Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/Prostar Drag Racing S eries Round 6 : In d ia n a p o lis Raceway Park (Left) Ch ip Hunter overcame a huge Rickey Gad son hole shot to gamer his first w in in the Muzzys 600cc SuperSport class. (Ab ove) Billy Vose (near la ne ) claimed his second straight Pro Modified w in over Tommy Miceli (far ta n e ] after both riders had major thrashes t o make th e final . " A weeken d to forget became a weekend to remember," said Hunter. Indy qualifying was led by Krawiec , who turned in a 10 .18 at nearly 132 mph to ho ld a distinct ad vantage over Hunter and Team Green riders Ryan Schnitz , Ladwig and Chris Williams, all wi th mid - 10.2 second time slips. Krawiec looked to be on a m iss ion , taking low e.t . of every round before h is b ike slipped ou t of gea r in th e quart erfi nals ag ainst Gadson , who went on to take out the K&N bike of Jam es Fe nwick wi th a 10 .4 6 in th e semis to ma ke his first final since he wo n the At lan ta event in April. On the o ther side of the ladd er, Hunte r wa s m ak in g roun ds, getting by the Del's Performance bike of J eff Lenc wi th a 10 .28 and K&N 's Keith Thom pson with a 10.27 to gain lan e choice over Gadson in the fi nal. With a distinct performance disad vantage, Gadson cut a jaw-dropping , n e ar -pe r fec t .406 reac t i o n t im e to gain a two tenths of a second hol esho t adva nt age over Hun t er in the final. While two tenths off th e line would put an y on e on th e trai ler, Hun ter dug deep , nai led his shift points and beat Gadson to the st ripe with his quickest and fa stest lap ever, a 10.2 0 at 133 m ph to Gadson's 10.4 6/ 128. "' knew I had t h e p er f or m an c e edge on Gadson for the fin al so I went soft on the tr ee," said Hun t er, who set a ne w ei g hth m il e speed reco rd at 10 8.9 mph. " But it was way too soft. I got into fu ll tuck by seco nd gear and j ust conc entrated on th e run . I ca n 't beli eve I was ab le to reel h im in ." Hunter than k ed sp on so rs Q u i c k T im e Motorsports , R&D S erv i c e & Perfo rmanc e an d Dr e y er Cy cl e o f Ind ianapo lis . L ar r y " S p i d er m a n" M cBr id e cl aimed h is third Top Fuel title of th e S T O RY A ND PHOTOS B Y M A TT P OLITO INDIANAPOLIS, IN, AGG. 11-13 n paper, the AMA/P rost ar 600cc SuperSport class would seem to be of little in terest. The class record is th e slo we st in the sport and the bik es are th e least -m odified, with the only cha nges allowed be ing lowered suspension , aft erm ark et exhaust, jetting and ge aring cha nges. In a sport filled with exo t ic , purpose-bu iltrocket s, th e 6 0 0cc SuperSports pa le by compar ison. In realit y , 600cc Sup er Sp o rt is p e r h a p s the mos t com pet i tive , exciting and so ught-after crowns on th e A MA / Pro st ar tou r. Th e co mpetiti on is le d by the Muzzy Kawasaski fa ctory team anchored by Rickey G ad so n and a trio of T eam Gr een riders which includes current cha m pion Marty Ladwig . Fac ing up against the factory are stou t inde p end e n t teams w h i c h i nclud e Cheese Steak Racing out of Ph tl ad elph !a - w ith r id er Micha el Ph i ll ip s o n th e o n ly co m p eti tive Yama h a in t h e lX -6R -dom inat ed cla ss , the tough K &N Motorsports tea m from M aryl and an d the Pat erso n , Ne w Jers ey , Del' s Performance team led by Edd ie Krawiec . Wit h such str on g team s vying fo r a w in t h er e w o u l d se em to be l i ttle room on the podium for anyone else, but at the Pin gel T hunder Nationals at Ind i an ap ol is Ra c ewa y Park , loc al rid er Chip Hunter proved that th eor y wrong , ta k ing a dr am atic fin al-round vi ctory over Gad son to cla im his first 600cc SuperSport wi n on hi s lX-6R. The weekend alm ost ended early on fo r Hunter , wh o c rashe d the Qu ick T ime Racing GSX -R during qu alify ing for th e Qu ickest Stre etbike Shootou t qualifying on Fr id ay. O 36 A UG UST 30 , 2000' eye I e n e _ s ye ar and is well on his way to garn eri ng his fir st cha mp ionship si nce 1991. Mc Bride q u a l i f i ed on t he p ol e w ith a 6 . 1 1 at 2 31 mph and ran a 6.1 0 at 2 2 8 in t he fi nal against To mmy Smith. Sm ith, who m ade his seco nd final of the season , is ma k ing str id es on th e ex- E lm er Trett fueler , runn ing a best of 6.19/208 , but he had to shut o ff early against McBride in the final. Orient Express Funnybike ch am pi on Bryan Bennett took his second win of the season, getting by St eve Suter who made his first fina l of the year. Po ints leader Gary Clark took the pole at 6 .66 seconds and ran an all t im e best elapsed ti me of 6 .6 19 at 203 mph before getti ng out of sha pe and losing to Bennett in the semifinal. Bennett lost a turbo du ring elimi nations , fo rci ng h im t o tu rn up the nitrous system for the fi na l. The plan worked as Bennett clocked h is best performance o f the event, running a 6 .69 at 192 for t he wi n as Su ter c ouldn 't get down the track on the Schultz Race Products machine. The F ast By Gast Pro Modified bat tl e between curren t cha m pion B ill y Vose and the Franco 's Per fo rm ance Suzuki of Tommy M iceli cont in ued unabate d at Indy. Vose to ok th e po le at 6.79/197 and tun ed Bill Vose Rac ing customer Lo uie Grist to a 6. 88 for the number-two spot, ahead of Miceli at 6.9 0. Vose lined up ag ain st Miceli in th e fi na l fo r the fou rth time th i s sea so n but not b efore both riders earn ed c o stly se m ifinal w ins . Vo se suffered a nitrous fire which fried th e electrical system on hi s Koenig "Low Bo y " Su zu k i foll owing hi s 6 .81 win over Steve Drake while Miceli broke a trans requi ri ng an engi ne sw ap after tu rn ing back Grist with a 6 .82. With both b ikes re p aired fo r th e fin al Miceli got th e hol eshot but lost a second motor j ust off th e line as Vos e spri nt ed to the best lap of th e week end at 6.77/204 to take h is thi rd win of the y ear and second st raight win over Mi cel i. NHRA Pro Stock standout A ntron Brown m ade a rar e Pro star ap p ea ra nce a nd c a me aw a y wit h a win , turnin g b ack th e Star Performan c e Pa rts Suzu ki o f num ber -o n e p late hold er Fr ed Colli s in the final. Brown and Co llis tu rned in id entical 7.2 19's in quali fy ing bu t Brown as given th e p o l e b a s ed on his faster speed. B ro wn , ri din g the Tea m 23 Suz u k i tun ed by Mark Peiser , un leashed low e.t. of the event at 7.1 6 against Paul Ga st in the Sem i as Co lli s made his fourth stra ight final wi th a 7.23 t o get b y t h e EMC2 bike of Pat "Icema n" Wi se . Co ll is ' three -race win streak came to an early end as he suffered a r are re dlight h an d in g the win to Brown turned in a consistent 7.17 at a booming 188 mph for the win . Kawasaki factory rider Rickey Gadson claimed his second straig ht Superbik e win setting a new record of 8 .100 at 169 mph on the tur bocharg ed Muzzy s lX - 7R . Ga dson hel d the pole with the 8. 10 fo llowed by the turboc harged Suzuki of Mark M o isan a t 8 .12. Br o c k D a v id son ca me out of the fifth qualify in g posi ti on to en d M o i s a n ' s d a y wi t h a ' holeshot wi n before earni ng a semifinal sing le to make his fifth fina l of th e year whe re he wo u ld face Gad son. D a v i d so n got out of shape on t h e T eam B DE GSX - R 750 in the final an d crossed the centerline as Gad son took his thi rd win of the year at 8.26 seconds . eN Indianapolis Raceway Parte Indianapolis, Indiana Results: August 11-13 , 2000 (Ro und & of 81 TO P FUE L : I. lorry M cB r id e ( K o", ) , 6.100 /228.77: 2. Tomm y Smi th IT"'). 6.755/158.00. FNY/BK: 1. Bryon Bennett (Ko",). 6.692/ 192.96: 2. Steve Suter (Kew) . 10.413 /81.39 . PRO MO D: 1. Bill veee (SUI) . 6.772/204 .0 8: Tom Miceli (Suz) . Broke. PRO STK : 1. Antro n Brown (Suz). 7.1721188 .08: 2. Fred Colli s (Suz ). Foul. S/BK: I. Rick ey Godson (Ko",). 8 .268 /1 69 .45: 2 . Brock Dav idson (Suz ) , DO STRTBK SHOOTOUT: I. Joh nnie Locklear ( Suz), 7 .87 5/1 82.37 ; 2 . Br ock Davidson ( Suz) , Broke . 600 S /SPT : 1. Ch ip Hunter ( K o",) . 10 .206/1 33.4 1: 2. Rickey God son (Ka",). 10 .465 / 128.35. TOP EllM: I. Molt Smith (SUI). 13.701 /57.98; 2. Phil Rucker (Sur }, Foul. S/GAS : 1. Bruce Sauer (Kew }, 6.181; 2. Dean Frantz (Kaw), 8 .166. S/COMP: I. Ron To rnow (Kaw). 9.171 : 2. Mike Wogner (Kaw} , 9.3 17. S/ GA S: I. Russell Gossett (Ko", ). 9.90 1; 2. Ed Ehrke (Ko",) . 9 .884 . PRO ET: 1. Mike Konopocki (Ko ",). 8.892: 2. Bill Walter (KlI W), 9 .861 . 5T RT ET: 1. Lee Sp angler (Ko",>. 10.398: 2. Terry Moore (SUI) 10.299. V-TWIN ET: I. Debbie Knebel (Hon). 12.942 . Upcoming Round s: Round 7 - Aleo , New Jersey. September 8-10 Round 8 - Gainesville. Florida. November 17-19

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