Following his first career Mission Foods 2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory on Saturday afternoon at the Norwalk Dragstrip in Norwalk, Ohio, Pro Stock Motorcycle rookie Richard Gadson hoped to capitalize on that momentum heading into Sunday’s elimination.
The former XDA motorcycle racer qualified in the fifth starting spot with a time of 6.803 seconds at 199.52 mph in the 14-bike field. He would have a first-round match up with the No. 10 qualifier and longtime veteran Steve Johnson.
In E1, Gadson easily won over Johnson after Johnson’s bike shut off early. There was some concern in Gadson’s pit area as a puff of smoke came from the motorcycle as soon as he crossed the finish line. At the finish line, Gadson put a time of 7.029 seconds at 161.59 mph with a reaction time of 0.026 to Johnson’s 0.037, 10.048 seconds at 81.26 mph to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the second round, he faced Matt Smith Racing/Team Scrappers’ Jianna Evaristo, who had been firing on all cylinders throughout the weekend, putting up consistent times on the scoring pylon. This round would be no easy task for the two riders.
At the drop of the green light on the Christmas tree, Gadson had his best light of the event of 0.020 to Evaristo’s 0.069. The two stayed consistent with each other down the track, but the round win went to Gadson who won with a pass of 6.862 seconds at 198.20 mph.
Moving on to the semi-finals, Gadson squared up against the No. 1 qualifier Matt Smith. Smith had a round win over Welsey Wells in E1 before having a bye run in the second round to advance to the semis. Unfortunately for Gadson, his day was cut short when Smith eliminated the Mission Foods 2Fast2Tasty winner from Saturday with an E.T. of 6.798 seconds at 198.82 mph, while Gadson could only muster a run of 7.608 seconds at 124.27 mph on the Eddie Kraweic-tuned bike.
“Richard is doing a great job and over these last three races has progressed as a rider,” Krawiec said about Gadson’s day in Norwalk. “The whole package with the bike and rider has started to come together. As we prepare to go out west, both his and our confidence is on the rise. We believe we will be a very competitive combo by Indy and ready for the countdown.”
So far this season, the Vance and Hines rider now has three semi-finals appearances with the most recent semi-final loss coming at Richmond two races ago to Evaristo.
“It was a wacky weekend in Norwalk,” Gadson said. “We had an odd first round in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge. We had a crazy pass against Hector Arana Jr. I made a mistake off the starting line and it should’ve costed me the round. However, Hector had trouble and shut the bike off. When I saw he did that, I got back in the throttle and got the win that way, and eventually won the second round too. So, that was one of the ups of the weekend.
“The downs were, prior to making it to the semi-finals against Matt (Smith), we blew up a motor during the first round of eliminations and had an engine failure. When we changed motors, we never did find the starting line again. In the semi-finals against Matt, the bike got out of shape on me and went towards the wall, and I could never get it back in the groove. I don’t even know how I didn’t hit the wall, but still, a great weekend.
“I won the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge and went to the semi-finals before losing to Matt Smith. My teammate (Gaige Herrera) took care of him in the finals. Vance and Hines as a whole though took home two trophies this weekend and that’s always a good weekend for us.”
Gadson will look to bounce back in a few weeks at the Northwest Nationals in Kent, Washington, July 19-21.
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