Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~ ; ~ ~ace n II IHRA Mopar P a res World N a t io n a ls / S c r e a m in ' E a gle Nit ro H arleys (L eft and above) Steve Stordeur came away with the victory at the IHRA World Nationals in Ohio, despite injuring himself enough to make crutches a necessity. NORWALK, OH, AUG. 26 s it possible to be too lucky or too good? S tev e Storde ur' s competitors mig ht think so after his performance at the IHRA Wor ld Natio na ls in Nor wal k, Oh io . Unabl e to ta ke t im e off work , Stordeur had ju st one sh ot at qualifying, so he spun in and snagged the to p spot. Stordeur then hobbled h is way thr ough elim inati ons o n c rutc hes after an amorous adventure c ost him a left foot spra in. Three winning rounds and th e first "40 " in many races - 6.48 seconds at 210.87 mph - is both lucky and good. It was no secret that th e Screamin' Eagle Nitro Harleys struggled with th e track surface and air co ndi t io ns on the famousl y id eal Norwalk tra ck . Back to back race we ekends left them digg ing in their race logbooks for qu ick comb ination s. Qualify ing began on Wednesda y, with one round each da y through Frid ay. The IHRA Friday Night o f F ire was a tops y turvy event leaving th e 1999 c ha m p ion J a y Turner not qu al ified and oth er c omp etit ors j u m b le d fro m t hei r ex pecte d orde r. On Frida y nigh t, St ordeur rod e in t he fir s t p air ing d own the t r ac k , knoc king Ray Price from th e number o ne position h~' d he ld fo r two da ys to a n e ve ntua l fourth . Stordeur clocked 6 .59 3 at 2 16 .7 6 mph . In hi s b e s t s ho win g of th e ye a r , Mike Ro min e finally found so me power a nd jum ped from 'n ot qualified' to second o n a 6 .728 rid e at 2 06.64 mph . Also clo cking h is best, Iowa n Allen Peterson earne d th ird wi th a 6 .783 at 190.22. Pri c e 's fo u rt h spot was a 6 .7 93 a t 204 .5 7 . Bill F urr dropped from seco nd to fo urth after Sto rde ur a n d Romine 's ju m ps , still b e tt e ring his time with a 6 .804 at 19 6 .90 . Stord eur' s t e am o wne r J ohnn y Man cu so sat s ixth with a 6 .80 5 a t 202 .73 be st a fter a t ir e - spinnin g round . J im McClure found himself at the bottom half of th e field at seve nth on a 6 .837/208 .65 pass . Locking th e fie ld in wa s Doug Vancil o n th e Vanc e [,. Hines Nitro Ha rle y with a 6 .843 at 202.06. As if Stordeur's s t re s s from on e shot qualify ing ha dn 't be en e no ug h, h e sp ent th e morn ing unusuall y gracefully accepting ribb ing from his peer s ov er his s p ra in . He sim p ly s m iled a nd sa t with his foot up . His comments were a ll business. "In round on e , I wa s c on c ern ed with s pinning the tire ," he said . "It did s p in a little bit , so I s ho rt- s h ifte d it. Otherwise we pr obably wo uld ha ve run fifties all weekend." Stordeur defea ted Van c il with a 6. 6 5 / 2 1 2 . 93 t o Vancil 's 6 .8 7 4 / 20 1.40. Oth er firs t- rou nd act io n fe a tu red Price ta king a holeshot on Furr, the n d rop p ing back at ha lf track to relin qui sh to F urr . Th e Romin e versu s McClu re pass was the c losest of the eve nt, a total .00 1 of a second marg in 56 e By N INA HEN D ERSO N I S EPTEM BER 13 ; 2 0 0 0 ' cue • ne'UVs of victo ry for McClure . While Romine had th e ho leshot, McC lure had the top -end power. Man cuso and Peterson both s pun the tire and broke at m id tra c k, with Mancuso ea rning the slowest win time of the day a t 7 .6 47 . Furr said of Stordeur going into th e semi-finals: "He ha d just run a 6 .6 5 a nd I'd just run a 6 .74 so I definite ly needed to step it up a nd run th e 6.60 ran ge or we wou ldn' t ha ve a c ha nce. So, we pu t a little more fuel in it and c ha n ged th e gear and tightened up th e clutch." Stordeur, m eanwhile , prepared in his m ind . "For th e sec ond round , I reall y just put th e Vancil ru n out of m y m ind a nd tri ed to pull another holeshot. I th ought th at if I could repeat a fifty, I co uld win . I had a pr etty good light with a .436." Furr pulled a .4 66 light, but spu n th e tire ba dly a nd kn ew bet te r tha n to flog on his motorcycle to no ava il. Stordeur clo cked a 6 .594 at 2 11. 73 . Th ere we re two Man cu so Racing Te am bikes in th e semi -finals . Man c u so fa c ed "T h e Judge " McClure without lane choi ce. Mancuso a dm itte d ly wen t th e wro ng way o n the tu ne- up. "T he s emi fin al was killer ," McClure said. "I did my job o n that one. T his b ike is so big a nd he av y, it's kind of ha rd to ge t it wound up . But , I was a ble to run J ohnny down. " Man c us o had t he holes hot a n d clocked his be st e .t. of th e ra ce , but Mc Cl ur e p o we re d to the wi n on a 6 .5 56 at 21 6 .5 1 - th e hig hest top speed of the ra ce . After a n ho ur and a half rain delay between the semis an d the final , the two te a ms pus hed t o t he stagi ng lanes, only to be he ld off again , twice , by the ra in . Ev e ntua lly , leading .of f th e Pro fina ls , th e S creamin' Eagl e Nitro Har ley winn er was Stordeur on a 6.48 /210 .87 . McC lure n a b be d the ho le s h ot b ut slow ed to a 6 .708 at 18 7. 9 1. "I d id every thing rig h t until t h e fina l ru n," McClu re said. "The n I out g uessed m ys el f. I knew Steve was re ally go ing to be good. I s ho uld have le ft it al o n e , an d inste ad I m ad e it wo rse . It wa s th e tuning . Th e clut ch was fine . I p retty m uc h left it a lone an d cha nged the ge a ring . I we nt th e wr ong wa y o n t he fu e l s yst em . I sh ould have put more fuel in it. That's one of those Mond ay m orn ing quarterba ck deals . I just made the wrong ca ll. And Steve made the rig ht c a ll. Th ose g uys did th e ir jo b . I just guessed wro ng on m ine. " Stordeur described th e final. "Fo r the last round, J ohnny Mancuso, the te a m owner, put the tune -up in the bike that ran the 40. We th ought we needed a little bit of an advantage . I a ctuall y h ad a ho rrib le light in the fina l - a .530. I c a n 't explain that; I don 't know what I d id. I didn't think it was that bad when I left. McClure was out on me a little bit. I passed him at a b o u t the 330 -foot mark . Then I didn 't see him the rest of the way . I don't know what he c hanged, but he defin itel y s lowe d down a little b it. It was nice to run the qui cke st pass of CN the we ekend in th e finals ." IHRA World Nationals ' Norwalk, Ohio Resul ts : August 26, 2000 FINAL: 1. Steve Storde ur (.530/ 6.487 /2 10.8; ); 2. Jim McClure (.4 77/6 .708/187.91) ,

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