Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera found another level on Sunday in Chicago, winning his eighth straight race to tie Dave Schultz for the most consecutive wins in class history at the 24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance.
In the final round at Route 66 Raceway, Herrera went 6.713 at 200.68 on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki, holding off Chase Vant Sant to stay perfect in 2024. It’s his third victory this season and eighth straight dating back to the second race in the Countdown to the Championship a year ago, also giving the defending world champion his 14th career victory in just his 24th career start.
Herrera saw his streak of 11 straight No. 1 qualifiers snapped on Saturday to Matt Smith, but he was dominant on Sunday, going 6.694 at 200.47 in the opening round. He added victories against John Hall and LE Tonglet to reach the championship round, leaving first on Van Sant and cruising to another memorable victory.
“First, congrats to Chase Van Sant. He did a great job today and he’s on his way,” Herrera said. “As far as tying Dave Schultz, I’m honored. I wish I’d had a chance to meet him, but I’ve heard a lot of great stories and I know what he did for this Pro Stock Motorcycle class. It’s still hard to believe I’m mentioned in the same sentence as him.
“We qualified No. 2 behind Matt, but today was a different day. The weather was consistent and that let us really work on our tune-up. I honestly thought I would be me and Matt in the final round. I was consistent and my bike was on rails. We had a very consistent motorcycle this weekend.”
Van Sant, the reigning NHRA Rookie of the Year winner, advanced to his first career final round thanks to victories against Steve Johnson, M. Smith and Angie Smith.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action May 31-June 2 with the 14th annual NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.
ROUND ONE — Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.797, 196.93 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.988, 191.89; Angie Smith, Buell, 6.806, 197.97 def. Ryan Oehler, 6.000, 192.11; John Hall, 6.815, 198.15 def. Marc Ingwersen, 6.888, 194.69; Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.753, 199.58 def. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.918, 193.52; Hector Arana Jr, 6.812, 197.51 def. Ron Tornow, 7.031, 192.11; LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.792, 198.61 def. Jianna Evaristo, Buell, 7.453, 139.20; Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.694, 200.47 def. Wesley Wells, Suzuki, 7.429, 173.32; Matt Smith, Buell, 6.795, 199.23 def. Lance Bonham, Buell, 8.250, 130.09;
QUARTERFINALS — A. Smith, 6.860, 197.10 def. Arana Jr, 6.866, 197.39; Van Sant, 6.808, 197.13 def. M. Smith, 6.812, 198.44; Tonglet, 6.779, 198.88 def. Gadson, Broke; Herrera, 6.715, 200.17 def. Hall, 6.832, 197.39;
SEMIFINALS — Van Sant, 6.806, 197.80 def. A. Smith, 6.910, 195.34; Herrera, 6.720, 200.53 def. Tonglet, 6.755, 198.73;
Pro Stock Motorcycle — Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.713, 200.68 def. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.797, 197.54.
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