Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 9: B rainerd Internatio al Raceway n •• • By Kev in McKen na BRAINERD,MN,AUG. I9-22 ' ile cha m pio ns hip con ten ders Angelle Seeling , A n t ron Bro wn, and Ma tt Hi nes fu mbled and stu mb led their way to a trio of stu nni ng early-round defeats, unheralded second-year rider Cra ig Treble constructed one of the mos t un likely upsets in the histor y of the Pro Stock Bike class wh en he rod e his Suz uki GSX-R to the win at the Co lonel's Truck Accessories NHRA Na tiona ls in Brainerd, Minn esota. Up u n t il a yea r ago , T re b le was en joying a successfu l ca reer as one o f the do mina nt riders in NHRA's Sportsman Motorcycle series, but when he go t an opportu nity to make the ju mp to the Pro Stock Bike d ivisio n, he di dn' t hesi tate. Treble also d idn't hesitat e when he had a chance to bu y out his partner, Bob Read , a nd s tr ike o u t on h is own . H e made his d ebut as a tea m ow ner a memorable one as he became the fifth d iffer ent rid e r to w in i n 1999 w he n h e stopped Dave Schultz in the final. "Th is is too much for me to believe," Treble sa id . "Three weeks ago, I go t an opportu ni ty to form my own team, and I took it. I b ou gh t a bike fro m Matt Hines and went to wo rk. We go t it ou t of the paint shop just three days before we came up here. I've al ways had a goal of winning on e o f th es e ra ces, I just never exp ected it to happen so soo n. This bike has eight passes on it, and all eig ht of them we re made right here, this weeken d. I got a lot of bre ak s today wh en I ne eded the m, but my bike ran flaw lessly all week end, too." . " Treble ran well in qua lifying w ith a seven th-bes t 7.41, and his pa th to the final was made cons iderably easier by th e departure of Hi nes, Seeling, and Brown, who fell in a string of incredi ble upsets that hi ghli ghted th e opening round of elimina tions. ., Hin es, th e rei g ni ng tw o-time class cha m pio n, was the first to go as he d ouble-cl ut ch ed his Van ce & H ines Eagle One Suzuki on the starting line, and had one of the wors t reaction tim es of h is ca reer. H ine s tried h is be st to catch number-16 qu alifier Ch ris Reuter, bu t he came up em p ty as Reuter crossed th e fin ish li ne fi rst w ith a 7.55 , b eating Hin es' mu ch qui cker 7.35. "Even though I was late, I thou gh t I cou ld ca tch him," Hines sa id . "I d on ' t kn ow wha t else to say, except that I' m get tin g tired of this. If we wa nt to catch Angelle in the points, we' re goi ng to have to stop going ou t ea rly like this. 1t's pretty frustra ting , especially when you have the quickest bik e in the field and you ar en' t winni ng races." Seeling, who entered the even t leading the point s battl e, wa tched Hines go ou t but couldn' t capitalize on his misfortune as she had a late ligh t of her ow n and pa id th e price ag ains t C} , Smith, who wo n w ith a 7.48 to Seeling's qu ick_ er 7.40. Lik e Hin es, Seeli ng w as mor e , than disgu sted by her own performance. "When Matt ran , I purposely put my head down and closed my eyes because I d idn't wa nt to see what he ran , or let it affect m y conce n tra tio n," Seeling sai d . "Whe n I found ou t that he got beat , I said aga ins t T on gl e t a n d Tony Mu lle n, respect ively . Hea di ng in to the final , Schu ltz had Treble cove red by nearl y a tenth of a second ." "If I' m goi ng to bea t Dave, I' m go ing to ha ve to d o it on the s ta rting line," sa id Trebl e, w ho has been a mong the class 's rea ction-tim e leaders the la s t tw o seasons . "We d on ' t p lan to mak e a ny b ig cha nges t o o u r tu n e- u p , because I'm sad to say, we ar en't go ing to ge t the bike to run a 7.37 like Dave's bike." Schul tz go t aw ay fro m the st arting lin e first and, as many p redicted , wa s well on his wa y to his second straig ht wi n when the transm ission bu g bit him a s well. Sch u lt z ' s Sunoco Su z uki mom entarily ' wo u ld n' t go into fou rth gear, and as he was ridi ng the rev limiter, Treble squeezed by for the wi n. "Dave was out on me and there 's no d oubt he was goi ng to get to the finish lin e firs t," Tre ble said . "Then I pa ssed him , so I a ss u med th a t he mus t ha ve had trouble shifting . It's still hard for me to believe tha t I actually wo n this race. I'm in a state of shock." WYJ (Left) Former NHRA Sportsman Motorcycle champ Craig Treble scored his first National-event victory s ince moving to the Pro Stock category when he rode his brand-new Suzuki to the victory in Brainerd. (Below) Dave Schultz (far lane) was well on his way to his 44th National-event title in the tinal round when his transmiss ion wouldn't sh ift, allowing Treble (near lane) 10 drive by tor a 7.4 4-7.53 victory. to myself tha t I had to win that ro und. All I wanted to do was to make sure that I didn't red-light, andI end ed up squeezing the clutch lever so tight that I was late. The only reason I'm not suicid al is becau se Matt and Antro n also go t beat , so we didn't get hurt in the points." Brown ' s cha nce to g ain grou nd on Seelin g also wen t away in round one when his Team 23 Suzu ki wo uld n' t shift into second gea r against Gary Tongl et, w ho roll e d to a 7.5 3 fo r t h e win a s Brown coas ted to a stop we ll before the finish line. Never befor e have thr ee mor e heavily favo red rid ers fail ed to su rvive th e opening round , bu t their loss was Treble's gai n. The Chandler, Arizona, racer matched his qua lifying time with a 7.41 in ro u nd one to beat Steve Joh nson's Ward Performance Suzuki, an d in th e second round, he go t th e best of Team An ok a -Ramsey' s John Smi th, a Mi nnesota nati ve and a fan favori te at Braine rd . Smit h hurt his eng ine during h is open ing- ro u nd win over Brian Ay er s, and in an effort to make u p for lost performan ce, re d- lig h ted a gai nst Tre ble, wh o ran a 7.44 for the win . Treb le, wh o had never advanced past the semifinals in his Pro Stock career, did so with a 7.45 agai nst Greg Underd ahl, who slowed to a 7.75 wh en his Tas Racing entry wouldn't shift into high gea r. "Eve ry cha nge we've made, the bike seems to like," Treble said . "We're runnin g a qu arter of a seco nd quicker this year than we d id last yea r at this race, and I believe this new bike is a big part of tha!." On the ot her side of the ladder, Dave Sch u ltz w as carving hi s w ay into hi s thi rd fina l ro und in the last four races . The s ix- ti me N H RA Pro St o ck Bik e cha m pio n , who recently wo n his 43rd NH RA title in Denver, followed "his 7.41 effort in rou nd one wit h a pair of 7.37s Brainerd International Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Resu lts: August 20-22, 1999 (Round 9 of 14) . en en en PRO STOC K FINA L: Cra ig Treble (Suz) 7.44. 177.44; 2. Dave Schultz (Suz) 753, 179.16. a> Upcoming Rounds: Rou nd 10 . Indian apol is . Indiana , September 1·6 Round 11 - Re a ding. Pennsy lvania. September 17-19 .c G; E li CI> en 41

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