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NHRA Winston Dra·g Racing Series Round 13: The St..rip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway After almost two full years on the NHRA tour, Shawn Gann (near lane) scored his first win when he rode his Suzuki TL1000'10 a win over Team 23's Antran Brown (far lane) in the Las Vegas final, 7.35 to 7.37. are going to be rough on the top guns from now on. Over the last six runs, we've had the quickest bike, and we LAS VEGAS, NV, OCTOBER 25-28 hope that means big things down the ou didn't need a crystal ball to road. Hopefully, this is the first of U see this one coming. many wins." Shawn Gann, in his second full Gann, who formerly competed on season on the NHRA Pro Stock Bike the AMA/Prostar circuit, is one of the tour, fulfilled the promise he has few riders on the tour who doesn't shown since the start of his career by buy or lease engines. Rather, he, and winning the AC Delco Las Vegas his father, Blake, prefer to bujld their Nationals. In one of the best final own 300-horsepower Suzuki powerrounds of the year, Gann's 7.35 held plants in their Stoneville, North Caroff the 7.37 effort of Team 23's olina, performance shop. After a slow Antron Brown. At the finish line, the start to the season, Gann has recently two bikes were separated by just five become a contender with the ability thousandths of a second. to consistently qualify in the top half Gann has been one of Pro Stock of the field. In Las Vegas, Gann qualiBike's most consistent performers for fied with a 7.31 that was good for the the last several months. After reachthird spot behind reigning NHRA ing his first career final round at the champion Angelle Savoie and former St. Louis round in mid-July, he won champ Matt Hines, who ran 7.28 and the special non-points Holley Domi7.31, respectively. nator Duel event during the U.S. "I knew that my father needed to Nationals in September and reached do a little more work on the engine, the U.S. Nationals final the next day. but that has been coming together as By that time, it had become obvious well," Gann said. "Building our own that Gann's natural riding ability, engines is the only way that we would coupled with newfound horsepower, do this. We take pride in what we do, would soon produce a national event and doing our homework has paid off win, and in Las Vegas, a city that because we were able to beat some loves longshots, he put it all together more power out of the engine." for his first victory. The additional horsepower has "I knew a victory was coming after meant that Gann has not had to rely what we did at Indy, but I didn't know on his reaction times as much as he when," Gann said. "I red-lighted at the did in the past, though in Las Vegas, last race in Reading, and that made he was sharp with a 7.36 win over me think that J might be pressing too Todd Doege in round one and a 7.35 much. I knew that if I just relaxed and in the second round against Mac did my job, the wins would come. Tools rider Ron Ayers. In the semifiEveryone knows that I've been pretty nals, Gann left ahead of Craig Tredisgusted at times, but this makes up for all the aggravation I've had the last ble's Mateo Tools Suzuki and held on two years. Performancewise, I feel we for the win, 7.36 to 7.41. n ... _ s 22 NOVEMBER 21,2001 • c u e .... STORY By KEVIN McKENNA PHOTOS By MIK.E BASSO m "I've always said that if we could get the bike to run in the back half of the track as well as it does in the first eighth-mile, we'd be dangerous, and that is what's happened," Gann said. "This weekend, those came together. It was an unusual position for me because I was able to get off the starting line as I saw fit for each opponent and really didn't have to press. That's a feeling that I could get used to." In addition to hosting Gann's coming-out party, the Las Vegas event, the 13th of 14 races on the 2001 calendar, also helped to settle the ongoing championship battle between Savoie and Brown, the two contenders for the 2001 NHRA Pro Stock Bike title. The Team Winston rider came into the event holding a substantial lead over Brown. Both riders advanced to the semifinals, where Brown kept his hopes alive with a starting-line holeshot that resulted in a narrow 7.38 to 7.38 win over his arch-rival. "I was very calm and confident all weekend, not nervous at all," Savoie said. "I knew we just needed to make good runs, like we have done all year. In the semjs, Antron and I staged at exactly the same time. It was somewhat ironic and caught me off guard. I hesitated for a moment to think about it and that's all it took. He hit the light and I missed it. We will go to Pomona and finish the job there." Brown could have made up more ground in the final, but after losing to Gann, he is now 73 points behind Savoie with one round remaining. In order to win the championship, he must win the season finale in Pomona, Calif., and hope that Savoie is defeated in round one. Or, if Savoie is defeated in round two, Brown must win the race and set the NHRA elapsed-time record, which is unlikely since it currently stands at a quick 7.Q9. "They [Gann's team] had the performance on us throughout eliminations, but we gave it our best shot," Brown said. "It took us the entire event to finally get the tune-up to come around, but it was just a little too little, too late." eN The Sbip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada Results: October Z4-ZB [Round 13 of 141 PRO STOCK FINAL: I. Shawn Gann (Su,) 7.35, 182.922. Antran Brown (Su,) 7.37, 181.57 Upcoming Round: Round 14 - Pomona, Califomia, November 8-11 Gann, whose father, Blake (second from right), serves as his team's crew chief and engine-builder, has been one of NHRA's quickest and most consistent Pro Stock Bike racers in the second half of the 2001 season. Though he is currently sixth in the points standings, he expects to contend for the championship in 2002.