Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

N H RA P o w era d e Drag R a c in g S e r ie s R ound 15 : P omona R a c e w a y By KEVIN McKENNA PH O T O S By MIKE B A S SO POMONA, CA, NOV. 6-9 'I:.'ollowing a grueling nine-month , .I: I5-event seaso n , most of the Pro Stock Bike riders on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing tour are ready for the upcom ing win ter break. Cra ig Treble is not one of them. After winning his second straight ra ce at th e NHRA Auto Club Finals at Pomona Rac eway , Treble is currently th e hottest ri der in the cl ass, and it would be just fi ne with him if the season had eig ht or nine m ore races left. After struggling fo r most of the seaso n , Treb le's resurgence was fueled by the Suzuki GSX-R that he bor rowed from former NHRA champ Matt Hines, who took a year off in 20 03 to conce ntrate on the Vance £. Hin es tea m's Screa min' Eagle H a r l e y Davidson project . In two races on the new bike, Treble has not lost a round , and he 's be en the top qualifier both times . "I 'm not ready to stop right now, but si nce th is is the las t ra ce of the season , this is a perfect way to end it," Treble said . " When you get on a bike like this . it just gives you so much co nfide nc e. If I had been riding th i s bike all ye ar, th er e is no doubt that I would hav e been right up th ere with [se ries cha m pio n Gen o Sca li] in th e p o in t s . Matt b uil t a n extremely li g h t b ik e . and si nce I'm ab o ut 25 pounds lighter than he is, it a llowe d us to put t he we ight ri ght wh ere we want it. Right now, there isn 't a b ik e ou t here that gets off th e starti ng line as q u ick as th is o ne do es." What littl e drama was left in th e battle fo r the $50 ,000 POWERad e Pro St o ck B ik e cha mpions hi p end ed as soo n a s G en o S ca l i q ualifie d h i s Tri m -T ex Suzuk i fo r Sunday's fin al eli m i na t io ns. Sc a l i n eed e d o n l y t o qu alify for the rac e to clinch th e ti t le. Ev en if h e had mi s sed th e field (so m et h ing he hasn 't don e all sea son) , Savoie would have had to win th e rac e and set the national record in o rder to pass him. lAbove) For the second straight race Craig Treble (near lane) dominated the competition In Pro Stock Bike and defeated U.S. Army'S Angelle Savoie (far lane) in the final round. Treble won the race after Savoie red-lighted at the start. (Top) Although he bowed out in the second round of competition, Geno Scali needed only to make the 16· rider field In order to earn h is first career NHRA Powerade Pro Stock B ike Championship. He qualified number two to clinch the title. " I kn ew coming in here that I had th e cha m pionsh ip pretty m uch locked up, but we waited until it w as offi ci al before we started c ele brati ng ," Sc ali said. " All year lo ng , I' ve bee n fee ling the press ure . Ev en when we knew we were cl ose, I never wan ted to let up. I've se en t o o many c ha m p io n shi p s lo st in th e last co uple of ra ces of th e seaso n because someone didn't stay fo cu sed. I was determ ined not to le t that happen to m e." After cl inc hi ng t he title on Satu r day , Sc ali ende d h is seaso n w it h a seco nd- ro und loss t o recent Read in g w inner Michael Phillips. In Po m ona. as in Las Ve gas tw o weeks ea rl ie r, Treb le set t he t rac k rec ord in q ualify ing, w it h a 7 .07 bla st. He also had th e qu ickest bi k e in eli m ination s, wi th a pai r of 7 . 11 run s in h is fi rst t wo win s ove r Fred Cam arena and K£.N Filters' Ste ve Johnson . T reble made just one bad run , a 7 . 16 in r eall y pump e d u p b e f or e a fi n a l ro und. " " I saw Angelle 's red -light, but I wasn't sure if it was m e or her," Treble said . "I was so c onfused that I hit the rev-lim iter tw o o r three times and made a reall y bad run . It's a shame, beca use th e c o n d i t i o n s were right , and I th ink I co uld have run another 7 .0 7 or som eth ing c lose to it. It's okay , though , because I got the win , and that's all that co unts in my book. " I' ve caught a lot o f grief ove r the last two races because eve ryone says th is bike is pink ." Trebl e continued . " For th e reco rd , it s fu chsia , no t p ink , a nd I don 't c are wh at co lor it is. It ha ul s ass , and I'm not read y to gi ve it back ye t. I m ight just kee p it all wi nter. " A c t u a lly. I'm try i ng th e ge t a Harley-Davidson ride fo r next y ear," he said . "I ",:~nt to do it , and my spon sor , M at co T oo ls, would lik e to see it , bu t it's an ex pe nsi ve p ro gram to run , and I need additi ona l fu nding. If I c an put some thing together. yo u'll see m e o n a V-t w in next year. Oth er wise, I mi ght j ust keep thi s b ik e. It seem s t o work pretty wel l." eN th e sem is, but he was still abl e to st ay ahead of Mike Berry , wh o traile d with a 7 .19. "T hat wa s the only bad run I made all weekend," Treble said . " I fumbled p retty badly against Mik e , and I'm lucky I got away with it. We made a tuning mistake , a nd the bike laid down on m e. I thought I had blown it up , but we got ever yth ing ba ck together in time for the final round ." Waiting for Treble in th e final wa s hi s rival, reigning NHRA champ Ang ell e Sav oi e and h er U .S . Arm y Su zuk i. Savoie , who was also in the La s Veg as fina l. qualifi ed third w ith a 7 . 12 and then ran a pa ir of 7 . 15s in elim inati o ns befor e rec o rd in g an other 7.12 in her se m i fi n a l wi n ov er Phill ips . In the fi na l, Savoie figu red to give T reble h is best rac e o f th e day. but she du m ped the clutch a fra ction of a secon d too soo n. ending the race with a re d -light st a rt. Ul t im at ely . Sav oi e wo uld have needed a perfect reaction ti me to w in, as T rebl e o utra n he r . 7 . 12 to 7 . 13. " I g uess I j us t re lax ed a littl e too m uc h , " Sa vo i e sa id . ex p lai n ing th e red -lig ht start th at co st her a sh ot at th e ti tl e. " A ll day , my reacti on times have been between .04 and .0 8 , so I thoug ht I had som e room to lea n on it. I had to do something. I kn ew th at C r a i g w ould b e .01 or something close to it. I forgot that I usually get c ue . e n Pomona Raceway Pomona, California Results : Nove mber 6-9. 2003 (Round 15 of 15J PRO STOCK FINAL: J. Craig Treble (Su,) 7 .12. 184 .072. A ngelle Savo ie (Su,) 7.13. 19 J. 10 (foul) . NH RA POWERADE PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE SERIES POINTS STANDINGS ( Aft . r 15 of 15 e ve nts ): 1. Ge na Sc ali (1 136 /3 win s) ; 2 . Ang e lle Savo ie (1056/3 wins); 3. Shawn Gann (956/1 win); 4 . Regg ie Sho we rs (9 0 5/ 2 w ins ); 5 . Craig Tre bl e (892/2 wins). e _ S • NOV EMB ER 26 . 2003 21

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