Sun, 2 Dec 2007, 08:50 AM Godfrey Concludes Runner-Up Season

Courtesy of Tim Hailey

AMA/Prostar Suzuki Pro Stock motorcycle racer Geoff Godfrey finished his most successful professional racing season with a semifinal finish at the National Finals at Gainesville Raceway. The day opened with Godfrey picking off championship rival Darin McCurdy with a holeshot victory in round 1. A stirring victory to be sure, but just a little too late to bolster Godfrey's own championship chances. McCurdy had enough points banked to keep Godfrey locked in second.

Second place still marks progress for third year Pro Stock racer Godfrey, who finished seventh his first year in the relentlessly difficult class and fifth last. "It's headed in the right direction, isn't it?" said Godfrey, a decal and sign maker in Bealeton, Virginia. "When Darin didn't show up for Atco, I thought we had a shot. But my bike leaked oil in the first qualifier and we didn't get a pass. We had one chance to get into the show and we hit second gear and blew that motor up. We blew up two big ones this year, two really expensive pieces that put us in the hole."

So how did a working guy like Godfrey end up in a notoriously expensive class? "Fifteen years ago, for my birthday, my wife Kathy took me to the Gatornationals at Gainesville. I looked over the fence and watched the bikes go down the track and I said 'I can do that.' I went back home and chased the local tracks. We're real fortunate to have a lot of tracks around here, and I won five track championships and two Wallys in four years."

At the 2001 NHRA Division 2 finals Race of Champions at Atlanta, Godfrey nailed a .001 bulb and ran dead-on his eighth mile 6.66 dial for the win. "Then I wanted to run out the back door and go as fast as I could, and I always thought of Pro Stock as the premier class of the sport. Straight horsepower, and I've always been pretty good on the tree. Last year I won four out of five reaction time challenges.

"This year, every time we'd get a glimpse of the championship, something would set us back. Then we'd get a glimmer of daylight again. It was a long, hard, uphill battle for second place, but we finished on a high note. We ran a personal best 7.31 at Gainesville, and there was a lot left on the table. I had a horrible 1.17 sixty foot that pass." Geoff's bike has a best of 1.12. "I tried to buy a sixty foot this year, but couldn't find any on sale!

"Hopefully, we can actually go out there and play next year. I have a lot of people to thank for helping us out this year. We definitely couldn't do this without my mom, Mary Blakney. I want to thank her and her husband Tom. I also want to thank Paul Gast and the boys at Fast By Gast http://www.fastbygast.com, Randy McMahon of RPM Performance for data acquisition http://www.mpsracing.com/products/RPM/datalogger.asp, MRE http://www.murdochracing.com, PR Factory Store http://www.prfactorystore.com, Web Cam http://www.webcamshafts.com, Vanson Leathers http://www.vansonleathers.com, Warrenton Tire & Auto, Sandblast America http://www.sandblastamericallc.com, and Dragbike.com, http://www.Dragbike.com."

The AMA/Prostar U.S. Drag Racing Championship series races next March 1-2 at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Valdosta, Georgia