Gateway To Glory, Herrera Wins Again
V
ance & Hines Suzuki's
Gaige Herrera has officially
bounced back from a couple of
rough outings in the NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle class with
his eighth win in 12 races at
the Midwest Nationals at World
Wide Technology Raceway in
Madison, Illinois.
Herrera was once again nearly
flawless as he rode to a 6.72 for
the win over his Mission Foods/
Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat
teammate Eddie Krawiec in the
final round. Herrera struggled
in the opening round of the
Countdown to the Championship
playoffs and briefly surrendered
his championship lead to Denso
Suzuki's Matt Smith. Now, the
second-year rider is firmly in
command of the championship
battle with a 99-point lead with
three events remaining in the
season.
"Hopefully, I still have a job
after knocking Ed off, but that
final round was good for our
whole team," Herrera said. "All
day, I had a very consistent mo
-
torcycle, and the first round was
probably the most nervous round
for me. Racing Joey [Gladstone],
he's always a tough competitor,
so I knew he was going to be on
it. All day has been good.
"I can't give enough credit to
the whole Vance & Hines Mis
-
sion Suzuki team. I still can't
believe I got that phone call
almost a year ago now to race
for them. It's been incredible, and
I'm proud to be part of it."
Herrera qualified in the top
spot for the 11th time this sea
-
son, tying the NHRA record in
the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.
Herrera also broke the track
elapsed-time record in the first
round with a 6.701 in his win
over Gladstone.
"This is very cool. I just have to
give it up to Andrew [Hines, crew
chief] and all the guys at the
WIND
IN THE
P42
Gaige Herrera made
it back-to-back wins
in Illinois.
PHOTOS:
MAT POLITO
