Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128630
N H R A W inst on Drag Ra cin g S e r ie s R o u n d B: B r a in erd In t e rn a t io n a l R a c e w a y STO RY BY KEVIN M cK EN NA BRAINERD, MN, AUG. 17-20 h e n All - pro NF L corne rback T ro y Vin c en t of the Phi lade lph ia Ea gles d e cided to form a two bike Pro Stock dr a g ra cin g team two years a go , hi s u lt im ate goal was to hav e h is rid e rs , An tro n Brow n an d Ton y Mullen , appear tog eth er in the final of an NHRA National event. Vin cent finall y got his wish last wee k a s Brown defeated Mullen in the fina l of th e NHRA n at ion a ls in Brai nerd to cla im h is fifth career victo ry. "To ny and m e hav e a lways ta lked about racing in th e final , a nd we final ly pull ed if off," Brown said. "We 've raced a few tim e s before, and he's beat m e more th an I've beat him , bu t th is makes up for it be caus e it was in a final round. Tony is th e only person who really rattl e s me , so I kne w I had to be focused when I ran him. " Th e final round co uld ha ve been o ne of th e best races of th e weekend , bu t Mullen 's bik e s lowe d a t half- tra c k a fter hi s t ran s m is si on wo u ldn ' t engag e th ird gear. That left Bro wn to ta ke the win with a 7 .30, his best run of th e weekend. For Brown , th e victory c a ppe d off a n im pre s siv e two -week run . A we ek before the Bra iner d ra ce , he turned in a dominant perfo rm a nce in winni ng the AMA/ Pro Star ra ce a t Indianapolis Ra cew a y Pa rk . W "My c rew ch ief, Mark Peiser, and I have been wo rk ing re ally hard on our co m b ination and it's starting to pay off," Brown sa id. "We 've been fa st all yea r, but we 've fina lly made it cons istent and th a t has m a de a ll the differ ence in the worl d . We haven 't made an y dra s t ic c ha nges t o o ur set -up , but ever sin ce our win in Chicago in Ju n e , we've steadily made little imp ro v em ents th a t h a ve h el p e d us tre m endously. " In Bra ine rd , Bro wn barel y worked up a sweat o n race day . He outran Greg Unde rda hl in rou nd o ne , 7.3 0 to 7 .4 6 , and th en took out Craig T re ble 's Mat co To o ls S uzu ki in the sec on d, 7.3 3 to 7.38. Br o wn a nd th e rest o f the b ike c lass ca ught a break wh en cha mp ions hip points lea d er s Angelle S eel ing and Matt Hines , who q ua lified se cond a n d first , re s p e ct iv e ly , b o t h w e re elim ina ted in ro u nd two . Hin e s , t he pole -si tter with a 7 .2 7 , inex pl ica bly red -lighte d for the fifth tim e this year des pite h av ing Shawn Gann 's Oa kley Suzuki covered by more th an a te nth of a se c on d . Hines let the clutch out j ust two t ho usan dt hs of a se cond befo re t he gre en light, but it was e no ugh to send h im to th e s idelines. With Hines ou t , Seelin g had a perfect opportunity to extend he r lead in the poin ts sta nd ings, but she broke a c ra nks haft at half-tra ck against Dave just tried to sta y con si ste nt and le t th em make a mistake . Unfortunate ly , th e y d idn 't ma ke a m ista ke . The y h it a home run ." On the s ta rt in g lin e in the fina l, Mullen wa s luc ky to even be able to race his teammate aft e r dis cove ring a broken clutc h. Desp ite th e pro blem s, he was ab le to cut a near ly pe rfect reactio n ti me and left n earl y three hundredths ahead of Brown . "You don 't know wha t I ha d to do to get that bike sta ged," Mullen sa id. " I c ould tell the cl utch wasn 't right on the burnout. It kept try ing to pull th e bike through the lig hts . I h a d to us e m y feet to ro ll up th e starting line . I managed to get th rough th a t okay, but then the bike bogged on th e st artin g line and finally , it wouldn 't s hift. I'm happy for Antron , but I s ure co uld ha ve used a win m yself." No rm a lly, by m ids eason , partic ipation in some classe s ha s dw indl ed du e to a tt rit ion, strain ed budgets or othe r unforese en circu m sta nces, but the Pro Stock Bike class continues to gro w. T he Br a in e rd race produ c ed one of th e bigg e st a nd most co mpetitive fields of th e year, th an ks to the addition of five riders who we re ma k ing thei r first a ppeara nce of th e year. Incl ude d am on g t he m we re G re g Underdah l a nd John Sm ith , two riders who finis he d in th e to p lOa yea r ago . S mi th was t abbed to rid e a s e c ond Vanc e [, Hine s S uzuki for Matt Hines a n d Und erda h l too k a br ea k fr om build ing h is Honda CBR 1 OOOXX to ride good friend Gary Tonglet's Plasti Dip Suzuki. ProSta r ac es Mic hael Phillips and Todd Doege ma de th ei r first NHRA races of the year. Phillips , was in fou r yea rs a b oard T roy Bax ter 's T y s on Ge a r Suzuki a n d Scott Can non, so n o f Fu n ny Car racer Scotty Ca nnon , jo ined his fa t he r's Oak ley team and mad e h is p rofessiona l debut in Bra ine rd. Thoug h he is still in fifth p lace in the points stand ings , Bro wn has no t given up hope of c a t c h in g See ling a nd Hines in th e ra c e for the c ha m pionship . "We still have time and if we continu e to wo rk h a rd , we ca n ma ke a move, " Brown said . "The big th ing is that we 've wo n two races in th e last two weeks a nd with the biggest ra ce of t he yea r co mi ng up at Indy, we h a ve mo mentum o n o u r si de. Th is w in was also great for T roy . Ev en thou gh he 's in tra ining cam p a nd get ting ready for th e NF L season , it was his dream to have bot h Tony a nd I in the fina l. I'm g lad we we re a ble to do eN it for him ." Antron Brown (near lane) won the Pro Stock Bike title when he took out Team 23 teammate Tony Mullen (far lane) in the Brainerd final. Brown ran a 7.30 after Mullen's bike wouldn't shift int o third gear. S ch u ltz , and coas te d to a stop as Sch ultz moved into the semifinals with a 7.43 on his Sunoco Ha yab usa . Ea rlier in the event, Seeling h a d a bru sh wit h th e g uardwall when a rear t ire separa ted from the rim on he r Tea m Winston Suzuk i. T ho ugh the b ike hit ha rd enough to bend the ha ndleba rs, crush the he ade r, and brea k a footpeg , Seel ing escaped un ha rm e d and was able to continue after minor repairs. "We a lmost p u lled off th e comeb a c k of th e year," Seeling said. "My guys fixed m y S uzuki as good as new betwe en ro un ds . I d id n't k now what happened. The bike just ke pt pulli ng toward th e wa ll a nd I couldn' t stop it. I thought for sure that it was go ing to hit the wa ll a n d sta rt fli p p ing , bu t th an kfull y it di dn 't. It was a m ira cl e tha t our b ike or I was not hu rt mor e ." Mull en , who m ad e three s traig ht 7.37 passes in elim ina tions , incl ud ing one in th e sem is to be at Ga nn, kn ew that Brown held a s ligh t performa nce advantage headi ng into th e final, but he , nor crew c hief Harry Lartigue , was a ble to m ake drastic c ha nges . "We d idn ' t do any t h ing s pecial b ef ore the final ," Mull en said. "We cue I e n Bralnenllntemational Raceway Brainenl, Minnesota Results: August 11-20, 2000 [Round 9 of 141 PRO STOCK FI NAL: 1. Antron Brown ( Suz) 7 .30, 178 .9 9 ; To ny Mull en (S uz ) 18 .68 . 34 .8 6 (broke) . Upcoming Rounds: Round 9 • Indianapolis, Indiana, August 30- Se ptember 4 Ro un d 10 - Eng li sh to wn , New J er sey, September 7·B e _ S • SEPTEMBER 1 3. 2000 55 .