ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals Gainesville, FL
March 16-18
It's 44 degrees as we are driving
to the track. The conditions look even better than they were yesterday which
gave us the most spectacular qualifying day ever.
Geno Scali's Vance & Hines
built Performance Machine Suzuki garnered the "Best Engineered"
award and George Smith of G2/Drag Specialties eared the "Full Throttle"
award for the best cumulative qualifying performance.
First pair has Andrew and Shawn
Gann. Andrew gets the holeshot with a.015 light and has a 1.065 60 foot
- spectacular for a V-Rod. Something goes away at 330 feet and Drew is off
the throttle. The champ is out. Gann has a 1.058 60 and runs 7.009 for the
win.
Gast redlights as Eddie K. has
a 1.071 60 foot. The progressive numbers are not strong and the V-Rod only
goes 7.15 at 180.
Matt Smith takes Geno to school
at the tree, .027 to .082, and lays down a 6.94 off a 1.071 60 foot to advance
over Geno's 7.10.
Matt Smith
Tom Bradford gets a MAJOR holeshot
over Antron Brown, .042 to .109. 'Tron has better numbers throughout the
race but runs out of track. Bradford takes the win with a 7.07 to Antron's
7.01.
Steve Johnson gets a major holeshot
over Chip Ellis and wins on it, 6.98 to Chip's quicker 6.96. Stunning.
Matt Guidera leaves first against
Treble but it is very close. Matt and a 1.05 60 foot to Treble's 1.10. Matt
motors for the win a 7.03 as something goes away on Treble's bike at the
top end. Treble runs 7.26 at 154 mph.
Stoffer has a .004 light against
Angelle's Antron-like .119. Karen gets the win with her first six, a 6.98
against Angelle's 6.96. The top four qualifiers are out - three on holeshots.
Karen Stoffer
In the final pair Rivas puts
a big holeshot on Peggy but doesn't need it, his 7.09 beats her 7.10.
Matt Smith has the quickest
winning e.t. of the first round with a 6.94. The second quickest winning
e.t. of the round? #16 qualifier Karen Stoffer at 6.983.
Yes, friends, it will be a wild
year!
Results for Elimination
Round 1
(W) Shawn Gann (Race girl/ Lucas Oil
Suzuki) 0.048 7.009 189.28
(L) Andrew Hines (Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines 0.015 10.682 75.02
(W) Ed Krawiec (Screamin' Eagle/Vance
& Hines H 0.021 7.150 180.24
(L) Paul Gast (Fast By Gast Suzuki) -0.011(R) 7.095 182.80
(W) Matt Smith (Torco Race Fuels Buell)
0.027 6.947 187.50
(L) Geno Scali (Performance Machine Suzuki) 0.082 7.100 181.79
(W) Tom Bradford (Sportsman Channel Buell)
0.042 7.077 185.66
(L) Antron Brown (US Army Suzuki) 0.109 7.012 185.64
(W) Steve Johnson (Snap-On Tools/Wyotech
Suzuki 0.065 6.987 190.97
(L) Chip Ellis (Drag Specialties S&S Buell) 0.132 6.966 186.36
(W) Matt Guidera (Rocklin Motorsports
Buell) 0.025 7.034 183.07
(L) Craig Treble (Team Tigue Suzuki) 0.032 7.266 154.65
(W) Karen Stoffer (Geico Suzuki) 0.004
6.983 188.20
(L) Angelle Sampey (US Army Suzuki) 0.119 6.969 185.05
(W) Chris Rivas (Mohegan Sun
Racing Buell) 0.036 7.099 181.47
(L) Peggy Llewellyn (Klement Motorsports ) 0.236 7.106 180.38
Round 2
Back to action for round two Eddie is first
up against Matt Guidera. Eddie gets the holeshot but his 60 foot is off
at a 1.11 as Guidera has a 1.07. Guidera has a lead at 330 feet as Eddie
gets out of the groove and has to muscle it back in. Guidera's bike goes
soft by half-track and Eddie gets an ugly at 7.24 seconds.
Eddie Krawiec
Rivas gets a holeshot over Steve Johnson
and extends the lead at 60 feet with a 1.07. Rivas has better numbers
until 1000 feet when Johnson makes a move. Stevie J takes the win 7.03
at 191 to the 7.08/183 of Rivas.
Steve Johnson
Karen gets her second holeshot of the day this time
against Gann. They both have 1.07 60s and Karen has the edge on every
number down track. She takes the win 7.02 ot 7.04. The #16 qualifier is
going to the semis.
In the final pair Matt Smith has a sharp
.016 light against Bradford. Smith pulls away for the 7.01 to 7.08 win.
Matt Smith has low e.t. of both rounds.
Results for Elimination Round 2
(W) Ed Krawiec (Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines
H 0.026 7.243 175.46
(L) Matt Guidera (Rocklin Motorsports Buell) 0.040 7.620 140.09
(W) Steve Johnson (Snap-On Tools/Wyotech Suzuki 0.049
7.039 191.35
(L) Chris Rivas (Mohegan Sun Racing Buell) 0.038 7.088 183.27
(W) Karen Stoffer (Geico Suzuki) 0.025
7.021 190.40
(L) Shawn Gann (Race girl/ Lucas Oil Suzuki) 0.096 7.047 189.50
Semis
Karen again gets the holeshot and AGAIN she turns on the win light, 7.080
to Steve Johnson’s quicker 7.069.
In the other pair Eddie gets the holeshot over Matt Smith but doesn’t
have the steam as Smith gets around him with a blistering 6.92/190 in
the heat to Krawiec’s 7.05/187. Matt had a 1.070 60 foot on the
run.
Karen earns her second holeshot win of the day at the #16 qualifier goes
to the final. Matt Smith has had low e.t. of every round.
Results for Elimination Round 3
(W) Karen Stoffer (Geico Suzuki) 0.018 7.080 188.57
(L) Steve Johnson (Snap-On Tools/Wyotech Suzuki 0.046 7.069 191.10
(W) Matt Smith (Torco Race Fuels Buell)
0.045 6.921 190.22
(L) Ed Krawiec (Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines H 0.037 7.058 187.83
Final
Karen pulls off her third holeshot of the day .053 to Matt’s .100.
She just stays out in front at the big end, running a 7.075 to Matt’s
7.069.
Results for Final Round
(W) Karen Stoffer (Geico Suzuki) 0.053 7.075 186.79
(L) Matt Smith (Torco Race Fuels Buell) 0.100 7.069 187.31
Against all odds Stoffer pulls off the win from the back of the pack in
the quickest field ever. Her two other wins were in Houston in 2004 and
2005 and both times she came from the number 15 position. The last Pro
Stock Motorcycle competitor to win from the 16th position was Blaine Hale
at Denver in 2003.
To add to the story Karen got in the field in the last spot in the last
qualifying session. From there she ran her first six second run of the
event in the opening round.
“My husband Gary had a revelation in the middle of the night,”
said Stoffer. “We always knew Vance & Hines gave us the power
we just had to use it correctly.”
“Yesterday I didn’t think I would be here but you always have
to go out to win,” she continued. “I knew we had the bike
and the power we just had to pull it all together. In the final we set
the bike up to run a six. That is not what happened but we were still
able to turn on the win light.”
The win is sweet not only because it is the first race of the series (and
yes, Karen Stoffer is the POWERade points leader) but also the team owner
is from Florida. “We have a lot of family here,” she said.
“This win was for Doug and Debbie Johnson.”
