particularly in qualifying. In
Norwalk, Herrera was just third
quickest in qualifying, behind the
husband-and-wife duo of Matt
and Angie Smith.
For all his qualifying struggles,
Herrera was incredible during
Sunday's final eliminations. To
open the day, he set the Summit
Motorsports Park track elapsed
time record with 6.698 at 200.95
in round one. Herrera also
scored victories against Trick
Tools Suzuki's Chase Van Sant
and John Hall.
The final round pitted the two
biggest rivals in the class, Her
-
rera and Smith, who have battled
both on and off the track, trading
their share of verbal barbs. Both
riders took their time staging for
the final round in an attempt to
gain a holeshot advantage. In
the end, Herrera also got off the
starting line first, extending the
lead to the finish line.
In the aftermath of his victory,
Herrera also extended his well
wishes to NHRA Funny Car leg
-
end John Force, who was criti-
cally injured in an accident last
weekend in Richmond, Virginia.
"I grew up [in California], one
city over from John Force," Her
-
rera said. "You grow up watching
John, hearing about him, to have
my name in that same area—it's
still John Force, you can never
compare yourself to anyone like
that, but to have my name men-
tioned in the history books like
that, it's incredible."
Smith earned his second trip
to the final round this year and
the 77th in his career following
wins against Wesley Wells and
Herrera's Vance & Hines team
-
mate, Richard Gadson.
The next event for the NHRA
Pro Stock Motorcycle class is
the Northwest Nationals in Se
-
attle, Washington, July 19-21.
Kevin McKenna
FINAL
1. Gaige Herrera (Suz)
2. Matt Smith (Bue)
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P37
Herrera had to knock off Matt Smith
(pictured) in the final before winning
for the 11th straight time.
