Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series Round 10: Brainerd International Raceway STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN McKENNA BRAI!'IERD, MN, AGG. 17-19 T eam Winston's Angelle Savoie, who has led the points battle for the NHRA Pro Stock Bike championship for most of the season, suddenly has company at the top of the standings. Although Savoie won four of the season's first nine races, she has been unable to shake Team 23's Antron Brown, who all but erased Savoie's once-substantial lead with a victory at the Colonel's NHRA Nationals in Brainerd. Brown, who has now won three times in 2001, defeated rookie G.T. Tonglet in the final round to move to close the gap to 10 points, which is less than one round of competition, with four events remaining. "Make no mistake about it, this win is huge for us," Brown said. "It makes up for the two races that were stolen from me earlier this year. I lost one in Columbus when the carburetor fell off, and I lost in the final of the last race in Denver against Angelle. Both times, I feel like I should have won. Angelle has been slowly pulling away from us in the points, and we knew that we needed to make a move here before it was too late." Brown, whose Suzuki GSX-R was adorned in a special paint scheme to celebrate the release of the Jurassic Park III film, ran the table for the second straight year in Brainerd. He qualified in the top spot, with a 7.262, the quickest run of the event, and on race day, he never ran slower than 7.33 in his wins over Blaine Hale, Reggie Showers, Greg Underdahl and Tonglet. By comparison, the best effort any of his opponents could 52 SEPTEMBER 5. 2001 • II: U II: • • muster was Tonglet's 7.37, but it was negated by a red-light start. "Our goal was to keep it consistent," Brown said. "We probably could have run another 7.26 on race day, but we didn't want to risk spinning the tire. If we thought we would have needed another 7.20 pass, we would have tuned the bike for it, but the way things worked out, we didn't see the need to risk it." Brown never had to lean on his bike because most of the riders who had the ability to threaten him, including Savoie, former champ Matt Hines, and Craig Treble, went out early. Hines, who began the season with four-straight final-round appearances, continued his recent slide when he red-lighted in the opening round. The loss all but ended Hines' chances to win a fourth championship, as he is now 165 points behind Savoie. "I've got to stop doing that to myself," said Hines, who has had repeated red-light problems over the last two seasons. "Our clutch setup is all wrong and it's making me redlight all the time. I should have known better. I ran the same clutch setup here as I did last month in Pomona, and I red-lighted on three of four qualifying runs there. We just need to work on the bike and get it to react a little slower." A round later, Savoie joined Hines on the sidelines after she lost on a big holeshot against Tonglet. The 18year-old rookie left the starting line more than six hundredths of a second ahead of Savoie, and was able to hold off the fast-closing Winston bike for the upset win, even though his 7.36 was much slower than Savoie's 7.31. At the finish line, Tonglet won the race by just eight-thousandths. of a second. n e _ s "We never made a good run here," said Savoie's team owner George Bryce. "Honestly, she could have won the round, even with her reaction time. We just didn't do a good enough job of tuning the bike. Against G.T., she made a move to the right and she was all over the left foot peg trying to get it straightened out. I'm sure that cost us a hundredth or two, which would have been enough to win the round. Of course, her reaction time was nothing to brag about, but I don't have to tell her. She's much harder on herself than I am." The other championship challenger who missed an opportunity to make a move in the points was Treble, though it was not for lack of trying. The Matco Tools rider advanced to the semifinals before losing a close 7.35 to 7.36 race against Tonglet, but in reality, he was lucky to get that far. In the first round, Treble's bike threw a chain just off the starting line. However, his opponent, Sam Hurwitz, had already red-lighted. The broken chain allowed the engine to rev to more than 13,000 rpm, which bent several valves. After a quick engine swap, which was completed in less than an hour, Treble returned to take a narrow win over Chris Bostick's Hayabusa, 7.39 to 7.43. "I knew that Sam had red-lighted, but I thought the bike had just jumped out of gear," Treble said. "I kept hitting the air shifter button, but nothing happened. We had a lot of help getting that new engine installed. I had all of the Vance & Hines guys in my trailer and thanks to them, we were able to make it with room to spare." Tonglet has appeared in just ten events in his brief career, but he advanced to his third final of the year after stopping Treble in the semis. (Leftl Team 23's Antron Brown won for the ninth time in his career when he rode his Jurassic Park III Suzuki to a final-round win over rookie sensation G.T. Tongle!, who red-lighted. Brown was also the low qualifier for the event with a 7.28 run. IAbove) Brown's third victory of the rear allowecl him to move to within 10 points of defending Pro Stock Bike champ Angelle Savoie with four races remaining In the 2001 season. However, his chances for a second victory went away when he red-lighted against Brown. "When I was on the starting line, the clutch started to drag me through the [staging] lights," Tonglet said. "I managed to grab the brake and get the bike stopped, but by then, it was too late, the bike had alrea~y moved so far forward that as soon as I dumped the clutch, I knew the redlight was going to come on. Honestly, Antron made a good run and he would have been hard to beat anyway. I can't complain. I moved into fifth place in the points and really, that has been our goal all season." Brown's goal is clearly fll'st place, and now it is within his grasp. Heading into the last four events of the season, Brown believes that his team is on the rise. "We've got some new engine pieces that we've been working on and my crew chief, Mark Peiser, is really pumped up about it," Brown said. "Of course [Star team boss] George is going to be working hard in his shop as well. I'm trying not to get too excited about the whole thing. As long as I can keep doing my job, I know the wins will come and then the championship will follow." eN Brainenllntematianal be_ey Brainerd, Minnesate Results: August 17-19 (Raund lOaf 141 PRO STOCK FINAL: 1. Antron Brown (Su,) 7.33/182.65; 2. G.T. Tonglet (502) 7.37/181.25. Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 - Indianapolis, Indiana, August 30 September 3 Round 12 - Reading, Pennsylvania, September 13-16

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