Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128216
AMAIProstar U.S. Drag Racing Championships Rounds 213: Virginia Motorsports Park flict with the NHRA Pro Stock Bike event (in, of all places, Atlanta) run on the same weekend. In fact, three of the six Pro Stockers left in Atlanta competition (Geno Scali, Fred Collis and Steve Johnson) could not return due to NHRA commitments (Scali ended up winning the NHRA event). Paul Gast took advantage of the situation and pulled off two wins on his Fast by Gast Hayabusa to lock up the points lead over defending champ Todd Doege. Gast was in no way going easy, evidenced by a 7.05 which advanced him in the Atlanta eliminations and secured the pole for Virginia. Gast took a final round win over Keith "Shine" Dennis in the Atlanta event, 7.09 to 7.23 and beat Doege in the Virginia final, 7.07 at 190 mph to Doege's coasting 7.28. The Suzuki Formula Superbike class saw a lot of shuffling, but in the end Chip Ellis kept the Team Kawasaki undefeated streak from last season alive. Ellis marched the ZX12R through Atlanta eliminations, culminating with a final round win over Phill Davis on the Cycle Cooand coasted through the traps at 6.04 seconds and 192 mph. The half-track numbers were unprecedented at 3.88 seconds and 218 mph, which Steve McBride estimated would have yielded a jaw-dropping 5.84 at 247 mph, had the thing held together. McBride did end up running the quickest pass ever at 5.88 seconds en route to his double victory. McBride beat Ron Webb in both finals. In the Orient Express Funnybike .t PETERSBURG, VA, MAY 2-3 took three events, but the IAMA/Prostar U.S. Drag Racing Championships finally has races completed, finals decided and point standings for 2003. After the season-opening MRE Sunshine Nationals in Gainesville, Florida, and the MTC Elmer Trett Nationals at Atlanta Dragway were postponed due to rain, Prostar officials looked toward the third event on the series, the Spring Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, to do some catching up. While the Gainesville event was postponed after only one round of qualifying, the Atlanta event got through to the second round of eliminations. The Gainesville event will be run off during the World Finals in November, while the Atlanta event was finished at Virginia. The format allowed for no errors. Racers would pick up right into Atlanta eliminations with the same passes counting toward Virginia qualifying. It looked as though three might not be a charm as rain and foreboding gray skies greeted the racers on Saturday morning of the two-day event. A few sprinkles aside, the racing went on into the night, and Sunday dawned with clear skies that (hopefully) will be commonplace the rest of the season. Four-time champion Larry "Spiderman" McBride continued his dominance in Top Fuel, winning both events. McBride only bobbles when he is pushing the envelope that he alone has ventured to. This includes a first lap on Saturday in which McBride broke the crank at 900 feet 50 MAY 28. 2003' cue I class, former champ Robert Giard took his first win since Atlanta last year. Giard ran a 6.68 at 204 before Atlanta was rained out and continued the pace in eliminations until he took a slow lap in a semifinal single. A soft 7.04 is all he needed to take out Travis Davis in the final. In Virginia eliminations, rookie Korry Hogan took the number one qualifying position with a 6.85 at 196 mph with Giard second at 6.89. Both were eliminated by the final, which • n • _ s pitted Davis against World Finals winner Tom "Big Money" Perry. Davis got the holeshot and marched away, 6.75/202 to Perry's 6.88/177. In the Fast by Gast Pro Mod series, Charlie Farrar on the C&W Kawasaki is hitting full stride and has established himself as the man to beat in the class. Farrar continued Atlanta eliminations with an ultraclose, 6.76-to-6.77 win over Mimmo Marciano. Farrar was edged out of the number one spot for Virginia by Ashley Owens, 6.74 to 6.78, but Owens couldn't make it out of the semifinals, setting up a final between Farrar and veteran Steve Drake on the McKinney Motorsports Hayabusa. Drake got the holeshot but just couldn't keep up with Farrar who ran 6.70s all day, including a brilliant 6.73 in the final. The Accel Pro Stock field was notably thin due to a scheduling con- cepts water-cooled Suzuki GSXR Dragbike.com Project bike, 8.21/161 to 8.42/150. Tom Miceli edged out Ellis in Virginia qualifying, running an 8.14 at 163 mph on the Del's Performance/ Yoyodyne/Worldwide Bearings Hayabusa. Davis took out Miceli in Virginia semifinals, pitting Ellis against Davis for the second straight event. Ellis turned it up for his second straight win, 8.10 to 8.18. The Streetbike Shootout class has quickly turned into a battle of the factory turbos with Rickey Gadson on the Kawasaki ZX-12R taking a pair of wins over Barry Henson on the Velocity Racing/Stotz Street Xtreme Honda CBRII00XX Blackbird. Gadson, who ran under the watchful eye of Rob Muzzy last season, is now being tuned by Coby Adams, and he hasn't seemed to miss a beat. Gadson tumed in a pair of 7.69s including a 7.697 at 188 mph to get by Henson's 8.06 in the Atlanta final.