NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals
zMax Raceway
October 11-13, 2019

Pro Stock Motorcycle

In one of the most surprising developments of the year, Steve Johnson will start from the top of a Pro Stock Motorcycle field for the first time since the 2013 Englishtown race. Johnson took the qualifying lead after round three with an impressive career-best pass for him at 6.786!

RT / .069
60’ / 1.047
330’ / 2.827
1/8 ET / 4.335
1/8 MPH / 163.14
1000’ / 5.653
1/4 ET / 6.786
1/4 MPH / 196.70

In one of the most surprising developments of the year, Steve Johnson will start from the top of a Pro Stock Motorcycle field for the first time since the 2013 Englishtown race when he rode his Slick 50 Suzuki to a stunning 6.786 on Saturday afternoon at zMax Dragway. With the best performance of his long career, Johnson knocked fellow Suzuki rider Jerry Savoie from the top spot in the quick field. Equally as surprising, Johnson didn’t’ stick around for the final qualifying session because he left the track in order to attend a wedding in Maryland. Johnson plans to return to Charlotte late tonight to prepare for tomorrow’s final eliminations.

Johnson’s performance aside, the quickest bike in Charlotte belongs to Jerry Savoie. The winner in Indy and Reading, Savoie rode his Tim Kulungian-tuned White Alligator Suzuki to a pair of 6.787 runs on Saturday, just missing the top spot by a thousandth of a second. Savoie was also the low qualifier after Friday’s qualifying rounds with a 6.801. Savoie has only competed in nine events this year, but he’s got two wins, a runner-up and a semifinal for his efforts. He will race rookie Jianna Salinas in round one.

Harley-Davidson teammates Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec were both quick and consistent on their FXDR bikes. Hines, the incoming points leader, is the No. 3 seed with a 6.814 while Krawiec is just four-thousandths slower with a 6.818. Hines is paired against Michal Ray while Krawiec’s reward for his strong qualifying effort will be a match against Matt Smith. The reigning Mello Yello series champion struggled with transmission and clutch issues on his Denso EBR and never made a full run to the finish line. Smith’s best performance of 6.932 at just 179.85 is in no way indicative of his potential.

Karen Stoffer, who won the most recent event in St. Louis to move to the No. 2 spot in the standings, also put together a solid qualifying performance with a 6.819 on her Big St. Charles/Skillman Auto Suzuki. Stoffer is paired with Kelly Clontz in round one and faces a potential quarterfinal match against the winner of the Matt Smith vs. Eddie Krawiec battle.

Final Qualifying Order

Friday Qualifying

Jerry Savoie’s WAR Suzuki dominates day one qualifying in Charlotte

After the first day of qualifying for the NGK NHRA Carolina Nationals, Jerry Savoie leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle field at zMax Dragway. Savoie, the 2016 Mello Yello champion, rode his White Alligator Suzuki to a 6.801 on Friday afternoon and that run held up as the quickest pass of the day. The next quickest bike in the field is Eddie Krawiec’s Harley-Davidson with a 6.818. Savoie, the winner of the Countdown opener in Reading, did not get down the track on the second run of the day, but still managed to bank three additional qualifying points and the qualifying lead heading into Saturday’s final qualifying.

“I’m being a little greedy this weekend. I felt like I didn’t get a fair shake at the last race in St. Louis,” said Savoie. “I lost to Hector [Arana] Jr. in the first round and that cost me the points lead. I made the decision to change things. We’ve been testing a lot of things in qualifying and then trying to put it all together on race day. We can’t do that anymore. We have to gather up every point that we can in order to win this thing. You never know what it’s going to take when it gets down to the very end. I think I did a good job and Tim [Kulungian, crew chief] did a great job tuning. I felt like we got everything out of it for the first run.

“The second run, I screwed that up,” he admitted. “I went up there and my glove got caught up in the clutch lever. I just shut it off. It was frustrating because I think the conditions were better. I think someone would have run a 6.78 out there. I’m surprised that no one did. That’s one thing about me. I’ll tell you when I do something wrong. I definitely gave one away there.”

Championship leader Andrew Hines also made just one clean pass on Friday. Hines, the runner-up two weeks ago in St. Louis, missed the afternoon session but returned to post a third-best 6.837 on his Harley-Davidson FXDR. Hines has been the championship leader after 11 of the first 12 events this season and has seven wins so far in 2019. Like Savoie, Hines also padded his score with three bonus points on Friday.

Karen Stoffer, the most recent winner on the tour, continued her recent string of strong performances with a 6.842 on her Big St. Charles/Skillman Auto Suzuki. Stoffer, currently ranked No. 2 in the Mello Yello standings, made two consistent runs in the 6.8s and holds down the No. 4 spot. The third Harley-Davidson ridden by Angelle Sampey is fifth-best with a 6.860.

Reigning series champion Matt Smith has also had his share of troubles on the first day of the zMax event. Smith could only muster a 7.07 on his Denso EBR during Q1 and things didn’t get any better on Q2 when he coasted to a stop before the finish line later in the day. Smith is currently in the No. 14 spot, well back of the leaders.

PRE-ENTRY LIST

Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA is the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States. NHRA presents 24 national events featuring the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. NHRA provides competition opportunities for drivers of all levels in the NHRA Summit Racing Series and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA. NHRA also offers NHRA Jr. Street program for teens and the Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League for youth ages 5 to 17. In addition, NHRA owns and operates four racing facilities: Atlanta Dragway in Georgia; Gainesville Raceway in Florida; Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis; and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. For more information, log on to NHRA.com