Red Riders Ready to Win
By: Jack Korpela

It's been a trying season for just about everyone in the AMA/Prostar Street Bike Shootout class, excluding Rickey Gadson, who has won every event thus far.

The Stotz/Velocity Honda Drag Racing Team is prepared to put an end to Gadson's dominance at the forthcoming Schnitz Fall Nationals from Montgomery, AL.

"Mathematically the championship race isn't over, but it isn't pretty," defending champion Kent Stotz said. "We've had some trouble this year but right now we are focused on getting a win in Alabama to save faith."
Defending MIR/Rock Shootout champ Barry Henson harbors the sentiment as his teammate Stotz, and is hungry for his first Prostar victory.

"As always we're going to give it everything we got," Henson said. "I feel like we've come a long way since Atco with all the testing we've done."

Both riders encountered a weekend of hardship at the Orient Express U.S. Nationals from Atco, NJ, in early September. Stotz qualified ninth with an 8.58 and was uncharacteristically defeated in round one after mechanical woes slowed him to a 9.28.

"It just seemed like I shot myself in the foot at Atco," Stotz said. "In qualifying I ran a 5.17 eighth-mile, which would have been about a 7.70, but I hit the brakes and tried to qualify last so I would have a shot at Rickey in the first round. Unfortunately that's not the way it worked out. To make matters my boost controller failed in the first round."

Teammate Henson's bright spot of the weekend was running an extraordinary 7.84 to defeat Tim Schiller in the first round. In round two Henson ran into a fast-charging Lee Shierts, who reached the finish line first with an on-pace 7.90 to Henson's respectable 7.99.

"Rain really put a halt to our testing in the weeks leading up to Atco," Henson said. "We made major program changes but didn't have enough to time to test."

With four runner-up performances this season, both members of the team agree that The Schnitz Fall Nationals, October 4th-5th, will be the breakthrough weekend.

"I think I have a little bit of an advantage in Alabama," Henson said. "It's a pretty rough track but it is very similar to Rockingham, where I have a lot of experience. Also, we made a few changes and found some extra horsepower. Now, we're just going to do a ton of testing."

"I don't think anyone will be able to run 7.60s at this track," said Stotz, who holds the national record at 7.64. "Despite the poor racing surface, I do think we will be able to run 7.70s. That should give us a very good shot of winning."

The Stotz/Velocity Honda Drag Race team thanked all of its dedicated sponsors for supporting the quickest street bike team on the planet. The team thanked; Honda Riders Club of America, Stotz Street Extreme, Velocity Racing, Honda Pro Oils, Star Racing, Pingel, Falicon, RC Components, Schaumburg Honda, JE Pistons, and introducing this year, Garrett Turbos, Joe Rocket, Airtech, HyperPro Suspension.

Velocity Racing is a manufacturer of premier turbo chargers. Velocity Racing can be reached at 1-866-41-SPEED. For more information log onto www.velocityracing.com