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N H R A Winst o n D ra g Ra c ing S e r ie s R ou n d 6 : R out e 66 R a c e w a y By KEVIN McKEN NA PHOTOS C OURTESY OF NHRA JOUET, IL, JUNE 1·4 f enthusiasm and exu berance were horse power, A ntron B rown would be the undispu ted k ing of the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world . Bro wn , a rookie of t he year contender in 1998 and the 19 99 winner of NHRA's Road to the F uture award , was a stando ut ath lete in college, and his bou nd less ene rgy and n atu ral ath leticism h av e all ow ed him to successfully m ak e the t r an siti on to profess ional m ot o rcy cl e raci ng . At th e Prest one Route 66 Nat io nals i n Joliet , Illinois , Brown , who spen t 10 yea rs riding motocross before tak ing up d rag rac ing at the ri pe old age o f 21, shook off an early season slump and captured h is fo urth career v ic to ry wi th a 7.21 - 7 .2 6 win over Craig T r eb le in the Pr o St o c k B ik e final. "W e' v e bee n strugg li ng a li ttle, but e ve ry t hing came toget he r today, " B rown sa i d. " E v en at th is r ace, we h ad p ro ble ms. W e to re up a cl ut ch hu b early in qu ali fying, and it t oo k us a wh il e to fig ure o ut our new co m bi nat ion . I have a lot of fai th in m y crew chie f, M ar k Pe i ser , th ough , and I kn ew th at he 'd co me through for m e. We had three 1.09 60 -foot times th is week end , w hich is abo ut as g ood as it g et s . T h a t prov es that the bi ke is really work in g ." In quali fyin g fo r wh at ul t imately was NHRA' s quick est eve r Pro Stock Bi k e fi eld , Brown en de d up fifth in th e 16 -bik e field afte r rid ing his Team 23 Su zu k i t o a 7 .2 3 . Whil e m o st racers would be happy to be see ded fifth in any field , for Br own it was a doubleedged swo rd . Hi s position on the grid I sa id . " Fo rt unate ly , th ey had an other on e i n t ha t bl ac k [ Va nc e f, H in es] t railer. A ll of B y r o n H in es' engi nes are pretty sto ut , so I k new th at I'd be in pretty goo d sha pe on ra ce day ." Treble g o t a singl e r u n in the o peni n g r ound whe n C l ar en c e M ar kham 's Suzuki wouldn 't fire , and he g ot th e best o f T eam 23's T ony Mullen in the seco n d in o n e of t he cl osest races of the day, 7 .31 -7 .31. The differen ce wa s T reb le's starting line advantag e, whi ch w as .0 5 -sec and . Trebl e didn ' t need a holeshot to w in his semifin al match w ith Dave Schultz as he j ust fl at outran Schultz 's Sun oco Ha yabusa , 7 .2 5- 7 .2 8. In th e fina l , Tr eb l e g ot away fi r s t , but i t was n 't eno ug h to hol d off Br own , who clai med a 7. 21 -7 .26 victo ry . " Craig is one of the guy s I hate to race aga in st th e m ost because he 's so good on the starting line an d he hardly ever makes a bad run ," Brown said . "T his win helped us a lot in th e points. H o p e f ul l y , we ' re back t o where we were at the end of las t ye ar in terms of perform an ce and we ca n go out and win a few more races. T he way we have it fig ured, if w e ca n m ake it to at least t he se mifina ls o f every ra ce , we 'll be rig ht t he re in the end ." Earli er in t he race , Kawasak i racer C. J . Sm ith was involved in a biza rre incident whe n his Lak e Mo rt gage ZX1 I hit a seag u ll durin g a first round los s t o Da v e Sc hultz. Smith , wh o wa s t r av el ing at over 170 mph w he n he the bird st ruck t he fari ng and wind scree n before nailing h im i n t he shoulder. Smith was not seriously injured , but the same couldn' t be sai d for the bird. "I saw him sitting on the track an d I was telling myself, ' Do n't do it, don't do it , but he t oo k off and fle w right into me,' said Smith, who was spo rt ing a hu g e b ru i se on hi s sho u l de r from th e collision . "F irst it hit t he bike and th en na ile d me in the helm et and sho ul der. It was a pretty big mess. It destroyed the w indscreen an d farin g a nd th er e was blood an d fea t he r s ev eryw h e r e . The b i r d is n ot on ly dea d , it disi n tegra te d . It 's too b ad bec aus e we m ad e three of o ur best ever runs th is week en d and we were probably going to run our first 7 .30 in eN th at round. " IAbove) Te a m 2 3's Antron Brow n won f o r the fi rst time in 2000 w hen he d efeated Craig Treble in the final ro und of the Prestone Route 66 Nationals i n Joliet, 7 .21-7.26. (Ri g ht) Brown has been a force in the Pro Stock B ike c lass since making his debut three years ago. The f o rmer college athlete won NHRA' s 1999 Road to the Future award and has now won f our ra c es. mea nt th at he would likely have to face c urrent poi nts l e ad er A nge lle See ling in round two and three ti me Pro Stock Bike cham p M att Hin es in t he semifi na ls . And, if he was lu cky to get th at fa r, T rebl e, six -time NH RA c ha m p D a v e S chu l tz, current AMA/ Pro Star cha mp Fred Collis, and B row n 's own Team 23 sta b le mate, Tony Mull en were all lurking on the ot her side of the ladder. Bro wn ultimat ely got a to ug h draw, facing Ro b Short's stou t K awa sak i , Seeling , Hines, and Treble in elimina tions, but each time, he proved to be up to the task . Afte r easily downing Sh o rt in a 7.22 to 7.45 ba tt le , Brow n got t h e b ett e r of S ee li n g , 7 .22 to 7 .28. Agai nst Hines, w ho q ualified on the p o l e with a 7 .20 an d ha d the quick est bi k e in th e first two rounds of eli minations, Brown got t he break he h ad b een looking f o r when the re ig ni ng c hamp left th e starting line t oo soon and fouled , m is sing a per fec t g re en light b y j us t three th o u sandt hs of a second . " Nobo dy ca n say I didn 't earn th is on e," Br own said. "A nytim e you have to run Angell e and M att it's tou gh , bu t it' s espe cially bad wh en you have to run them ju st t o g et to th e f i n al because b y the time you beat o ne of th em, y o u alread y fe el like yo u 've ac complish ed a lot." Against H ine s, Bro wn was m o r e t han read y with a quick react ion time that was just n in e t housandths of a second from per fec t and a 7 .21 , his quickest pass of the event . " Even if I had n't red -li ghted , I do n' t know if I could ha ve beaten A ntron," Hines said. " O f cou rse he did me a huge favor b y ta k ing ou t A ng elle, so I don ' t feel as bad as I co uld. I p icked up 20 points on her in t he cha m pi o nship and they might co me in han dy later in the yea r." Tre b le , a for m e r c ha m pion i n NHR A's sp ortsman motorc ycle series who bur st on the scene th e sa me ti me Brown did, took care of bu siness on his side of th e ladder in orde r to reach his t h ird c aree r fin al. T he w inner of t he 1999 race in Brain erd, Minnesot a, Trebl e qu ali fi ed h i s i n depe n den tl y fi nan ced Suzu k i in t he th ird spot w ith a 7 .23 , but l ike Br own , h e a lso encounte red mech ani cal pro blems on hi s wa y to th e final. " We hurt and engi ne pr etty ba d in the l ast qua l ify ing sessio n," Trebl e e y e . e Route 66 Raceway Joliet, Illinois Results: June 1-4, 2000 IRound 6 of 141 PRO STOCK FINAL: 1. A ntra n Brown ( Suz ) 7.2 1, 18 1.32: 2. Craig Treb le (S uz) 7.26 .182.21. Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - Columb us, Ohio , June 15-18 Round 8 - Madison, Illinois, June 22-24 n e _ 50 • J UNE 21 . 2000 51