Mark Cox
Racing Hits the Jackpot
At The Strip in Vegas
When team owner/rider
Mark Cox speaks, people should listen. He marked his words
this past weekend at the JIMS Las Vegas Nationals at the Las
Vegas Motor Speedway's dragway, affectionately known as "The
Strip". The Mark Cox Racing team came home with the gold
by winning the AHDRA finale.
"What a recovery,"
said rider/owner Cox. "After the challenges we faced
last weekend at Dallas, coming back with a win in the final
race of the year shows the caliber of team we have. I said
we'd bounce back and we did it in a big way. It's a nice way
to finish the season."
The team dropped
out of the truck turning some good numbers, with a 6.605 ET
at 200.08 mph in first round qualifying, followed by a 6.528
pass at 207.30 mph in round two. Thirty-two Nitro Harleys
showed up to make the field, one of the largest, if not the
largest, in history. In the final chance for qualifying in
the nitro fire and smoke under the lights round, Cox was not
able to clock a faster time after oil in the lane delayed
action and caused a tire spin. His 6.528 was fast enough to
place him fifth in qualifying in the 32-bike field though.
"We had a
good strategy on our qualifying. Even though conditions were
not the best for the bike, with 92-95 degree temperatures,
we were able to use our high altitude tune-up that had been
so successful at Bristol," said Johnny Vickers of Hawaya
Racing, crew chief for Mark Cox Racing.
In round one of
qualifying, Cox faced Tracy Kile and won with a 6.559 ET pass
at 206.07. In round two Cox was up against Bill Furr and beat
him with a 6.471 ET and 205.54 mph against Furr's 6.701 ET
at 201.67 mph. Cox posts another consistent time in round
three with a 6.501 ET at 206.39 mph against Steve Heidner's
6.943 ET at 200.11 mph. Tight competition for the finals with
Cox facing Mike Romine. Cox came out with the victory with
a 6.506 ET at 206.89 mph against Romine's close 6.595 ET at
207.56 mph.
"It was really
a sweet win," added Cox. "Johnny did a great job
on the tune-up and we were duplicating every round with consistent
times. We've run really well this year and have been in a
position to win, like at Bristol when we broke in the final.
It's nice to capitalize on a win finally at the end of the
year, especially with so many Top Fuel bikes and the altitude
and heat. We were just really hooked up and fast.
"Last year
on this same weekend we won in Rockingham at the World Finals,"
said Cox. "Maybe this date is a special one for us. We
were just hard to beat this weekend. It was a great event
overall and a good crowd at Vegas. I think we even finished
about sixth in AHDRA final points, without even doing all
the races.
"We plan on
selling our bike and building a new one for next season, providing
our sponsorship comes together," added Cox. "We'll
be busy in the off-season with the new bike. Johnny, the team
and I are excited about implementing the new technology we've
learned and developed into the new bike and possibly competing
for the championship in 2004."
Sponsors
for Mark Cox Racing this year include: Bojangles' Restaurants,
Cross Roads Harley- Davidson, Wilkesboro HOG Chapter, AlliedSignal/Autolite,
Barnett, Buell, Gates Rubber Company, Hawaya Racing, High
Performance Coating, JIMS, LeBleu Bottled Water, Mac Brown
Chevrolet, Performance Machine, Red Line Oil, Renegade, Simpson,
Trailers of the East Coast, Vanson Leathers, Western Wristpin
and WTQR.
Please follow Mark
Cox Racing at www.markcoxracing.com.
