Paquette, Stotz, Knight take big NHDRO wins

event: NHDRO Mid Season Sizzle
when: July 12-14, 2013
where: Lucas Oil Raceway Park, Clermont, Indiana USA
Paquette, Stotz, Knight take big NHDRO
wins
story and photos by Tim Hailey
Pro Comp winner Mark Paquette, near lane, found that riding half the bikes nearly
doubled his results
Michigan surgical instruments sharpener Mark Paquette cast a big shadow over the
NHDRO Mid Season Sizzle at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s not
unusual for his stealthy Kawasaki turbo-methanol Funnybike to be the Schnitz Racing
Pro Comp performance leader, but Paquette also tuned young Tyler Fisher to a new
McIntosh Machine & Fabrication Pro Street record.
Paquette dominated the eighth mile Pro Comp class from start to finish, qualifying #1
with a 4.14, with multi-time Funnybike champ Keith Lynn and his turbo-nitrous-gasoline
Kawasaki close behind. Despite a strong challenge from the nitrous Pro Mods of
Louisville’s Deshaun and Courtney Wheeler, Paquette and Lynn faced each other in the
final. Lynn took the tree by .007 but Paquette drove around 4.17 to 4.18 for the win in a
great race. Paquette also ran a faster-than-the-record 192.06 mph in the semis.
Tyler Fisher on Paquette's Pro Street bike
Struggling to move to the next level while tuning and riding two very different bikes,
Paquette gave up the seat of his turbo Suzuki Hayabusa to Fisher. The results have
been instant. While many teams struggled to get down the track on Saturday, Paquette
had Fisher running over 2/10ths quicker than the field.
Not that major players weren’t struggling with major problems. Detroit builder/tuner
Ronnie Mitchell had to skip this race and rented his pink “Rizzo” ‘Busa to Ryan Hable.
But Rizzo’s turbo bearings gave up the fight in Q1 and Hable climbed on to the RMR
trailermate bike of Brad Anassis. The compromised weekend never did pan out for
Hable, who lost to John Chant in round 1.
Ohioan Doug Gall won the first two Pro Street races of the year but scattered his motor
all over LORP’s left lane in round 1 of eliminations, lifting his ankles out of the way and
deftly guiding the ‘Busa out of the groove to a quick stop. “It was kinda neat,” said the
unflappable Gall. “I’ve never thrown a rod through the case before.”
Frankie Stotz ended up with the win on Sunday
Working hard to solve LORP’s tuning riddle on Saturday night was Frankie Stotz, his
dad Kent, and crew. Team Stotz lost all their maps for the Honda CBR1000RR and had
to start from scratch, but were ready to play by the time Sunday’s eliminations rolled
around.
Fisher was super-strong on the other side of the ladder, utilizing what Oklahoma
Funnybike guru Tommy Bolton refers to as the “Don King” button (adding an additional
hair raising 5 pounds of boost) on an NHDRO record-smashing 7.03 pass in E2. But
Paquette’s tuning history doesn’t include much experience with the button, and those 5
pounds leaned out and damaged the ‘Busa’s motor. Fisher took the tree under power in
the semi but no-showed for the final, giving Stotz the win.
Doug Fisher, near lane, bests Mike Wagner out of the gate and takes the Top Gas final
Veteran Michigan racer Doug Fisher (Tyler’s father) doubled at the May NHDRO opener
but had to settle for a lone Hornish Brothers Top Gas win this time around, beating St.
Louis racer Mike Wagner in the final.
Dalton Markham rodae his dad John's bike to the Super Comp win
Another second generation racer, Dalton Markham, took the Super Comp final over
redlighting Bradley Shellhaas—a reversal of the Columbus race’s final round result.
Ben Knight, near lane, took this round against Dave Page on the way to one of his two
wins
America’s busiest racer, Ben Knight, scored the Tsukigi Racing Streetfighter win over
Columbus double winner Jason Ditto, who redlit. It was a double race winning weekend
for Knight, who also won Saturday’s Dennis Insurance Street ET final over John
“Spooky” Markham.
Clark Proctor, near lane, won Catalyst Racing Composites Crazy 8s
Ron Arnold, near lane, chased down Ben Knight this round on his way to the Street ET
win
Fun for All Motorsports racer Ron Arnold redlit against Clark Proctor in the Catalyst
Racing Composites Crazy 8s final, but won Sunday’s Street ET final over Bill Heyde.
Brunson Grothus aiming for the finishline
Brunson Grothus won G&G Metal Spinners Pro ET over Brandon Correll on Saturday
night, but Correll struck back to win over Darrell Charmichael on Sunday.
Brandon Correll
Friday’s Quick 16 races were won by Quinn Orand and Mark Eskew.
Jack Seberger dedicated his Super Eliminator win to the late, great John Jacob
Super Eliminator veteran Jack Seberger won that class and dedicated the win to
legendary 2 stroke guru John Jacob, who passed away on March 5th.
Doug Gall, left, and Jamie Hendricks, right, prepare for grudge race 1
Gall was involved with Saturday night’s biggest Port-Tech Grudge races, taking one
with the break on an all-motor ‘Busa vs. Jamie Hendricks on a cut seat rails ‘Busa, then
giving the break back to Hendricks and losing one aboard the “Chupacabra” grudge
bike.
Untangle yourselves ladies! MORE BIKINI PHOTOS
And the bikini show? It was truly more outrageous than ever as these girls pull new
tricks out of the bag at every event to win crowd approval. You do not want to miss the
next one!
The NHDRO returns to action on August 16-18 for the NHDRO/Manufacturers Cup
Pingel Thundernationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana.