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Max V/Spencercycle.com
Spring Bike Open at The Rock
THOMPSON
WINS WORLD'S FASTEST TITLE AT SPRING OPEN EVENT
"L'il
Butch" Thompson of Blades, Del., beat Kawasaki factory
rider Rickey Gadson of Sicklerville, N.J., in the final round
Sunday to win the Velocity Racing World's Fastest Street Bike
portion of the MaxV/Spencercycle.com Spring Open motorcycle
race at Rockingham Dragway.
Thompson,
the No. 2 qualifier behind defending series champion Barry Henson
of Davie, Fla., saved his best for last, using a best-of-the-event
7.929 second, 179.11 mile per hour effort to beat Gadson's 8.192
at 179.37 mph.
Gadson
used a .056 of a second starting line advantage to upset Henson
in the semifinals despite a slower time (8.091 to Henson's 8.058).
Other
winners were defending series champion Joseph Long of Hialeah,
Fla., in Schnitz Racing Outlaw Pro Street, John Flood of Oakland,
N.Y., in Mickey Thompson 60-Inch Sport Bike and John Vermeulen,
Clarkston, Mich., in Cycle Concepts Heavyweight Hitters for
riders weighing 240 pounds or more. Alan Field of Climax, N.C.
won the Honda-Suzuki of Sanford Pro Comp class, Trevor Altman
of Forest City won both Saturday's dragbike.com Street Class
and Andy Lynch of W. Cola, S.C. won the Nitrous Express Pro
Bracket. Lynch also took Sunday's Street Class while the Pro
Class was won by Jeff Coley of Norwood, N.C. The Nitrous Express
bonus award for most rounds won in the Pro Class was taken by
Kevin Adams of Brunswick, Oh. Adams won twelve rounds of racing
over the two-days.
Long
set a new national record for the Outlaw Pro Street class at
7.373 seconds and took an early lead in the season-long points
Schnitz Racing points battle. Matt Smith of King, N.C. had set
the record earlier during qualifying at 7.418.
The
Spring Open, postponed from March, is the first of four open
bike races scheduled this year at Rockingham. The next event
is the Schnitz Summer Sizzler, July 26-27. Other events in the
series are the Fish's Customs Autumn Bike Nationals, Oct. 11-12,
and the Lee's Performance Fall Bike Nationals, Nov. 22-23.
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