Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AM AIPro star Drag Rac ing Series R ound 7 : Atc o R a c eway the talente d ride r always finds a wa y to win at Atc o . He go t by Eddie Kraw ie c whe n Krawiec 's b ike slip pe d out of gear, a nd ad vanced to the final when team ma te C h ris Willia ms pu lle d a bizarre staging fou l in the semifina ls. Sc hn itz, on e of the new bre ed of young riders m a kin g their ma rk in the class, los t the holes ho t to Gadson in t he final b ut re mai ned poi sed a n d motored past Gad son on th e big end , (Left) Gary Clark locked up h is fourth Funnybike championship In five years on his Orient Express/HMP Kawasaki during the Orient Express U.S. Motorcycle Nationals at Atco Raceway in New Jersey. (Below) Ryan Schnitz scored h is first 600cc SuperSport win and set a new elapsed time record for the class at 10 .0 15 seconds. y ears o n h is Orient E x p re s s /HM P turbo Kawasaki. Clar k he ld the number-one q ualify ing spot with a 6 .7 4 at 200 mph , followed by super-hot rookie Ch ip Ellis, who h it a 6.85 at a b o om ing 209 mph. Clark advanc ed t o th e fina l agains t current cha mpion Brya n Ben nett who ga ve Cla rk h is o nly final ro und loss of the season . Aft e r run n in g s trong in e lim ination s , Cla rk got o ut of shape in the finals a nd had to lift, coasting to a 7 . 17/159. It d idn 't matter though , a s Benn ett red -lighted a nd cou ld o n ly run a 7.21. The F a s t By Gast Pr o Mod ifi ed s e rie s has been owned b y c u rrent ch ampion Billy Vose and his bigg est rival To m my Miceli on the Fran c o 's Perfo rm a n c e S uzu ki. T h e pai r has accou nted for all th e wins th is s e a so n, and , in fact, only two othe r riders have made final round appearanc es. Atc o looked to be much the sa me , as Vos e topped the qualifying s he ets at 6 .80 at th e fa stest sp eed ever. 209 mph , fo llowed by Miceli at 6 .82/196 . Louie Grist a nd Vantine were the only other riders to run s ixes in qu a lifying . T h e antici pa te d Vose -Micel i match up evaporated in round two when Vose b ro k e a t ra n s m is s io n . Miceli m arched to h is sixth fin a l o f the ye a r , while Vantine , who was burn ing p isto ns on his Kawa sa k i on e very la p, ke pt making rounds. Van tin e got t h e h o le s h o t in t h e final , but ate up ano th er p iston as Miceli took the win , and the po ints le ad , with a 6 .84/197 . De fe n d in g Le c t r o n Pr o S to c k c h a m p io n Fred Coll is pra c ticall y lo c ke d up his second s tra igh t num ber-on e pla te , bringing his St a r Per fo r m an c e Parts Su z u ki t o a fin al rou nd victory over ve tera n Paul Gast. Co llis qua lified on the po le at 7 .21 se conds at 185 mph and ra n a pair of 7. 20's e n ro ute to th e final where he ripp ed off low e .t. of th e eve nt a t 7 .168 seconds for his fou rth win o f xrco, NJ, SEPT. 8-10 T he O rient Express U.S . Moto rcy cle Na tionals at Atc o Racewa y is trad ition a lly o ne of the best events o n the AMA/Prostar motorcycle drag ra cing to ur. It may not be the biggest event of the season, but with its place on the schedule - the la s t even t b e for e the sea son-en d ing Wo rld Final s - hig h dra ma is always a part of th e scene. The poi nts race is at its peak , an d ma ny dre ams are re alized or shatte red at Atc o . Atco is all a bo ut tr ad ition . Th e 1 facility h a s not se en the t yp e of upgrades most national -event tracks e njoy but that is part of the charm. It loo ks much like it did 36 years ago when the first U.S. Motorc ycle Nation als was run . In fac t, the U.S. Nationals is th e lo ng e s t -ru n n in g motorc ycle drag racing eve nt in the world . One thing Atco is known for is "m ine s ha ft air ." Coo l and dense, it is just what ra cing eng ines crave. Th e racing surfa ce is well -worn and tricky but alwa ys la den with traction . If you can find th e sweet spot, yo u are sure t o tu rn a worl d-class nu mber. The 20 0 0 run ni ng of the eve nt was no exception. It seems like more records are set a t Atco than a ny other pla ce o n the Prostar circuit. "Atco is a special place." said Skip Dowling . ow ner of event s ponsor Orie nt Ex p ress. "Yo u g et a feel ing at At c o t hat you don' t get anywhere else. It's a b ig part of o ur sport's his tor y." Dowling was particu la rly pro ud a t this year's runni ng of the U.S . Mot orcycle Nat io nal s as his two team rid er s , Ga ry Clark in F u n n yb ik e an d Da ve Vantine in Pro Mod, m ad e th e finals. For Cla rk it wa s the co nti n uation of a s pe ctac u lar s eas on . At At co , Clark sc ore d his fifth win in six final ro u nd app earances t o loc k up h is fourth championship in the past five 30 OCTOBER 4. 2000· cue • e n eVIl's th e year as Ga st turned in a 7 .29 at 187. Rick ey Gadson c ontinue d his outstanding success o n the new Muzzys ZX-7R turbo Superbike a t h is ho m e track . Since the bike de buted at Chica go , Gadson has do ne noth ing but win and set rec ords. The trend continued at Atco where Gadson re-set the elapsed tim e record to 7.93 seconds and took his third st ra ight win. Gads on qualified number on e a t 8 .08/174 and hit th e first -ev er Superbi ke sev e n - s eco n d ru n w ith a 7.95 5 /17 5 in ro u n d tw o a g a in st Michael la ntorno befor e loweri ng the number t o a 7.9 3 in th e sem ifin als against Mark Und erwo od . On t he other s ide o f the ladder, Broc k Da vidson straightened out his recent ha n d ling pro blems with the he lp of Te rry Mcintos h an d advanced to h is sev enth stra igh t final. Da viso n got t he ho lesho t in t h e fina l a nd ra n h is q uickest e .t. ever a t 8 .07 /168 b ut it wa s no match for the Muzzy tur bo as Gadson h it his third seven sec o nd run in a row with a 7 .98/168 Ryan Schnitz had a ca reer day in the Muzzys 600 Su pe rS po rt class, qu a lifying number one on his Team Green ZX6R a t a s t u nn ing 10. 015 to set th e elapsed time record , eventua lly tuming bac k Rickey Gadson in the fina l to ea rn his first-ever SuperSport win. Gadson was well back on the qua lifying list, placing s ixth at 10 .25, but ru nn ing 10. 18 /1 33 to Gadson's 10 .32/ 130 . Matt S m it h storm ed to his third straig ht Mickey Thompson Top Elimi na tor win , becoming the first Top Elimi na to r bike over 2 00 m ph with a 201. 01 m ph charge in qua lifying a nd a 201.43 in round two of e lim inations on the Tim blin Chassis Suzuki. In the final S mith m et Dave Norr is w h o qualified back in ninth position but received tuning help from Walt Tim blin which brought in into the m id-7's and all owed him to go rounds and make his first final. The fina lists left nearly to gether but Sm ith 's 7 .27/1 9 7 brought him the win over Norris who ran 7.5 1/183 . eN Atl:o Raceway Atl:o. New Jersey Results: September B-lo. ZOOO [Round 1 of BJ FNY/BK: 1. Ga ry Clark (Kaw): 2 . Brya n Bennett (Kaw ). PRO MOD : 1. Tom Miceli (Suz); 2. David Vantine (Kaw). PRO STK : 1. Fred Collis {S ua ): 2. Paul Ge s t (SUL). S /BK : 1. Rickey Gadson (Kaw ); 2 . Br o c k Davidso n (Suz). 600 S/SPT: I. Ryan Sch nitz (Kaw ): 2. Rickey Gadson (Kaw) . TOP EU M: 1. Matt Smith (Suz); 2. Dave Norris (SUL). TOP GAS : 1. Mike Ko no pac k i (K aw) ; 2 . Bruce Sauer (Kaw). S/eOM.p : 1. Jerry May (S uz) ; 2. Dave No rris (SUL). S/ GAS: 1. Mark Coulson (Ka w); 2. Mike Coulson (Ka w). PRO ET : I. Mike Cou lson ( Kaw) ; 2. C hris Runyo n (Suz). STREET ET : 1. Steve Sma ll (S uz) ; 2. Russell Winchester (Kaw). , V -TW IN ET: 1. D el Fl or e s ( Su z) ; 2 . J am ie Brekt on. Upcoming Round: Round 9 - Gainesville. Florida. November 17-19

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