For the second race in a row, two RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki teammates faced off in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round, but this time Gaige Herrera came out on top, racing his Gen 3 Suzuki Hayabusa to his third victory of the season at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, IL, on Sunday.
Under clear blue skies, the crisp fall weather in St. Louis produced some of the quickest runs in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class this season. Gaige Herrera qualified number one on Saturday with a 6.644-second/202.76 mph pass, his best qualifying run and the quickest in the class so far this season, just .017 second off his own 6.627-second national record, set in Dallas in 2023.
The two-time world champion kicked off Sunday’s elimination rounds with another pass in the 6.60s, running 6.693 seconds at 201.49 mph in round one against Malcom Phillips Jr. (6.912 seconds/193.38 mph), then went low-ET of the second round with a 6.703-second/201.01 mph pass on a bye run.
In the semis, Herrera faced off against Ryan Oehler (6.765 seconds/198.41 mph), prevailing with a 6.710-second/200.62 mph run to advance to his 37th career final round and fifth this season.
Facing teammate Richard Gadson in a rematch of last weekend’s final round, Herrera avenged a red-light foul in Rockingham by outgunning Gadson (6.763 seconds/200.08 mph) with a 6.710-second/200.98 mph run to claim his third victory of the season and 31st of his career. In their four head-to-head final-round matchups this season, Herrera and Gadson are now on level terms with two wins each.
Herrera’s victory, his fourth straight in St. Louis, cut his deficit to Gadson in half, to 32 points, with three rounds remaining in the season and sets up a championship battle likely to run all the way to the finale in Pomona.
“The track was really good all weekend and Andrew (Hines, my crew chief) had my bike on rails, going 1.01 seconds in the 60-foot, which is unreal. NHRA did a phenomenal job giving us an awesome track surface to race on. It was a great weekend, especially points-wise. I got an extra 20 on Richard, but between the two of us, we spread the gap on the rest of the field,” Herrera said. “My gameplan for the rest of the season is just to keep going from A to B on every pass, have fun with it and see how it plays out. Richard and I bring out the best in each other. It’s going to be a dog fight until the end, just under our own tent.”
A week after beating Herrera to win his third race of the season, Countdown leader and reigning world champion Richard Gadson qualified seventh with a 6.729-second/202.06 mph pass on Saturday.
In round one, Gadson defeated Chase Van Sant (6.850 seconds/196.93 mph) with a 6.755-second/200.14 mph run. In round two, Gadson scored a win with major championship implications by knocking off rival Matt Smith (6.930 seconds/167.84 mph), the number two qualifier, with a 6.760-second/199.58 mph run that dropped Smith to fourth in the overall championship standings, 113 points behind.
In the semi-final round, Gadson defeated John Hall (6.854 seconds/194.46 mph) with a 6.764-second/199.94 mph run to advance to his seventh final-round appearance of the season.
Gadson left first against Herrera in the final, but his 6.763-second/200.08 mph run wasn’t quick enough to stay ahead, coming up short by .041 second at the finish line.
Thanks to Herrera’s large haul of qualifying bonus points plus the race win, Gadson’s lead in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs was halved to 32 points, but he extended his advantage over third-placed John Hall to 105 points.
“After qualifying, I’d be lying if I said I felt great about that matchup against Matt in round two. That’s the kind of round that when you look back at the end of the year, whether you were on the winning or losing side, you remember, ‘I got that one or I let that one slip away.’ Today, I got that one and I really needed it,” Gadson said. “No matter what the odds or the circumstances are, we’re turning on win lights. We’re fighters and we’re going to keep on fighting. Championships come down to stuff like that.”
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines said the cool fall weather and sticky track surface allowed the team’s Hayabusas to launch swiftly off the starting line, producing the quick 60-foot times early in the run that help generate quicker elapsed times farther down the track, especially for Herrera’s machine.
“Both riders are doing a really good job. Everything went like clockwork for Gaige this weekend. Richard had to run through the buzz-saw side of the ladder today, but he got through three tough opponents, knocked other people out of the points and ended up with runner-up points. If we can keep going to finals together with both bikes, that keeps everyone else from earning the points they need to catch us,” Hines said. “We just need to find a little more performance for Richard’s motorcycle. It’s a matter of a hundredth here or there and turning it into the same numbers at the finish line that Gaige is running.”
At the halfway point of the Countdown, Gadson and Herrera sit first and second in the championship standings with 2,380 and 2,348 points, respectively, as three races remain in the season.
The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines team returns to action October 16-18 for round four of the Countdown to the Championship at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX.
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