Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Schnitz Takes Route 66 Fl van Schnitz. a rider manv exoected to laion,"nd for rhe 2bo6' NHRA POwERade Pro Stock Bike Champ- ionship, overcame a slow start to claim his llrst win of the season at the Carquest Nationals at Route 66 Raceway onjune I l. SchniE won for the fourth time in hrs three-year career after first-time finalist Matt Guidera left the startint line four- thousandths ofa second roo soon and .ed- lithted. Given the opportunity to make a free pass down the quarter-mile, SchniE responded with his quickest pass of rhe weekend, a 7.06. "lt was Matt s frrst final. and that prob- ably played an my favor." Schnatz said. "He ended up pushin8 the rree just a little too hard. l'm sure his pulse was up. He's a good rider and he has a great bike. He'll win one real 'oon. I just hope iCs nor against me." Schnirr ran a 7.08 during qualiting on his l'4rrzzyls&S/Trim-Tex Buell, but he was seeded loth in the quickest l6-bike field in NHRA history Drag Specialties/Buell rrder Chip Ellis set che pace with a 6.98, becom- ang iust the second member of the Mickey Thompson Six-Second Pro Stock Bike Club, following Screamrn' Eagle Harley- Davidson's Andrew Hines. who accom- plished the hrslonc feat rore than a year ago. All l6 qualifiers ran betlveen Ellis' 6.98 and the quick 7.1 I of lormer World Champion Geno Scali. On race day, Schnitz won a pair ofclose matches againsr CrarS Treble and Mar( Smith before facint reigning and defending champion Hines in the semifinal round. That match ended early, as Hines red-lithted by iust two-thousandths of a sec- ond, sending Schnitz into the finalround for thE fi6t time in 2006. Guidera and his Rocklin Motorsports Buell enjoyed the best outing of his three-year career with a pair of upset wins over the current points leader, U.S. Army Suzuki's Angelle Sampey, and Ellis, who couldn't maintain his six-second pace and slowed to a 7.14. The win moved Schnitz from ninth to fifth place in the POWERade standings, while Guidera's career-best day lifted him from l5th to eighth place "l try not to look at points, SchniE said- "l focus on the next round: that s my mrndset. Sure, we think aboutgettins in the championship mce and making a run ar it. Thais why we're here. It's allabou( 8oin8 rounds. lalways feel like if lget (o the semis, Im going to the finals and l'm gonna have a good chance to win. By the tame you get to the semis, you've had two slrcaessful runs down the track: you're pretty dialed in." Amazingly, Schnitz was nearly forced off the NHRA tour earlier this year due to a lack ofsponsorship, but Schnitz and team owner Rob Muzzy were able to strike an llth-hour deal with former rider loe Koenig's Trim-Tex company for the remainder of the 2006 season, allowins the team to contend for the title, After flve of 15 Pro Stock Bike events, Sampey remains the points leader. thouSh Ryon s a i. ,.@" her one-time l6-point marSin over reitn- in8 champ Hines has been trimmed to iust 14 points. Sampey's lJ.S. Army teammate Antron Brown is third, and Ellis is solidly in fourth place. The next NHRA Pro Stock Bike event will be the K&N Filters Supernationals, June l5-18. at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishrown. NewJersey. KeYin McKenno

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