Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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NHRA Win s t on Drag R acing S eries Rou n d B : G a t e w a y In t ' ! R a c e way in Co lumbus, Oh io , Seelin g expected more of th e same in Mad ison and he r T eam W inston Suzu ki didn 't disappo int. She led q ualifying with a 7 .27, ju st ahead of Hines' 7 .29 , and like Hi n es, she b reezed thro ug h the first three rounds of eli minations wi th runs of 7.31 , 7.27 , and a 7.31 in the semis aga ins t T eam 23s Tony Mullen, w ho doub le -clutch ed hi s bi k e o n th e start ing lin e and slowed to a 7 .4 7 after ea r lier p o st ing a string o f lo w 7 .3 second run s. Seeling migh t have had a shot to beat Hines in t he fina l, but tha t will never be kn own as sh e made a j udgem ent call an d shu t th e bike off ra ther than r is k an e nco unte r with the reta ining wal l. " W h e n I le f t , th e b i k e made a m ove to the left , so I tr ied to pull it to th e right." Seeling said . "I was fight ing it, but it was li k e a ma g net to the wa ll. About half tra ck , I told m yself, 'I'm not gon na make it' , so I j ust shut off. I had no id ea where Ma tt was , but I w asn 't a bo ut to r i sk cra sh in g th e bike or getting hurt. I hate to lose a ro un d . especiall y a fi nal . especia lly when we had a machine to race with thi s weekend. " F or Hin es , there we re ple n ty o f re aso n 's t o celebrate after the fi nal. . Fo r o ne , h i s 25th ca ree r v ictory allow ed him t o m ov e past his team o w n e r, dr ag r a cing l eg end T e r r y Van ce and move int o third place on NHRA's all-tim e Pro Stock Bike vic t ory li st. Hin es ' win w a s also the 50 th fo r th e V a n c e [, Hin es t eam, cou nti n g Va nce's 2 4 vic tories and Byro n Hines' lone na tiona l eve nt w in at th e 19 9 2 Hea rt l and Nation al s in Topeka . " I wasn 't thinking about 25 wi ns o r 50 wins or anything like tha t thi s we ekend," sa id Hines , who moved pa st Dave Schu ltz and int o second place in the po ints stand ings with the w in . He now sits j ust 79 behind Seel ing , with se ven ev ent s re m a in ing in the 2000 seas on . " Ri g ht now , I'm closer to her tha n I was at this time last year. The races th at are co m ing up are at tracks that I usua lly do we ll at like Denver and Bra in erd . And, this ye ar , we ' re not stru ggl ing w ith the bike as much as we d id in 1999, so rig ht now, I like o ur ch anc es of win ning the cham pio ns hi p ." eN (Le ft) Matt Hines powered to a 7 .29 in the Pro Stock Bike final to stop Angelle Seeling, who shut off with a 7.39 at just 156 mph after her Team Winston Suzuki made a move towards the retaining wall. (Below) Vance & Hines rider Matt Hines celebrated his second win of the year In Madison and h is 25th career Pro Stock Bike win, one more than team owner Terry Vance had In h is great career. By K EVIN M c K EN NA MADISON, IL, J(JNE 22·24 n less th er e is so me unexpected devel opm ent , t he r a c e fo r th e 2000 NHRA W in ston Pro St ock B ik e championship will , lik e l a st y ear ' s epic battle , c om e down t o a cl ash betw een in cu m be nt Matt Hin es and ch allenge r Angell e Seeling . If that is indeed th e c ase, Hin es w ill be g rateful fo r week ends like th e o ne he enj oyed in Mad ison , Illinois. du ri ng the Sears Cra ft sm an Na tionals . Hin es shook off the early -season problems that have held him to j ust one win a nd turned in the sort of d o m i n a t i n g performance that h a s allowed him t o win three national cham p io nsh ips and 25 events in just four seasons . His best performanc e came in the fina l round , where he downed his archr i va l , T eam Wi n ston 's Angelle Se eling with a 7 .29 . See ling was sid e -b y -s id e w it h Hin es at half track and ac tuall y led th e ra ce at one point , but she was forced t o chop the power after her bike m ade a m ov e towards the wall , and settled for a runner -up fini sh wi th a 7 .39 at ju st 156.72 mph. "I never pa id attention to wh at wa s goi ng o n in the ot her lan e ," Hine s said . " I didn't realize that Ang elle wa s having problems or that she shut off. My bike made just a bo u t a perfect pass . I never h ad to mak e a single correction the wh ole way down . I just U ke p t th e thr ottle p in n ed a nd kept pl ugging gears." M o st of Hine s' runs in M ad i so n were eq ually trouble-free . He d om i n at ed C l a r en ce Markham in r o un d o ne with a 7.31 and im p ro ved sli ghtly in ro u n d two w ith a 7.30 aga ins t Cra ig Treble , who m ad e it easy by red -lighting on his Mateo Tools Su zu k i. In th e se mi s, Hine s mad e th e qu ickest run of eli mi nat io ns, w ith a 7.27 t o power p ast Geno Sc al i and into h i s seco nd fi n al roun d of the year. "We tried some new carbur eto rs in qualifying and they se em ed to help cure some of the prob lem s we've had the l a s t few race s , " H ines said . "We' ve also had some problems with ou r transmission and ignition, but in the semis , we found the right com bination. I think we 're fina lly beginnin g to show what we 're capable of." Anoth er rid er who is beginning to sho w wh at he is capable of is Sc ali, who made it to the semifinals for th e fi rst tim e th is year on eng ine -bu ilder Greg Cope's Jonco Mot or sports Suzuki. Scali, one of the few ride rs on th e tour who runs in both NHRA and A MA/ Pro Sta r competition , qualifi ed sixth in the field with a 7 .37 and gunned down Team 23' s Antr on Brown in the seco nd ro und with a 7 .30. On ly Hines and Seeling ran q uick er in eliminations. "T hat was the first time I'v e been to t h e semifinals since Top eka in 1995, and I'm pretty stoked ," Scali said . "I thought we had a chance to beat Matt, but he was just too strong th is weekend . We spun the rear tire pretty bad ly in low gear because we go t a little too aggressive . I thought we'd need a run, wh ich we did. We also had a few too many runs on that rear tire . Still. I'm happy. We 're slow ly ste pping up , and we're learning a 6ateway Int'I Raceway Madison, Illinois Results: June 22-24, 2000 lot. If we started the season run ni ng as well as we are now , I k now we 'd be PRO STOCK FINAL: 1. Malt Hines (Suz) 7.29. 184.37 ; 2 . Angelle Seeling (5 02) 7.39 . 156 .72 a lo t hig he r t h a n sev en th i n t he points." Fresh off the most domina nt performance of her c areer a week earl ier cue I e Upcom ing Rounds: Round 9 - Denver, Colorado Ju ly 13- 16 Round 10 - Brainerd. Minnesota . August 17-20 n e _ S • JULY 12 , 2000 29