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NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Round 3: Atlanta Dragway ble's best run, a 7.33, fell just short of the 7.32 bump spot. Later, his team discovered a cracked crankshaft that had severely hindered their performance over the weekend. Treble, who finished second in last year's points battle, tumbled to fifth following the event. "This sucks; there's no other way to put it," Treble said. "We thought we had our problems fixed in time for the last run on Saturday, but obviously we didn't. A lot of people think that we're out of the championship hunt because of this, but I don't see it that way. We dug ourselves a pretty big hole this weekend, but there are still 12 races left, so there's plenty of time for us to catch up." The other big news in Atlanta came from the Screamin' Eagle/ Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson (Left) After a nonner-up finish at the season-opener in Gainesville, Geno Scali (far lane) claimed his second career victory In AUanta when he rode his Trim-Tex Suzuki to a final round victory over Team 23's Antron Brown (near lane), who red-lighted. (Below) Scali, who quit his job as a Lexus salesman in the Chicago area to race full-time in 2003, has emerged as the points leader in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Bike standings following his Atlanta win. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MAY 1-4 eno Scali has never lacked confidence, but until this year, he's never had the necessary equipment to make a serious run at the NHRA Powerade Pro Stock Bike championship. After joining Joe Koenig's Trim-Tex team this off-season and making the switch from Kawasaki to Suzuki, many expected Scali to be among this season's most improved riders. Those predictions have turned out to be right on the money as Scali won his second career title at the Summit Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Scali, who quit his job as a Lexus salesman to race full-time this year, defeated Team 23's Antron Brown in the final round and is now the points leader for the first time in his career. "Being able to do this full-time makes a huge difference," Scali said. "I used to have to balance my work schedule and my racing career, and as a result, my riding suffered. Now, I can just concentrate on the bike. When I used to race on my own, I would have a hard time just getting crew guys to come to the races with me. Now, I feel like I've got one of the best teams out here, and coming into this season, I knew that we had the capability of qualifying in the top five spots at every race and finishing in the top three in the points. I believe that now more than ever. I just hope the whole year goes like this weekend." Scali dominated the Atlanta round from start to finish. For the secondstraight event, he qualified on top of the 16-bike field as his 7.18 was a hundredth quicker than No.2 qualifier Team 23's Angelle Savoie, and Brown, who was third with a 7.20. Pro Stock Bike riders are continuing to adjust to NHRA's new LED Christmas tree lights, and since the lights are brighter and more visible than the old bulbs, many are struggling to keep from red-lighting. The problem became a near epidemic in Atlanta as eight of the 15 elimination rounds were decided by a foul start, including the final round. Red-lights took out several of the favorites, including Savoie, whose eight-round unbeaten streak came to an end in round one when she left the starting line two-thousandths of a second too soon against rookie rider Matt Smith. Former AMA Pro Star champ Fred Collis, former national event winner John Smith, number six qualifier Reggie Showers and Shawn Gann also departed via the red-light. One rider who never got the opportunity to foul was Mateo Tools' Craig Treble. In the most shocking development of the weekend, Treble failed to qualify for the first time in his career, a span of 58 events. Tre- 52 neuvs STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN McKENNA G MAY 21, 2003' eye I e