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more than a 10th of a second as a result of Hurwitz's perfect .400 reaction time, Savoie narrowly averted disaster with a 7.20-to-7.41 victory that was far closer than it should have been. "When I got my time slip and saw that Sam had a .400 light and mine was a horrible .520, I knew that it was a lucky win," Savoie said. "My team did its best to win, and I did my best to lose." Savoie did not make the same mistake twice as she downed John Smith in round two with a 7.17 and then got a free pass in the semifinals after Team 23s Antron Brown fouled. Facing a seven-hundredths performance disadvantage, Gann also pushed the Tree in the final, and he, too, came up with a red-light start sending Savoie to her 25th-career title. "It's something that happens to everybody," Gann said of his red-light start. "I would feel bad if I was slow, but I was ready and I did my job. I had to press it. You can't go the first hundred feet with her - nobody here can - and that's the key to beating Angelle." With Matco Tools rider Craig Treble losing a close second -round race to Brown, Savoie finished the first half of the season with a 99-point lead in the standings. After the final, her team owner, George Bryce, offered his own explanation of the recent domination by the CVEC rider. "There are several reasons why we are running so well," Bryce said. "The first is that Angelle is not a rookie anymore. She's got lots of years under her belt and is making the best runs of anyone in our class. I watch everyone of our competitors run, and she is just doing a better job than anyone else is. She's running straight, she's shifting on time, and the CVEC Suzuki leaves great. "I also have to give credit to everyone back at our shop in Americus, Georgia. They've been working on the same engine design since 1980. That's 22 years, and if you can't figure out how to make something run as well as you can in 22 years, you need another job. "The bottom line is, we're making more power, she's riding better, and we've been to this racetrack for lots of years, so we have a great amount of data to help us tune in the heat. When we arrived here, we looked at every run we had made in the last three years, and it showed us what we needed to do to get the bike to run well here. We focused on that and went out and made four really good runs." eN Septentber 13: Septentber 14: Practice Noon - 4:00pm Age Effective Date: 9-01-02 AIl Stock Classes, Beginnen & Ladies, 100ee, 125 Schoolboy Septentber 15: (12-15), Open classes (50cc, 65cc, 85cc, 125ee, 250cc) AIl Modified Classes, Over 25, 30, 35, 40, & 50, Open (50Occ) 125 & 250 Experts ~ylnfIRa~ay MadisoD, illinois ""suits: Juna Z7 -30, Z002 [Round 7 of 141 PRO STOCK FINAL: I. Angelle Savoie (Su,) 7.18/184.83; 2. Shawn Gann (Su,) 7.24/188.78. NHRA POWERAOE PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE SERIES STANDINGS (Arter 7 of 14 evenls): I. Angelle Sevoie (703); 2. Craig Treble (604); 3. Antran Brown (545); 4. Shawn GZlnn (492); 5. Mlltt Hine. (476). Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Denver, Colorado, July 18-21 Round 9 . Sonoma, California, August 1-4 cue I e n e _ S • JULY 17, 2002 45