will likely come down to which-
ever rider advances the furthest
in Sunday's final eliminations.
"I feel like I do better under
pressure. In the last two sea
-
sons, I kind of had to win the
first round to clinch the cham-
pionship. This year it's going to
be different. I'd love to race him
in the final in Pomona for the
championship, but we've still got
a long way to go before we get
there. I mean, one of us could
lose early, and that would end
it. I'm not taking anything for
granted."
From the start of qualifying,
Herrera seemed to be a man
on a mission in Las Vegas. He
qualified number one for the
eighth time in 14 events with
a 6.800 elapsed time and ran
nothing but 6.8s on race day in
his wins against Karen Stoffer,
Clayton Howey and Gadson.
Herrera's race against Gadson
was one for the ages. Gadson
left the starting line with a per
-
fect reaction time, but Herrera
was just five-thousandths of a
second behind. Herrera's perfor-
mance advantage was the differ-
ence, as he won with a 6.825 to
Gadson's 6.857.
So far, Herrera's career has
been one for the record books.
Competing in his 50th event, he's
now got 28 wins. No other NHRA
racer in any class has ever won
so many events in such a short
time.
Smith went to the final in Las
Vegas for the second year in a
row aboard the Denso Buell that
is tuned by her husband, Matt. In
what was easily her best per
-
formance of the season, Smith
came from the number-two
qualifying position to earn wins
against Fred Camarena and her
husband, Matt, who red-lighted.
Angie Smith then defeated rook
-
ie Brayden Davis in the semi-final
round to move into the 11th final
round of her career.
Despite the loss, Smith found
a silver lining, rising from num-
ber six to number four in the
championship standings, pass-
ing teammate John Hall and
Davis.
The 15th and final event of the
season will take place Novem-
ber 14-16 at In-N-Out Burger
Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona,
California.
Kevin McKenna
FINAL
1. Gaige Herrera
(0.024) 6.809-198.17 mph
2. Angie Smith
(0.029) 6.813-199.37 mph
WIND
IN THE
P52
Herrera (pictured)
met Angie Smith in
the final, winning by
a narrow margin.
