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 Winston D r a g R a c in g S e r ie s W inston N o Bull Showdown , (Left) Matt Hines rode his Vance & Hines Suzuki to a convincing 7 .33 to 7.36 final round victory over Team 23's Antron Brown to claim the 510,000 first place prize In the Winston No Bull Showdown in Bristol. IAbove) For the seventh time in his career, Hines won one of NHRA's specialty races. He has now won two Wi nston Showdown ti tl e s to go a long w ith his W inston Invitati o nal win and his fo ur titles in t he Holle y Pro Stock Bike Dominator Duel. I • I I ! i i ~ i I STORY AND PH OTOS By KEVIN M c KENNA BRISTOL, TN, JULY 7-9 here's somethi ng abo ut co ld, hard cas h t ha t bring s o ut t he best in M att Hin es. In a d d i t i on to hi s thr e e seaso n c ha m pio ns hi ps in NHR A Pr o Stock B ik e co mpetitio n, Hines has dominated N HRA's h ig h-payi ng spec ialty races since his professional debut in 1996 . He 's won th e Holley Dom in ator Du el at In diana polis Raceway Pa rk four times, and he won the ol d Winston Invitational event at Rockingham D ragway in 1998 . Now fo r the second straight yea r, the Va nce £, Hines rider has c la im ed th e $10,000 fi rst- place check for w inni ng N HRA's ve rsion of the A ll -st a r ga me, the Wi n st on No Bull Sho wdow n at Tenn essee 's Br istol Dragw ay . In a close final round , Hin es ou t r a n A n t ro n B r own ' s T e am 23 Suzu k i. 7 .3 3 to 7.36 . " I really like th ese r ac es," H ines sai d. "I wa nt to wi n t hem j ust as bad as I wa n t to wi n a Nationa l event, but here , you don't have th e press ure of th e po in ts battl e to th ink abo ut. Yo u c an ju st g o o u t a nd r a c e a n d n ot wo rr y ab out any t h ing else. And, th e money isn 't bad eit her. " Hin es, d omin ant en rout e to h is win at the m o st rec ent NHRA N ati on al eve nt in St. Lo u is, di d so aga in in Bristo l. He qua l if i ed h i s Eag le On e Suzuki i n th e to p spot w it h a 7 .27 , and was the onl y rider to run under T 7 .3 secon ds du r i n g the hot and muggy weekend . "T h e weat her h er e in Bris tol was ve ry close t o th e co nd itions we ha d in St. Lou is , " Hi n es sai d . " We h ardl y made any changes t o th e bike. Prob ably t he o nly area we had to wo rk on wa s th e .clut ch . I had a 1.13 sixty -foot t ime on m y first pas s, but we go t that dow n to a 1.1 1 when we ran th e 7 .2 7. We also lost sixth gear du ring Friday nig ht's qua li fying ru n, but that was easi ly fixed . Other th an that, every thing seemed to go ou r way ." H i n e s did n ' t hav e much trouble advancing t hrou gh the 16 -bike field, es pec ia lly in the firs t two ro un ds , where he defea ted Co nnie Cohen 's Har ley-Da v ids o n , 7 .29 to a slowing 8 .42, a nd th en st opped Ro n Ayers ' M ac Tools Su zu k i , 7 .3 0 to 7 .52. It was n't until t he semifina ls where Hines got his fir st tes t fr o m h is chief rival , T eam W in ston 's Angelle Seeling. Seeling , t he c u rren t po ints leader and the biggest threat to Hin esin his quest f or three s tra i gh t c ha mpi o nshi ps, st rugg led in qu alify in g , run ning a 7.36 fo r th e fo urt h sp ot in the fi eld . Against H in es , Seelin g slowed to a 7.4 2 and was no m at ch fo r his co nsi ste nt 7.32 effort. "It wa s a real challenge thi s we ek end as we we re fac ed w ith un ch ar ac ter isti c pr obl ems durin g th e first three qual ify in g runs - tran smission probl ems , sh ift er pr oblem s , a nd c ha in pr obl ems ," sai d George Bryc e, Seeling 's t e am ow ne r and c rew chief. Another rider who had made great st rid es l ate l y i s Gen o S cal i , who reached the sem ifina ls for the second strai ght ev ent aboa rd engine -builder G r eg C o p e's Jo nco Motor spo rts Suz uk i. Sc a li qu a lifi ed just b eh ind Brown in the thi r d spot wi th a 7. 3 5 and bea t Ho rac e Wr ight' s Kawasaki a n d Br o wn ' s T e am 23 t e a mm at e T on y M ulle n before slowi ng to a 7.49 in t he sem is again st Br own . " Greg has fo und so m e mo re hor sepower in the shop before the St. Lou is race and now it's reall y evident th at his i d ea s a re w ork ing ," Scali sa i d. " He also made some cha nges to th e bike to make it ha ndle better , wh ich obv iously m ak es my job a lot easier. " Head ing into the sea son 's second ha lf, and on to the nex t event in Denver, where c ham pio nsh i p points wi ll again be counted , Hin es is clea rly in the d river 's seat, desp it e trailing Seel ing b y 79 poin ts in the standings. He didn't ga in any points in Br ist o l, but he did p rove t hat he co u ld wi n wi t ho ut h i s f at her , B y r on , w ho st aye d back in t he team's sho p in Colorado , work ing o n c us to me r engines. " He was w it h us w he n we won in D a ll a s and St. Lo uis ," H in es s ai d . "T h is sho ws everyone th at we c an do it on our own, and I th ink that's real imp ort ant. I 'm l o o k in g fo rwa r d t o Den ver now ." " The o n ly goo d q u a li f yin g run we m ad e wa s the last o ne, a nd it was u nde r th e worst w eat her co ndi tion s. We wo rk ed our way to th e semis and M at t j ust o ut ra n us. We' ll ta k e t h is experience , k eep wo rki ng on our prog ra m , and conti n ue t o im prove ." B row n, o n th e o t he r h and , was enjoyin g o ne o f his b est w eek end s si n ce h i s win at t he R ou t e 66 Nationals in early June . Th e T eam 23 r ider qu a l i f i ed seco nd wit h a 7.33 a n d d e f ea ted Shaw n Ga n n , C raig T r ebl e , an d Gen o Scal i wit h ru ns of 7 . 3 6 , 7.40 , and 7 .38 to reach th e fi nal r o un d . T h o u g h Br o wn ma d e h i s quickest run of elimi nations in t h e fina l wi t h a 7.36 , it wasn't enough t o ho ld off Hines , who wo n w ith a 7 .33 . "Even th o ugh I lost, the 7 .3 6 we ran in the sem is was an im p ressive run to us, " B r o wn sai d . "We were proud of t hat. In th e fi nal, Matt and I b oth ha d almost p erfe ct react io n t im es ( .40 7 fo r H in es a nd .406 for Brown ) , w hi c h i nd i ca t es that we ' re try in g to give th e fans th e best sho w poss ibl e. It was a really co ol race. " I don 't get intim ida ted when I run M att ," B ro wn sai d . "We hav e a rou tin e whe re we run ev er y round li ke it' s the final round an yway . We don 't p ay attention to wh o is in th e ot he r lane. We' ve been wo rk ing har d on o ur co ns iste ncy, and th at rea lly p aid off t his weeke nd be c ause cons iste ncy is w h at wi n s round s , a nd that ' s w h at gives yo u cha m p io nships." cue I e Br istolBragway Bristol, Tennessee Results: July 7-9, 2BBB PRO STO CK F I N A L : I . Matt Hin e s ( Suz ) 7.33/184 .19; 2. Antron Brown (S Ul) 7.36/1 78 .52. Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 - Denver, Colorado, July 13-16 Round 10 - Brainerd, Minnesota, August 17-20 n e _ S • A UGUST 2 , 2000 49