PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
It was sort of a Déjà vu deal for the Pro Extreme bike racers at the ADRL World Finals at the Texas Motorplex. In the Battle for the Belts, defending ADRL World Champ Billy Vose came from the number three position in the year-long points battle and then used every driver’s tool at his disposal to win his second straight Belt. In the first round he had a .008 light, which we would have needed if Jack Young hadn’t gone .003 red as Young easily outran Vose.
In the second round Vose put .048 in the bank on the tree against Scott Gray and needed all of that as Gray ran a 4.271 to Vose’s slower 4.295. In the final Vose just plain outran Nickie Corley with a 4.267 to Corley’s 4.348. That victory gave Vose the 2008 ADRL Championship and for the second straight year he left the Texas Motorplex with the coveted belt and the even more coveted (by some) champ’s check.
On Saturday it wasn’t Déjà vu all over again so much. Charlie Prophit became not only the man with the most number-one qualifying efforts (three) in the season but he also managed to lower the National ET record to a 4.240 in the process. The Pro Extreme Motorcycle field certainly wasn’t the quickest in history, though, as that honor belonged to the 4.408 bump this year’s Rockingham Dragstock.
Eliminations saw number one qualifier Prophit make his record official with a 4.270 thrashing of number-16 qualifier James Helton, but neither Charlie nor Matt Prophit were the main story on Saturday.
Scott Gray has qualified for more ADRL Pro Extreme Motorcycle races than anyone and came to Dallas with a brand-new sponsor to impress. He did a pretty good job with his 1570 cc Suzuki. He went two rounds in the Battle for the Belts on Friday, losing in the second round to eventual winner Billy Vose on an uncharacteristic holeshot. But he made up for his error on Saturday, capturing the first race of the 2009 season and thereby taking the points lead. He avenged his Friday night loss to Vose by taking him out in the first round and then marching through the 16-bike field to win his first ADRL event. In that final round Gray met Matt Prophit and Gray was on his game as he cut a .006 light and combined that with a 4.375/165.09 that scorched Prophit’s 5.138/154.76.