Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 42 October 19

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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IN THE WIND P36 Sampey Claimes 45th Career NHRA Win S uddenly, the notion of Vance & Hines Suzuki's Angelle Sampey winning a fourth NHRA Camping World Pro Stock Mo- torcycle Championship isn't so far-fetched. Sampey won her third cham- pionship in 2002, and many be- lieved it would be her last, even after she joined the powerful Vance & Hines team three sea- sons ago. Fast forward to 2022 and Sampey is not only competi- tive, but she's one of the favorites after winning her second race of the season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Ten- nessee, October 15-17. Racing against WAR Suzuki's Karen Stoffer in a rare but not unheard of all-female final round, Sampey won a close battle, with her 6.77 elapsed time holding off Stoffer's quicker 6.76, thanks in large part to a nearly perfect reaction time off the starting line. Sampey, who debuted with Stof- fer 25 years ago at the Denver round, quickly acknowledged the historical significance of her latest victory. Her 45th win, Sampey is now tied with the late Dave Schultz for third-most in the class. Only Hines and Kraweic have more with 56 and 49 wins, respectively. "I've been out here for so long, I've really learned to appreciate everything I get now," Sam- pey said. "When I win a race, the emotions are 100-percent genuine because it's a task to get it done. To get four round wins is really tough and it means so much to me. I love this sport so much and this team just works so hard. This mission was to catch back up in the points race and we made it happen. It was a fan- tastic day and it would be great to get the number one back on the motorcycle." There were other reasons for Sampey to celebrate the win. First and foremost, she was able to pull to within 25 points of leaders Matt Smith with only the Angelle Sampey put herself into the championship hunt with a victory at the Bristol round of the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship. PHOTOS: MATT POLITO

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