~ ••' .." '.• ,', Round 6: Atco Raceway '...... " ' ~ ATCO, N). SEPT. 11-13 e tera n Pro Stock rid er Pau l Ga st proved old age a n d treachery beat you th and en thusias m as he tu rned back so me of the hott est you ng stars in Pro Stock mo torcycle racing to take his fourth win of the season at the AMA / Pros tar Ll.S, Motorcycle Nationals at Atco Raceway. The Ll.S, Motor cycle Na tionals is the longest-runn in g and one o f the most pres tigi ou s meets in mot or cy cle drag racing. For 34 yea rs the event has been Gast and H in e s met in t h e fi n al , . w here Hin es go t a nea r-p e r fect .403reacti on -time holes hot. Gast, who ra n the most consistent laps in elimina tions, pulled away fro m Hines and took the wi n at 7.38/180 mph to 7.44/1 80. "Bea ting Ma tt and Byron is qui te an accom p lish men t," C ast said . "I don't ca re w h a t yo u sa y, th a t b ike ha s the potentia l to ru n 7.20s a nd those guys we re there to win ." Ton y Sabino padded his points lead in the Fast by Gas t Pro Modified series at Atco wi th his third s traight win . The number-tw o man in th e poin ts, Rick the semifinals to garner lane choice in th e fina l over DeC ler k . In th e mon ey rou nd , Rice pu t down the best per formance of the weekend wi th a 7.11 at 201 mph but gave up the win ligh t. DeClerk go t the holeshot and used a 7.17/ 187 to fend o ff t he ch a rging Kawa sa ki a n d score his first AMA /Prostar win . While Mu zzy Kawasaki factory rid er Rickey Gadson has owned the 750cc Pro Superbike class on his ZX-7R thi s seaso n, he can feel the competi tio n sneakin g u p o n him . A ft e r two ro u nd s of qualifying at Atco, Rob McCraw, who replaced the injured Ben Koch on Koch's Bill Sauer cla im ed his firs t victo ry s ince 1993, w he n he took ou t Roman Cosne r in th e final of the RC Component s Super Gas series. Saue r, the 1991 Su per Mod cha m p io n, ret ir ed following the '9 3 seaso n due to ba ck problems bUI e nd ed hi s fo u r-yea r hiatus thi s seaso n o n a C &B Perform ance Kawa s aki. Hi s br oth er Bru ce , the o w n er o f C&B , ha s three Super Gas wi ns th is seaso n a nd cu rren tly leads the points. In other spo rts ma n action, Juan Cintron scored his second APE Super Comp series win in a row, qualifyin g number held at Atco Raceway in southwest New Jersey. The facility is show ing its age, however, as dips and rolls in the racin g su rface made the U.S. Nationals a true rider' s ra ce . As one At co local put it, "Ateo is a !ricky bitch." But nobody knows it as good as Gast. "I've raced there since the early '60s," sa id Gast. "I know this track like it' s my driveway." Ga st p lac ed third in qualifying for the event with his 7.38-second elapsed time falling behind num ber -one qualifier Antron Brown, who turned in a stou t 7.33 on Troy Vincent's Team 23 Suzuki, and Shawn Ga nn, who hit a 7.37 on the Gann Custom Speed Suzuki. Followi ng Gas t in qu alify in g wa s NH RA cha mpion Mat t H in es with a 7.44 o n the Va nc e & Hi nes /Eagle 1 Su zu ki. H ine s was using the even t to test for the NHRA Keys tone Na tio nals the following weekend and used an NHR.A-Iega l tw o- va lve motor a s o p pose d to th e 1500cc-plu s fourval ves a llo wed in Prostar competition . Bunting, suffered a d evastatin g bl ow when his Fast by Gast Suzuki burned to the gro u nd following a nit rous system malfunction during Atco's Friday night "test and tun e" sess ion . Sabino stole the pole on his Fran co's Performance Suzuki with a last sess ion 6.91 /1 95 to turn ba ck th e earl ier 6.92/191 by rookie sensation Dave Lombardi. Sabino an d Lombardi eventually met in th e final where both had p roblems ge tting down the track. Lombardi, who d estroyed an engi ne in the second rou nd, fell off to a 7.28 as Sabino took the wi n wit h a 7.10 effort. The Orient Express Funnybike field ra n off-pace performances as the hig hhorsepower b ikes h a d a tou gh tim e negoti ating th e A tco ra ce tra ck . Rich DeClerk held the number-one sp ot at 7 .23 seconds o n h is nitro-i njec ted Ha rley Da vid son - ov er half a se cond b eh in d t h e nationa l re cord o f 6.70 seconds . Kawasaki rider Steve Rice step ped up th e pace in eliminat ion s, h itting a 7.16 time on his turbo-alcoh ol ZX-11 in ZX-7R, held the number-one qu ali fying position at 9.52 seconds . Gad son and cre w ch ief Da ve Messimer regrouped and used the final tw o sess ions to reset their own record to 9.32 seconds and grab the number-on e spot for the sixth straight time. In the final , Gadson met David Mayo, the only rid er to beat Gadson this season. Mayo, who ran a personal-bes t 9.47 on his Rockd ale Cycles ZX-7R in qu alifying, fell off to a 10.43 "as Gadson turned in a 9.36 to take his fifth win of the season. Keit h Den nis moved a step closer to his goal of a nu mb er-one p late in Kerker 600cc SuperSport act ion, taki ng his fifth w in in s ix fi na l-rou n d ap pearances . Den nis held his lock on pole posit ions this season w ith a 10.31/131 to qua lify the F&S ZX-6R nu mber one at Atco , Dennis wa s u nmatche d in eliminations and was the only rider to run in the 10.305. He took on Michael Phillips in the final where Phillips d rew a red-light foul, handin g Dennis the victo ry . Wit h only two races remaining in the seaso n, Dennis has a virtual lock on the championship. Paul Gast proved that Prosta r is his terri tory as the veleran turned back NHRA superstar Matt Hines In the fi nal at Atco. By Matt Polito 32 I one and getting by Pau l Cooksey in the final. Mike Konopacki took his first Star Pe rformance Parts win of th e season, handing Atlanta winner Scott Wall his second straight fina l-round loss. Joh n Sharp loo k top honor s in the Pinge l P ro ET s e r i e s with a fi n al ro und vic tory over Serge Jet te . Jam es C u lb rea th too k h om e th e trop h y in S t ree t ET , a dva nci ng p a st t h e 102 en tered bikes to tak e ou t Jeff Bowman in the fin al. ..~ Alco Raceway Alco, New Jersey Results: September 11-13 ,1998 (Round 6 of 8) rRO STOCK ANAL: 1. Paul C as t (Su;£ 7.38/ 1RO; ) 2. Matt H ines (Suz) 7.44 / 180. Upcoming Rounds: Round 7· Houston, Texas. October 10·11 Round 8 • Gainesville. Florida. November 20-22