Gaige Herrera rode his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki Gen 3 Hayabusa into the victory circle for the eighth time this season and regained the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship points lead at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Worldwide Technology Raceway in Madison, IL.
After rain canceled Friday’s qualifying sessions, Gaige Herrera jumped to the top of the timesheet with a 6.796-second/197.74 mph pass in the first qualifying session on Saturday. Despite bike trouble in his second and final qualifying run, Herrera was able to hold on to the top spot to qualify number one for the seventh time this season and 21st time in his career.
Herrera advanced out of the first round of Sunday eliminations with a bye run, posting a 6.808-second/198.09 mph pass that was low elapsed time of the round. In round two, Herrera defeated John Hall (6.925 seconds/193.71 mph) with a 6.797-second/198.88 mph run, another low round ET. In the semi-final round, Herrera ran 6.813 seconds at 197.74 mph to defeat Hector Arana, Jr. (6.839 seconds/196.27 mph) and advance to the final round of competition for the ninth time this season and 21st time in his career.
Facing Chase Van Sant in a final round for the third time this year, Herrera ran 6.805 seconds at 198.12 mph to defeat Van Sant (6.868 seconds/195.53 mph) and claim his eighth victory of the season, 19th of his career and first since the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs began.
With former points leader Matt Smith losing in the second round, Herrera crucially regained the points lead at the mid-point of Countdown. After three straight back-to-back races, the NHRA circuit now takes a hard-earned two-week break before the next race in Dallas.
“After the rain on Friday, we came off the trailer and went low qualifier in the first session and it stuck. That goes to show how good our tuning data is for these Hayabusas. It was a little weird coming into race day without those extra runs, but I got back into attack mode quickly. Leaving here halfway through the countdown with the points lead is important for the team and gives us a lot of confidence going into the final three races of the season. I’m very happy with that and it makes me feel good to have that momentum,” Herrera said. “It will be nice to have some time off now to get ready for Dallas so we can come back and hit it hard for the last three races.”
Gadson defeated Lance Bonham (foul) in round one with a 6.834-second/196.04 mph run. In round two, Gadson ran 6.880 seconds at 193.99 mph in a narrow loss to Chase Van Sant (6.942 seconds/194.91 mph). Gadson remains in third place in the playoff standings.
“Missing Friday’s qualifying threw us off a little bit. We could have used those two extra runs to dial things in a little bit better. We were still working on the tune-up a little bit during eliminations, and in that round against Chase we just didn’t have the performance to match him,” Gadson said. “I’m looking forward to resetting now for a couple weeks. It will give me some time to assess where I can be better or more consistent as a rider. I’ll be fresh and ready to go for Dallas. We’ve got three races to go and I’m still in the hunt, so I’m thrilled about that.”
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines said the victory comes at a critical time as the team heads into the decisive final three races of the season, where even small errors can be very costly to championship ambitions.
“When Matt Smith went out in the second round, we knew we really needed to capitalize on the opportunity to get the win and maximum points. We’re happy with the swap in the points today, but we know things can change any weekend. We had two races with Gaige’s bike where we felt like we left a lot on the table, so this weekend was a great turning point,” Hines said. “We’ll take the lead to Dallas where we have good tuning notes and set the national ET record last season. There’s a lot of preparation that needs to happen before the next race, but we have a good vibe on the team.”
With three races remaining in the Countdown to the Championship, Herrera and Gadson sit first and third in the points standings, with 2,404 and 2,339 points, respectively.
The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki team returns to action Oct. 9-13 at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX.
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