Gaige Herrera kept his hopes of winning a third straight Pro Stock Motorcycle championship alive by racing his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki Gen 3 Hayabusa to his seventh victory of the season at the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, NV, on Sunday.
Unlike in his past two championship-winning campaigns, Herrera arrived at the penultimate race of the season in the unusual position of chasing a third Pro Stock Motorcycle title from behind. The rabbit he’s chasing is his own RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki teammate, Richard Gadson, who built a commanding points lead by winning two of first four races in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Facing a 72-point deficit to Gadson and needing a strong performance to maintain any hope of a three-peat, Herrera qualified first for the eighth time this season and 31st time in his career with a 6.800-second/199.17 mph run in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session.
Herrera opened Sunday eliminations with a 6.809-second/199.29 mph victory in round one over Karen Stoffer (7.043 seconds/188.12 mph), then defeated newcomer Clayton Howey (6.913 seconds/195.87 mph) with a 6.820-second/198.64 mph run in round two.
In a matchup with huge championship implications, Herrera faced off against Gadson in a semi-final round battle that played out dramatically after the points leader left the starting line with a perfect .000-second reaction time. But Herrera countered with his own razor-sharp skills on the tree, cutting a near-equal .005-second light and outgunning Gadson’s 6.857-second/197.48 mph run with a 6.825-second/198.26 mph pass to advance to his eighth final round appearance of the season.
Herrera claimed his 28th career victory and seventh this season with a 6.809-second/198.17 mph win over Angie Smith (6.813 seconds/199.37 mph) in the final round that narrowed his deficit to Gadson to 21 points ahead of the season’s final race in Pomona, California, in two weeks.
With 30 points per elimination round available in the points-and-a-half format of the finale, the 2025 championship is set to come down to a winner-takes-all shootout between the Vance & Hines teammates.
“He got me on the light there, but luckily I had a better bike in that round, and it saved my butt. If I didn’t have a little bit faster bike, he would have had me,” Herrera said. “I love having Richard on the team because we push each other so hard every round. We’ve made each other betters riders. This season has set me back to reality after two great seasons where I kind of ran away with it. It’s been going back and forth all year long, and I feel like the toughest competition out here is under my tent,” Herrera said. “There’s nothing better than going into the last race of the season with a winner-takes-all scenario. I would honestly love for both of us to get to the final round and whoever wins takes it home. It’s going to be fun.”
Richard Gadson qualified fourth with a 6.834-second/198.06 mph run on Saturday that put him on the same side of the elimination bracket as Herrera, a development that would take on greater significance for both of their championship hopes later in the weekend.
In the first round of eliminations, Gadson defeated Chris Bostick (foul) with a 6.842-second/198.67 mph pass, then ran 6.876 seconds at 196.99 mph in round two against John Hall (6.895 seconds/197.13 mph).
Given the dominant performance of the squad’s two Suzuki Gen 3 Hayabusas, an eventual clash with Herrera in Vegas was inevitable, but the semi-final round matchup between the Vance & Hines teammates came a round earlier than Gadson would have hoped. Despite posting a perfect .000-second reaction time, Gadson was left watching from the rear as Herrera’s Hayabusa crossed the finish line first and his championship lead shrank by 51 points.
“I knew at some point during this Countdown that I’d run into Gaige, and it would be mano-a-mano. It happened today and it’s likely going to happen again in Pomona. There’s no way around it. To be the champion, you need to beat the champion. That cliché is true. We both want to win it and we’re both willing to lay it all on the line,” Gadson said. “I’m racing for an NHRA championship against someone who is regarded as the best in the world and I’m in the fight. I’m a fighter to my core and I’m going to fight with every ounce in me to win it. This is how championship drag racing is supposed to be. We’re going to let it all hang out in Pomona and see what happens. You couldn’t write a better story.”
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines acknowledged that even he was caught up in the excitement of the showdown between the team’s riders and its championship implications.
“My heart was pounding when I left the trailer before that round because it was a make-or-break session for how the rest of this season would play out. Either Richard would have a commanding lead, or it would be going down to the wire in Pomona. Those guys were fired up to go do whatever they could do to makes themselves a winner. A triple-zero and a double-oh five, it doesn’t get much better than that,” Hines said. “Richard is still the leader, but Gaige’s gap is less than one round, so it may come down to the final round on Sunday. We’ll give each rider our best tuning effort and whatever happens, happens. The best package will win.”
With one race remaining in the Countdown to the Championship, Gadson and Herrera sit first and second in the standings, with 2,584 and 2,563 points, respectively.
The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki team will close out the 2025 season November 13-16 at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, CA.
