same, but the feel, and how the
motorcycle rides down the track,
it's totally different."
Johnson, who entered the
race as the number-eight-ranked
rider in the class, had one of
the quickest bikes in the field
and showed it with early wins
against Reed Motorsports' Joey
Gladstone, Vance & Hines Suzu
-
ki's Eddie Krawiec, and GETTRX
Buell's Hector Arana Jr. Johnson
was also consistent with runs of
6.88, 6.89 and 6.89 to reach the
final round for the 31st time in
his long career.
"The first round was exciting,
and second round was really
exciting to beat Eddie, especially
on a holeshot," Johnson said. "In
the third round, we got lucky—
but in the finals racing Gaige,
he's got a really, really fast Su
-
zuki and I was like, 'Okay, what
do you want to do?' We talked
about timing, jetting, all these
things, but it was like, we just
have to throw the kitchen sink at
it but we didn't have one. So, we
said we'll just do what we can.
We did some stuff that probably
wasn't right, but I looked up and
saw our win light, and I let off
[the throttle] to save the parts. I
was pretty happy with it, but it's
pretty shocking."
The win was huge for John
-
son when it comes to his pursuit
of the Camping World NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle championship
as he's now third in the stand-
ings, just eight points behind
Krawiec.
As for Herrera, the loss was
just a flesh wound in what
remains an amazing season.
The runaway championship
leader, Herrera added to his
total with victories against Ron
Tornow, rookie Chase Van Sant,
and Denso Buell's Angie Smith.
Herrera easily had the best bike
in the field as he established the
low elapsed time of the event
with a 6.805 in his win over Van
Sant. Herrera was also the top
qualifier for the fourth-straight
race.
It was also hard to overlook
the performance of Arana Jr.,
who is riding one of the few
remaining V-twin motorcycles
in the class. After winning two
events last season, Arana went
to the semifinal round for the
second time in 2023 and per
-
haps more importantly, he set
the top speed of the event at
more than 199 mph. Arana also
jumped to number four in the
championship standings, ahead
of reigning and six-time cham-
pion Matt Smith.
After a short break, the Pro
Stock Motorcycle class will
return to action on June 22-25
during the Summit Racing Equip-
ment NHRA Nationals in Nor-
walk, Ohio.
Kevin McKenna
Final
1. Steve Johnson (Suz)
6.921-170.82 mph
2. Gaige Herrera (Suz)
7.174-158.63 mph
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P39
Johnson celebrates his 12th career win.
