Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson earned his first career victory in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, beating a quad that was Matt Smith Racing-dominant with a run of 6.803 at 199.55 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat Matt Smith, Angie Smith and Jianna Evaristo.
Gadson had a lightning-quick .015 reaction time and rode away from the trio, picking up his third victory of the season and moving into the points lead for the first time in his professional career.
Teammate Gaige Herrera suffered a shocking first-round loss, but that opened the door for Gadson, who won his first two quads and then rolled to the victory in the final round with another standout performance. After a long wait for his first career win, Gadson has now won three races in the past three months, setting up what could be a thrilling championship run. His points lead now stands at eight over Matt Smith.
“When you say points leader, I just I can’t believe you’re talking about me,” Gadson said. “Sometimes, when I’m at home and I look at the points and even see my name in second place, I have to read it twice because I just can’t believe it’s really me in this position.
“You know, you just want to avenge your team. You’re racing against three bikes from a rival team and you don’t want to go up there and do anything stupid. If they’re going to outrun you, then that’s going to be what it is. You just don’t want to beat yourself and when you’re the lone ranger up there racing for your team, you carry it with a little bit more pride. These bikes are really easy to do something stupid on.”
M. Smith finished as the runner-up with a pass of 6.821 at 199.37 in what was his fourth appearance in the final round this year.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Sept. 26-28 with the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.
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