Bradford
Wins Indy With Record Run
"We dropped
it right out of the box and set the record," Tom Bradford
said about his Hal's H-D/Thunder Eagle Buell Pro Stock Bike
at the AHDRA Joker Machine Indy Nationals at Indianapolis
Raceway Park. Bradford had just run his first .30 (a record
7.343) at the previous AHDRA race at Woodburn. "The second
pass backed up the record and we basically tied it on the
third."
| Pro
Stock Qualifying |
| Round 1 |
1st Tom Bradford |
7.318 et |
178.26 mph |
| Round 2 |
1st Tom Bradford |
7.323
et |
175.60 mph |
| Round 3 |
1st Tom Bradford |
7.318 et |
177.90 mph |
"We were pretty
pumped but we wanted to run .20's bad and we wanted to run
180," said Tom. But that wish looked in jeopardy as the
bike slowed to a 7.366 on a round 1 bye on raceday. "We
made a gearing change for the final round and ran 7.293 at
180. It was awesome!"
Awesome indeed,
as Bradford sped past rival Dirk Higgins for the win. "I
can't say enough about the weekend," said Tom. "It
was great winning at the Joker Machine race. And a lot of
Hal's employees came down to Indy."
| Pro
Stock Eliminations |
| Round 1 |
| Tom Bradford (W) |
.203 rt |
7.366 et |
178.14 mph |
| Single |
| Final |
| Tom Bradford (W) |
.060 rt |
7.293 et |
180.21 mph |
| Dirk Higgins |
.046 rt |
7.715 et |
165.94 mph |
Record
run incrementals
1.11 60' 2.99 330' 4.614 1/8th mile, 152.25 mph 6.03 1000' |
Bradford's performance
represents a significant achievement for a team that ran its
first 7.40 just last year at Maple Grove. "That's still
the world record for carburetors and a 45 degree motor,"
said Tom, who's been running all over the 40's most of this
year until Woodburn.
"We've raced
our ass off this year it seems. We've been on the road since
Topeka and had a day and a half to prep the bike for Indy.
Everybody was tired but the weekend brought everybody to life.
"We were making
small changes. I'm still getting used to riding the bike.
When you go from 7.40's to 7.30's it's dramatic. All the way
through the gears, everything comes at you much faster. It's
pretty dramatic."
Tracks and their
differences can also be dramatic, and Bradford liked Indy.
The postponed NHRA U.S. Nationals ran two weeks before the
AHDRA arrived, putting lots of rubber on the track. "It
was nice, the track was nice and real smooth. It had good
traction, there was no doubt about it. They did a nice job.
There's such a difference between an AHDRA track and an NHRA
track that you could almost run 2 different motorcycles. The
set-up can be that different.
"The air was
not the best at Indy. I'm really looking forward to going
to Rockingham with the air there and see what we can do."
Ideally, Tom would like to have had Topeka's track in Woodburn's
air. "That track was just fantastic and they had the
worst possible conditions (very, very hot) to deal with. There
was a thin layer of rubber as smooth as a baby's bottom the
whole way."
Not so smooth was
Tom's weekend in Pro Gas with the Lee Coffey owned bike. "That
bike has had a running gremlin," reported Tom. "It
went from a deal where it wouldn't be consistent enough to
find it to where it decided to show itself in full this weekend.
We found some broken ground wires but it was after the third
round. I can't remember ever not qualifying at an AHDRA race."
Between Woodburn
and Indy, Tom and crew chief Rob Schopf went racing in Mission,
British Columbia, Canada. "We ran a 7.34 up there and
a 7.35," said Tom. "It was a nice facility, a nice
track. The people were fantastic. We received a warm welcome
from all the Canadians." Lumped in a class with nitrous
fed Pro Mod Kawasakis and Suzukis, Tom smashed the Canadian
record but was unable to claim it. "We had to bow out
in the final. We hurt the clutch and ran short of parts."
The team's planned
elk hunting trip didn't materialize because of forest fires.
"Instead we spent 3 days riding around some of the best
countryside I've ever seen in my life," said Tom. "1100
miles in 3 days and it was just beautiful. That was through
the help of Doug Ainsworth."
For his
on track exploits,
Bradford thanked sponsors
