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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It was the 13th annual AMA Prostar World Finals motorcycle race and for the most part it, indeed, belonged to the World Champions. Beginning with Larry "Spiderman" McBride, who had already clinched his second Top Fuel title in a row and third overall, it was a day for Pro Champions at storied Gainesville Raceway.
Other Pro World Champions crowned included Mark Moisan of Naples, Fla., Superbike; Tommy Miceli, Manalpan, N.J., Pro Mod; Robert Girard, Ware, Mass., Funny Bike; Kent Stutz in Street Bike Shootout and Ryan Schnitz in 600 Supersport. All those Pros except Stutz, won on a sunny warm day in north Central Florida, while Stutz was runnerup to Alphonso "Lil' Butch" Thompson. It was also an event which was not without a bit of controversy, but more on that in a minute. "We knew we had the championship clinched, so we just wanted to come in, run the racetrack and win the race," said McBride, whose victory over Chris Hand, 6.30 and 228 mph to 6.47 220.26 gave him the race title to go with his championship and low qualifying shot of 6.17, 215.93. "My brother (Steve) did the tune-up. I'm almost at a loss for words. I'm coming back and hopefully we'll be as strong as we were this year." McBride has carried the moniker "Spiderman" since 1980 at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind., when an announcer commented that his riding style, of crawling his 6-3 frame around on the bike resembled that of a spider. And the name stuck for the rider of the Pingel Performance Top Fueler. "Everything went very well," McBride said as he headed for the victory podium. "Now we want to come back and do it all again next year." "They came pretty easy today," said Doege of his Suzuki Pro Stock triumph. "We had a good combination, our bike was fast and it was just a matter of getting from point A to point B without hurting ourselves or making a mistake," said Doege, who won the last four Prostar races and runnerupped at one. We had the fastest bike out there and this is our first championship. "We're gonna stay with Prostar next and then do a few select NHRA races." Moison said everything went his way, although he, too, had clinched the Superbike title coming in. "That makes six wins this year and two runnerups. How much better of a season can you have than that," asked the homestate victor. Moison easily defeated Delvis Flores of Paramus, N.J. 7.87, 179.35 to 8.74, 153.58 in the final. Miceli, who was Street Bike Shootout champion in ‘99, said this win and season championship were very rewarding. "This is my second title, but first Pro Mod. Gainesville's track was unbelievable. The track was great and the bike was excellent. It was perfect weekend. We had a little struggle getting into the field. We didn't qualify the first two passes, but we got into the No. 12 spot and we just went from there. "We went a certain speed, but faster every time out," Miceli said. Miceli, with an excellent reaction, defeated Louie Grist, of Bruce, Ms, 6.82, 195.22 to 6.82, 195.43. Both were on Suzukis. Now, the controversy, which involved Marc Oliver and Rob Girard in the second round of the Funny Bike class. Oliver, of Mobile, Ala., did such a smoky burnout on his Suzuki that the electronic timer wasn't activated until he left, giving him a wonderful, but not exactly legal, holeshot Prostar officials immediately conferred with Raceway staffers who've seen the same thing happen with their four-wheel cousins and it was decided to bring the pair back to run again. This time Girard and his Kawasaki had a much easier trip...because Oliver broke on the line. "Everything there was in the tower. I had nothing to do with it," Girad said. "I had nothing to do with it and I'm slow to react. I wasn't concerned about that. That was their decision. As far as I'm concerned, we both got a break. Chip got a break, I got a break and we're even." Ah yes, Chip. Chip Ellis of Columbia, S.C. also made the Funny Bike semifinals via a bit of sportsmanship from his second-round opponent, Bryan Bennett of Herrin Ill. Ellis' Kawasaki lost fire at the line and Bennett backed his companion Kawasaki out of the lanes to give him a chance. It was what Ellis needed and he went on to beat his "benefactor" 6.71 , 210.18 mph to 6.85, 200.49. But Ellis then lost in the semis to eventual runner-up to Girad, Gary Clark of DeMoines, Iowa. Clark couldn't answer the call. Kent Stutz of Schaumberg, Ill. gave Honda a victory after he set both ends of the record in the Streetbike Shootout. His record marks were 7.632 E.T. and 189.31 mph. Ryan Schnitz, Decatur, Ind., came in looking for world titles in two classes, but won the 600 Supersport class on his Kawasaki, overcoming a better reaction time by Keith Thompson of Upper Marlboro, Md., who was also on a Kawasaki. Schnitz had a 9.84, 136.05 to Thompson’s 10.28, 135.46. Sportsman Class Season Champions were: Top Eliminator, Matt Smith; Top Gas, Mike Konopacki; Super Comp, Bruce Sauer; Super Gas Mark Coulson; Pro ET, Mike Konopacki; Hot Rod Cruiser Jon Cornell. Sportsman Class race winners were: Top Eliminator, Smith; Top Gas, Andy Baumbach; Super Comp, Dan Howe; Super Gas Rod Bland; Pro ET Joe Novak, Street ET, Sydney Marshall. The event attracted nearly 700 competitors on bikes in 14 Pro and Sportsman classes for Prostar's second visit to Gainesville. The series annually kicks off its season at the Gainesville Raceway prior to the Gatornationals. Founder of Chief Executive Officer of the series, Keith "Scooter" Kizer summed up the weekend. "It was a great event and I attribute a part of that to the weather. It's the World Finals. We always have a good event. This one just went like clockwork for both days of qualifying. "Today was the first day we really had any oil downs that slowed us down. But still, it's always a success when we can beat the 7 o’clock curfew they have here. "It was really good. Honda has claimed their first championship ever in AMA Prostar for drag racing with Kent Stotz. But virtue of that alone, that won him the championship." Kizer responded to the question of the Oliver incident: "The only thing is we'll have to determine how we'll handle that. It's a very tough call. Even if you put in the rule book that if your motorcycle causes any smoke or vapors to interfere with the timing system, then you will be disqualified or whatever.
"That's a hard call to make itself, because...I dunno. Every time the
timing system fails then you start looking at things. We'll have to sit down
and reevaluate that. That was an impossible call and I believe we made the
only right call. It was tough for Kawasaki...but it was the fair thing to do
at the time and that’s what we did and that was the outcome."
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