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e " II ~ , C\I 00 ~ ....-4 ... ~ ....-4 ~ ..-4 :3 ~ (Above) Terry Vance took another Top Fuel win, while "Superbike Mike" Keyte (right) was the winner in Pro Stock. NMRA National Drag Race Championship Series: Round 5 Vance.Baugh, Keyte shine By Steve Crosby Photos by Greg Guarinello and Clayton Taylor EAST HADDAM, CT, JUNE 26-27 After a muggy day and an afternoon th u n dershower which postponed the final Pro qualifyin g session, th e National Motorcycle Racing Association 's Summernationals tu rned into an event which will be talked about for years. For Sunday's final eliminations the weather changed from shaky to 1. 16, races but never tried it until now." A burnt exhaust valve kept them from trying to run an exhibition pass la ter in the day to see if they could go 200. ideal with a nice tailwind. The result was record times and speeds (28 of them) for the 228 racers who turned out to have a go at the picturesque Connecticut track. Suzuki's Terry Vance ran away with Top Fuel but lost first round in Pro Stock, something he hasn't done in over a year. Mike Kyte took the Pro Stock win, his first in NMRA in over a year while Jon Baugh survived for the Funny Bike victory in a field that was filled with upsets. Top Fu el Vance scored his third Top Fuel win of the young season over Ohio veteran Elmer Trett. The crowd had expected to see the debut of Russ Col lins' Battlestar, but incomplete body work and testing kept the biggest story in drag racing back in southern California. But the fans came alive when Vance lashed out a 7.29 at 199.11 to defeat Trett's 7.80 at 178.21. For Vance that was his fastest ride ever and just shy of breaking Collins' record (199.55) and becoming the first member of the Manley 200 mph club. Vance said that when he shifted into high gear he could feel the rear of the bike rise as the tire grew which meant he was making a lot of top end power. Later he gave credit to Bryon Hines and crew for putting together the,motor after they burned the pistons in qualifying. After the race Byron Hines gave the credit for the extra power to Jim Wilkinson and Mike Johnson who built the cylinder head they use d on the 199 mph pass. "Call it the Wilkinson sword," Byron said, "He gave it to us and said it would go fast. r We've had it for two Funny Bike Q ualifyin g was rather uneventful until the small displacement blown nitro motors came to the line. Vince Santangelo and Terry Kizer, number one and two in the class, switched to the new combination earlier in the year but they were both working out the bugs. The bugs were out when Kizer took the Mo Parsons Kawasaki to a 7.90/182.55 . The record in Funny Bike is 177. Then Santangelo ran a 7.82 on his Dan Childs-tuned GPz for low ET of the meet. But after those two runs the bugs returned. In the first round Santangelo smoked the tire off the starting line and before he could recover Charles Isreal had pulled out in front and was able to hold off Vince. Then Terry Kizer came to the line in a race with the second alternate after both John Sands and Bob Lytton broke. Kizer fired and waited for Tony Sylvia to light his motor. After some trouble Sylvia began his burnout. Kizer started his but the Kawasaki threw the blower belt off. Then Sylvia waited for Kizer to make quick repairs and the two went to the starting line. When they left Sylvia was having problems but Kizer's bike threw the blower belt 'again , giving the Farr racing team its .Iirst win. The upsets ended when Steve Lukos took the,better of Bucky Moores with an 8.85/132.35. Then Baugh defeated Greg Gerhartz with a slow 9.23 to Gerhartz's slower 10.46. In the second round Isreal ran an 8.43/167.91 to better Lukos. Baugh took the Orient Express bike on an easy 8.83 to defeat t Sylvia. . '. ·T h e final was between two good . racers who were both running only mediocre times. Baugh's motor bogged a bit off the line before the turbo took over bu t in the other la ne Isreal fried the tire on his injected nitro bike. Baugh took the win with a decent 8.25/168.22 to Isreal's tractionless 9.03. Pro Stock Qualifying carried its own tension as Saturday's two session saw only decent times and busy crew members looking for the smallest jets possible in the thin air. But on Sunday's final session eveyrone seemed to improve. Joe Folgore was number one coming off his NHRA Springnationals win, with an 8.83. Su pe rbike Mike Keyte was second with an 8.93 followed by Vance with an 8.94 and MRE's George Babor wi th h is quickest ever run of 8.95. Ra ndy Mason also ran in the eight's but that run was voided when his fuel couldn't pass tech inspection. The real result was that Folgore . had to race his engine builder, Bob Carpenter, and Mason had to meet Vance for the umpteenth time. Folgore's Katana outran Carpenter with an 8.78/152.28 to an 8.93/147 .54. Mason then holeshot Vance. running an 8.88 to Vance's 8.82. That was the second time in as many races that the Suzuki lost with the quicker time and it was also Mason's first win ever over . Terry. Keyte then put away Marc Walker with an 8.80/152.02 and numbereightqualifier, Jay Kreider, bested Babor 8.99 to 9.54. In the semis Mason and Folgore received a lot of attention. Mason , who tries to outguess the starter when outmatched in power, left the starting line before the Christmas tree starte d to count down. Folgore saw Mason move and decided to leave also. Just then the starter hit the switch activating the tree. The result was a red-light for Mason and an 8.59 clocking for Folgore. That was the quickest pass ever by a Pro Stock. Many observers thought that it was really a rear wheel start (timing lights activated by the rear wheel instead of the front) which gave Folgore the impressive number. But the clock showed an 8.59 and that will go down in the books, but not as a record since records must be backed up by another run within I % of the record run. In the other semi Keyte lashed out an 8.89 to Kreider's slowing 9.20. The final matched Folgore and Keyte. Keyte took the close race with his Kawasaki and a slight holeshot. Folgore's Katana ran the quicker time, 8.80 to Keyte's 8.81, but it was Keyte who crossed the finish line first. For Superbike Mike it was his first win of the season and first NM RA victory in almost two years. His wife and crewchief. Kathy, had to cheer from a wheelchair at the' starting line as she was recovering from surgery a week earlier. Vance maintained his point lead, Folgore moved into second and Keyte is third halfway through the season. Pro Camp The top sportsman category saw two Harley-Davidsons qualify in the eight bike field. Jim McClure took his Judge to a record speed of 157, but needed an ET record to make it count in the Sportsman class. H e ran the pushrod motor to an excellent 8.75 in the first round at an outstanding 158.45 but lost to Jeff Reel's Suzuki. Reel ran an 8.69 /151. Number two qualifier Jim Dodich couldn't get h is bi ke to fire, even after they tried to bumpstart it halfway down the track. J im Cooper was given the bye ru n . Number three qualifier Rick Stetson also lashed out an 8.69 on his bigtired bike to defeat Pete Mahler. And Duane Wilson finished out the first round defeating the other H a rley, Sonny Michalowski. The semis saw Reel take his Power Enterprises bike to a new national record of 8.62. But he lost to Stetson's 8.64. In the other semi Duane Wilson, on another Power bike, defeated Cooper 8.93 to 9.29. The final seemed to be leaning Wilson's way just because Stetson had been playing catchup all weekend. And the final was no different as Wilson took the early lead. But Stetson used his top end speed to nip Wilson at the lights, 8.73/152.28 to an 8.97/148.76. Super Modified' Eleven bikes turned out for the 750cc Pro Stock class, the largest turnout yet, with more bikes still under construction. The final became a very familiar one, matching number one, Mike Phillips, with number two, Joe Yeager. Last year Phillips rode the bike for Suzuki and Vance and Hines. This year Phillips and Ed Hendrick are doing it alone while Yeager, riding Ra y Worth's machine, has received factory Yamaha backing. The weekend belonged to the Yamaha Seca as Yeager lowered the national record from an 10.45 to an 10.22 and 127.11 while defeating Phillips' 10.71 at 120.00. Handicap Eliminators Paul Gast took his two-stroke Kawasaki to his second Competition win of the year , defeating Gary Godwin's Kawasaki when Godwin redlighted. The Modified win went to another two-stroke Kawasaki, Greg Walnock, who bested Floyd Hurtz. Stock Eliminator saw the number one bike, Tom Faucher's F/ Stock, lose in the final to Connecticut's own Ralp h Romeo. And Super Eliminator went to the Honda of Vic Force, who beat Nelson Cameron's Yamaha. . • • _,