Gaige Herrera returned to winning form and put his pursuit of a third Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship solidly on track with a resounding victory aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki Gen 3 Hayabusa at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC, on Sunday.
After a tough second-round loss at the season opener in Gainesville, Herrera turned disappointment into positive energy by qualifying third with a 6.756-second/200.50 mph run and winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Herrera’s victory in the specialty race-within-a-race held during Saturday’s qualifying sessions forecast the dominant performance that carried the two-time world champion into the winner’s circle on Sunday.
Under the NHRA’s unique four-wide racing format in Charlotte, the first two riders in each four-motorcycle quad to cross the finish line, barring a redlight jumpstart, advance to the next elimination round. In the final round four-wide quad, the first motorcycle to cross the finish line wins.
Herrera won his first-round quad matchup against John Hall (runner up), Geno Scali and Marc Ingwersen with a 6.775-second/198.17 mph run. In round two, Herrera went quicker, running 6.756 seconds at 200.08 mph in a victory over his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki teammate Richard Gadson (runner up), John Hall and Ryan Oehler.
In the final four-wide quad, Herrera ran 6.758 seconds at 199.88 mph to prevail again over Gadson (runner up), Clayton Howey and Chase Van Sant, all of whom raced Suzuki motorcycles powered by Vance & Hines-built engines. It was Herrera’s 29th career NHRA victory and his first since the penultimate round of the 2025 season in Las Vegas.
With the win, Herrera leapt from seventh to second in the points standings and gained a boost of confidence and momentum as he seeks a third NHRA title.
“It was an awesome weekend. I was feeling great from the first pass, and it continued all the way to the final. Andrew Hines was on point with the tune up and everything was just clicking. I’m beyond ecstatic about how it went,” Herrera said. “Having four Vance & Hines Suzuki engines in the final, that’s just incredible for the whole team too.
“The season is still early, and anything can happen, but it’s a big one for me for sure. I never felt down after Gainesville, because I have a great motorcycle and team behind me and I know what I’m capable of as a rider, but it feels good to be back to winning,” Herrera said.
Following a 7-week break in racing after Gainesville, reigning world champion Richard Gadson came to Charlotte hoping for a repeat of his season-opening victory in March. Gadson posted runs of 6.858 seconds at 197.88 mph, 6.785 seconds at 199.55 mph and 6.809 seconds at 198.17 mph in runner-up finishes to Ryan Oehler (6.802 seconds/197.86 mph) in round one, Herrera in round two, and Herrera again in the final round.
“I struggled big time Friday and Saturday. We made some changes to my motorcycle, and I just couldn’t get into my groove, so in the second round today we went back to what we knew worked and I made my best pass of the weekend,” Gadson said. “I went into the final round feeling confident, and when I let the clutch I go, I thought they were all dead because I hit the tree hard. Then I spun the tire about a half second later, and I thought I was dead. Seeing the runner-up light come on was nothing but excitement. From the way the weekend started to finishing runner-up, I can’t ask for anything better. Leaving with the points lead, going one-two for our team and winning in the hometown of our main rivals makes for a pretty good weekend.”
RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines said the extended break between the season’s first two races was like having a second offseason that gave teams a second chance to refine their programs based on what they’d learned at Gainesville.
“I was telling the guys when we left the shop that I wasn’t sure what we were going to wind up with and that we’d probably get our butts kicked,” Hines said. “But we lost one of the fastest bikes in the first round when Matt Smith went out on a red light and that opened the door for us to capitalize. I think we might still be a little behind on some aspects of our package, but with the riders and the track conditions that we had this weekend, we were able to overachieve compared to what we expected. As a former rider, I would not want to have to race against these guys.”
After the second of 14 rounds in the 2026 Pro Stock Motorcycle season, Gadson and Herrera sit first and second in the championship standings with 217 and 182 points, respectively.
The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines team returns to action May 1-3 at the NHRA Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, GA.
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