Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Great Americ an Motorcycle E x p eri enc e GAME D r a g R a c e Las Vegas Motor Spe e d way Houn'ET HOT AT lAmE DlAI lAeE (A b o ve) Ron Houniet (rig ht) d efeated K ris Beck e r (l eft) f o r the Top Fuel Harley class v icto ry at the GAME D rag Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Left) Ch ip Ellis heats up the tir e on h is Kaw asaki Funnybike. Ellis was the f astest man at the event, post ing s p eeds in exc ess of 220 m p h . h i s S t ev e Rice -b u ilt and o w ne d 1 10 9 c c tu rb o K a w a s a k i. Th e ra c e turned out to be ant iclimacti c, howev er , as Ellis fo uled on t he start , and Ho uniet wen t on to collect the brag g ing rights , wh ich he didn 't hesitate to do . "I gu ess we had him so sca red that he redl it ," Houni et said . "T he Ameri c an bik e took it to the im po rt . Th e Harley -Davidson came ou t ahea d ." Ellis ' t eam owne r , Ric e, sa id that t he o u t c o m e w asn 't ex ac t l y as c u t and dried as Hou n iet pro cla imed it t o be. " Th e r e w as a r ed light , y e s, b u t w hat ha ppened w as t hat w e run a polished fro nt wheel, and the refl ection from th e wh eel tric k ed the lig h t into t h inking th at Chip was m o v in g wh en he wasn 't," Ric e sa id . " If you l o o k a t C hip's re a ct i on tim e , w e sh ould hav e been 150 feet ahead of him befo re he eve n took off. So we got screwe d, and that co st us S1000 , but that' s o kay . What I'm go ing t o do is pai nt th e fro nt wh eel blac k so that we don't hav e that p rob lem aga in ." Desp it e th eir differen c es, both me n se e t he GAME d rag ra c e fo rm at as hav ing a lot o f po tenti al. STO RY A N D P HOTO S BY S COTT R O USSE A U LAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 21 f not t he fastes t of the fast , Cana da's Ron Ho uniet was definit ely th e baddest of t he bad on T he Strip at L as V ega s M o t or Speed way during t he drag ra ci ng port ion of th e Gr eat Amer ic an Motorcycle Experienc e. T h e defending All H arl e y Dra g Rac ing Assoc iati on T op Fuel Cham p ion, and also an eight -t ime champi on in his home country , Houni et was the man to beat in the k ing bee Top Fu e l Har l e y class a t th e u n i qu e GAME drag race, and he also claimed th e Showdown at Sunset t it le when he defeat ed th e Kawas ak i fun nybike of Chip Ell is. Th e rac e forma t was un iqu e in th at it incl uded a m ix of Harl ey -D avi dso n and i m po rt - ba se d divis io ns . T h e fast est m achin e presen t from eac h of the tw o distinct c ateg o ries wo ul d fac e off in th e S ho w dow n at S un set o n Saturd ay ev ening . On t he Harl ey side . that turned out t o b e Hou n i et , wh o s e ni t ro -fue l e d 800 + hor sepower Fast Lane/ Red Line Top F ueler went up aga inst E ll is and I 36 O CTO BER 15, 2 0 03 ' c u e I e nevvs " I t h ink it's a g oo d m ix ," Houniet sa id of th e p rog ram. "We wan t to see a bett er c ro wd o ut he re Iattenda nce was lig ht all week end]. I don 't hav e a pr o blem w it h t he imports, excep t t hat t hey t ake a lo ng time t o stage . W e don 't d ick around like th at. " Nor did Houn iet do so when the time came to m op up in T op Fuel on Sun day. Houn iet adv anced to the semis by posting a 6.91 at 199.52 m ph aga inst a red -l ig h ti ng St eve Heidn er. He th e n reac hed th e fin al via a rather strang e round two ag ain st T o p Fu el ro oki e Gene Thom ason of Culver City , Ca li forn ia , after Tho mason g ot th e win light bu t wa s g iven no time or spe ed on th e fin ish li n e board in h is lan e. Both rid ers ha d been gi ve n th e g ree n light , and Ho uniet blast ed through the trap s w it h a 6.82 at 189 .10 . A f te r checki ng the t rac k 's computer sys t em , rac e o ffici als d etermine d t ha t Houniet was t he leg itimate winner. It was lat er learne d tha t a bl ack wi dow spider was nest in g in one of t he fin ish li n e bu lb sockets an d had actua ll y t ripped T homason 's wi n li ght early . O n t he ot h er si de o f th e l add er , fem ale Top Fuel racer Kris Bec k er of Everett, Was hingto n , c aught t wo big break s en ro ute to th e fin a l. Beck er's first st roke of luck c ame when num ber -tw o qu ali fier J ak e Silcox fo u led away a fi ne 7 .04 at 19 1.57 mp h w hile Bec k er shut off and ran an 11.0 3 at 9 0. 0 1 m p h. Becker o nly ran a 9 .5 9 at 15 4. 4 9 i n t h e sem is, but th at was go od eno ugh aft er her op po nent, Griz Robinson , broke o n th e st arti ng li ne. In t he fi n a l , Hou n iet w ent game, set an d m atch aga inst Beck er , cutting th e b et t er li gh t ( .529 vs . Be c ker 's .6 56 ) and runn in g a 6 .8 6 at 200.50 mp h to le ave B ec k er i n h i s w ake . B eck e r r ec ord e d a 'Io s i n g 9 . 2 5 at 15 8 .6 5 m ph . " I wasn't worr ied about her at all," Ho un iet sai d . " She never ran better th an a n ei g h t all w eek en d , and we were run nin g in the sixes all week en d . W e were m ak ing pl enty of power ; it was j ust a m at t er of fi ne-tu nin g the cl u tch . We' r e b a ck h er e in thr ee weeks fo r t he AH DR A Finals, so we wa nt to be ready for th at ." On t he import side, Ell is was defi nit ely t he m an of th e m eeti ng , t urn ing th e q uic kest e la ps e d t i m e s a n d fa ste st s peeds o f a ny b ik e a t the eve n t o n h i s w ay t o victo ry i n the Funn yb ik e c at e g or y . E lli s se r ve d not ic e that he would be tou gh right in th e first rou nd of qualif yin g on Fr iday w he n he reeled off a 6 .73 /229 mph shot that stood as th e bes t nu mbers o f t he m ee tin g . Ell i s had a n easier ti m e of it th an eve n he had hoped in Sunda y ' s F u n n y b ik e fi n al wh en he soloed after Pat W at son J r. o f F air fie ld , Cali forn ia. lo st fire o n the sta rt ing li n e . E l li s wen t 6 .78 at 2 09 .20 mph on the win nin g pas s. "It' s unfo rtunate th at Pat cou ldn' t get th e bike fi red, bec ause they're a g r eat group ," sai d Ell is , wh o h a i l s from Salisbury , North Carolina . " I was j us t gla d t o be a part o f t h is eve nt, win ner o r not. I th in k it's only going to get better. We j ust had our bik e set for bu sin ess as usua l ou t t he re. We j ust wa nte d to get down the track and run it co nsistent, same as we always do: T h e en t ry - le ve l Str eet ET c l ass wa s th e largest at the eve nt , w it h ulti mate w i nne r Sc ott Pac k er o f Bois e, Idaho, hav in g to wade t hroug h t hree ro unds of co mpetitio n befo re reach ing the fin al. Iron ica lly, Pack er wo uld race his son , M ik e Pack er, on a nea rly i denti cally pr epare d Suz uk i Hay ab usa . Sc ott Pac k er c ut a .5 17 lig h t and ran a 9 .90 on his 9 .85 dia l to take the win over his so n . who los t with a .5 6 1, 10.40 on a 10 .3 0 dial after his m ach ine broke it s t ran sm is sion on th e big end of the track . " I had to r ac e m y bo y t od ay , so b eatin g him w a sn ' t t o o fun ," Sc ott Packer said . "It was his fi rst time on a bik e in two years, an d it was his fi rst t i m e o n a Ha ya bu sa t o d a y. If h e h adn 't bust ed t h e tr a ns m iss ion , it would have been cl os er. My bike j ust CN ra n good all day: The Strip at lAs Vegas Motor Speedway lAs Vegas, Nevada Results: September Zl , Z003 Fina l Eliminati on s TO P FU EL H A RLEY : 1. Ro n Houn i et. 6.86/200 .50; 2. Kris Becker. 9.257/1 58.65. FONNYBIKE: I. Chip Elli s (Kaw) 6.78/209 .20: 2. Pat Watson Jr. (Suz) broke . KRE ST O PRO D RAG ( H A RLEY) : I . Kinz ie Bolson. 8.58/153.40; 2. Scott Lewis. 9 .344/131.78 . S T R E ET U /L : I. W a lte r S p ro ut (S uz ) 9.81/146 .30; 2. Marty Ladwig (Suz) 10.37/1 34 .35. STREET ET: I. Scott Pack er (Suz) 9 .85 (9. 90 dial )/l4 2.96: 2. Mike Packer (Suz) 10.40 ( 10 .30 dial)/l 25.89.

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