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NHRAlPowerAde Drag Racing Series Round 12: Maple Grove Raceway Stoffer's story is an interesting one. Racing in NHRA's sportsman motorcycle series, the Minden, Nevada, native made history when she, along with Savoie and Stephanie Reaves, made their professional debuts at the 1996 Denver event. However, unlike Savoie and Reaves, who continued to race in Pro Stock in 1997, Stoffer retumed to the sportsman series. In 2002, she decided to try Pro Stock again, joining Greg Cope and Doug Johnson's Jonco Motorsports team, but their plan to compete in all 14 races was scuttled after Stoffer was injured in a pre-season testing accident that also destroyed SAVOIE BEATS STOFFER IN THE FIRST ALL-FEMALE PRO STOCK FINAL because of everything that was involved," Savoie said. "First of all, I was excited to race Karen in the fmal. We went to the drag racing school together in 1996, and to meet her in the final was awesome. I also knew that, if we won, we'd just about clinch the championship, which is even more special this year after everything we've gone through. After I saw Karen's red light, I thought about it all the way down the track." As has been the case at many events this season, Savoie had the qUickest bike. in the field. Though she qualified second with a 7.21, well behind the 7.17 -second pace set by Matt Hines, Savoie rallied in eliminations, posting the quickest runs of the event, with a pa ir of 7.16 passes on her Star Racing Suzuki, which is now sponsored by the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Star team's strategy was to save their best engine for eliminations, and it worked to perfection as Savoie was not challenged in her early-round wins over Keith Dennis, Steve Johnson, and Antron Brown. "We saved our best engine for race STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN McKENNA READING, PA, SEPT. 12-15 .L1 ngelle Savoie's latest NHRA Pro Stock Bike win featured all the elements you could ask for in a championship drag race - drama, excitement, and even a little bit of history. Savoie claimed her fifth win of the season at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Reading, and in the process, she just about put the wraps on her third consecutive national championship. Moreover, Savoie defeated Karen Stoffer in the final round, marking just the second time in NHRA's 51year history that two women have met in a final round. The first time was more than 20 years ago, when Top Fuel legend Shirley Muldowney defeated Lucille Lee in Columbus, Ohio. Following the dramatic victory, Savoie needs only to qualify in the top four spots at the series' penultimate event in Las Vegas next month to clinch the championship. "I'm excited any time we win, but today I was a little more emotional rr 38 OCTOBER 2, 2002' cue • e n ...... day because we were trying to be thrifty," Star team boss George Bryce said. "We could have used it in qualifying, and probably would have been able to outrun Matt, but that wasn't our goal this weekend. We wanted to get to the final and win the race."