Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

NH R A Win s t o n D r a g R acin g S e r ies R o u n d 8 : N at io n a l T r ail Ra c e w a y (Left) Angelle Seeling rode her Team Winston Suzuki to the quickest elapsed time of t h e event i n the fin al round w it h a 7. t9 to 7.28 w in over Team 23's To ny M ullen in Columbus. (Below ) With t he season n ea r the h alfway point, Seeling, wh o f inished second a year ago, has n ow w on three times and h olds a substantial le ad in the po ints standings. S TORY BY K EVIN M cK ENNA Photos by NHRA COLUMBUS, OH, JUNE. 15·18 ngell e Seel in g still has p lenty of work to do befor e she is able to realize her u lt im ate goal of an NHRA W in st o n Pro St oc k B ik e t itl e , but if h e r p e rforman c e a t th e Pont i a c Excitem ent N at ion als is any ind ica tion' sh e is on the ri ght track . See li n g c la imed her t h ird ti tl e of the season on a rain -soak ed weekend in Co lumbu s, Oh io , turni ng in one of the m ost dom in atin g pe rf ormanc es in rec en t h isto r y . T he T ea m Wi ns to n rider qu ali fi ed her Suzuki GSX -R with a third -b est 7 .30 , but o n race day she sho t to th e head of the pack , running th e qu ick est ela psed tim e in all four eli m ination ro unds. D esp it e co m peti tio n th at in cl ud ed three of last ye ar's to p 10 rid ers , she was nev er serio usly cha llenged as she cia imed her 13th c aree r NHRA ti tl e and exte nde d her lead in th e poin t s sta ndi ngs. " I f e e l l ike I r a n i n t h r e e fin a l ro unds toda y ," Seeling sai d, no t long after d ow n ing T o ny Mull en' s Tea m 23 Suzuki in a one-sid ed fi na l, 7 .197 .28 . " When yo u have to ru n aga inst Matt Hines, A ntron Brown , and T on y M u llen in t he sa me day , y ou k now you 've do ne yo ur j ob . I think th is is th e m o st emotio na l wi n that I'v e h ad since m y first o ne . I wa s so sho cked w hen t h ey tol d m e t hat I ran 7 .19. To hea r our c o m p eti t o rs t al k , th ey th ink that it' s not possib le , but con dition s w e re rig ht , a n d I 'm h a pp y that I was ab l e t o sh ow the m w ha t m y b ik e c an do. " A 60 J U LY 5 , 2000' cue I e In Columb u s , Se e l i n g sho we d ev ery o ne w hat her b ik e c o ul d do, beginn ing with a 7 .28-7 .50 wi n ove r B ri an D e l on g i n r oun d o ne . A ro und l a t e r , S e el i ng p ow er ed a ro u nd arc h ri v al Hin es w ho re d lighte d . Hines ' third red -light of th e sea son wa s a cos tl y one as he lost an op po rt uni ty t o m ak e a m ov e in th e poi nts sta ndi ngs. "I ha te to l ose lik e th at ," Hines sa id . " W e l e f t 2 0 p o in t s o n th e ta ble . I' m not happy wi th the way th e bi k e is ru n n ing either. We've had ca rburetor prob lem s for the las t few rac es, and we st ill haven' t h it th e na il o n the head as far as our tun e-up ." Seeling only got qu ick er as eli minations p rogressed. Her im proved perf orm ance was pa rtly the work of crew chief Ken J ohnson and t eam ow ner Geo rg e Bry c e , but Seelin g also im proved by rid in g th e bike all the way to th e fi ni sh line , something she hadn 't done in pr ev iou s ro unds. "T he fi nal round ag ain st T on y was the first tim e that I held the throttle ope n all th e way to th e fin ish li ne ," Seeling sai d. " T he re ason is th at at this track , th e scorebo ards are pl ac ed ahead of th e fini sh li ne. I was j ust rid in g to th e sco reboa rds and then shut tin g off . Plus, th is track is sho rt and a lit tl e bumpy in som e spot s, and I was try in g not to get into trouble. On c e I rod e it a ll the way to the fini sh line, th at' s w he n th e big numbers st art ed c om ing up ." A s a res ul t , See l ing ' s t o p- e n d sp eed stea dil y cl im bed from a low of 175.82 mph in round one to a best of 182.28 in the fi na l round . noVll'S Brown, th e wi n ner of th e Chicago eve nt two wee k s earli er, wa s look ing to m ak e it to hi s second co nsec utive final , but he slowed to a 7.33 in th e sem is and was no m atch for Seeling 's 7 .23 . " W h en we g ot to t h e semi s , we tho ug ht we had bett er put our Chica go set- up ba ck in th e b ik e ," Br o wn said. " We dro pp ed a t o ot h o n th e gear, but we c ouldn' t pull it. My hat is o ff to th e W ins t on t eam . T he y ran some numbers th is week end th at are hard to bel ieve, especi all y in this air. And , th ey don 't ha ve a six -speed li k e th e rest of us do." B r y c e d o esn 't h ave a si - sp eed because Freedom Motorsports own er Byron Hin es, who d eveloped th e new transmission , h as chos en t o offer it only to his eng ine custo m ers th is season . Howev er, w ith the wa y his Team Winston bik e is runn ing, Bryce proba bly wou ldn't use a six -s peed, eve n if it were ava il able . " Eve ntuall y , we're going to need a six-s pe ed b ecaus e it' s o bvious that it's th e w ay t o go," B ry c e said . " In fa ct , I' m p ro ba bl y go ing t o d ev el op m y ow n, but now th at 's k ind of o n th e back burn er beca use of the way we 're runni ng no w. An gell e has m atu red as a rider and th is year, she is show ing eve ryone wha t she is ca pable of. Now tha t we can b an k on her ability , we ca n ma ke m ore cha nges to the bik e. Befor e, I had to watch the T ree to see if she red -li gh t ed or watch and see if she missed a shi ft or got o ut of the groove , bu t now , w he n I wa tc h th e bik e, I ca n look for othe r things that will help us. "I've told Angell e th at if you wa nt friends at th e racetrack , you have to bring th em yo u r self," Bryc e contin ued . " I' ve hea rd all th e rum bl ing s peo p le think we cheat, but th e truth is that we've wo rk ed rea ll y ha rd o n th is b ik e, es pecia lly o n th e st arting li ne . We had a 1.0 6- second sixt y -fo ot ti me thi s we ek end, which is unhe ard of on a Pro Stoc k B ik e, but we had an aw esome track to work w ith th is weeken d , an d th e b ik e was se t u p perfe ctly. " M ull en, t he low q ua lifier for t he s e co n d tim e t h is se aso n on hi s Te a m 23 Suzu k i , bull i ed h i s w ay past t wo rookies C lare nce Markham and Shaw n Gann - an d a ve t e ra n i n six -ti me N H RA c ha m p Dave Schu ltz t o reac h the f ina l for t h e th ird t im e this yea r. How ev er , e ve n a 7 .28, wh i ch m a t ch e d h i s q u ickest run o f the we ekend , w as n' t eno ug h t o hold off See li ng , w ho now lea ds t he po in ts sta n d i ngs b y 7 9 o ve r Sc hultz . " Ho ne st l y, I 'm fo cuse d mo re o n w inning rac es th an w inn ing cha m pionsh ips, " Seeling said . "I' m not lying. Th e p res sure really isn 't on m e. Last ye ar, I co unte d ev ery point and it tore m e up . I' m ve ry c omfortab le where we are right now. O f co urse , not that we're in the lead , we might as well go for it , but I'm not go in g to let it get to eN m e the way it did last year. " Nationa Trail Raceway l Columbus, Ohio Results: June 15-18 , 2000 PRO STOCK FINAL: I . Angelle Seell nq (Suz) 7. 19. 182.28 ; 2. Tony Mullen (Suz) 7.28 .183.00 Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 • E. St. Louis. Illinois June 22-24 Round 9 - Denver, Colorado July 13-16

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