Columbus: Chip Ellis final summary

Chip Ellis & G2/S&S Buell advance to semifinals

HEBRON, Ohio (May 22, 2005) -- Chip Ellis raced his G Squared-built, S&S Cycle-powered Buell to a semifinal finish at the 41st annual NHRA Pontiac Performance Nationals presented by Summit Racing.

En route to facing the Muzzy-built, S&S-powered Buell driven by Ryan Schnitz in the semifinals, Ellis defeated Craig Treble, aboard a Suzuki, in the opening round of eliminations and Chris Rivas, runner-up at the last race in Atlanta, on the Mohegan Sun-backed, G Squared-built, S&S-powered Buell, in the second round.

Against Schnitz, Ellis got a sizable advantage at the green light but was unable to hold off the hard-charging Schnitz. Schnitz crossed the finish line stripe first in 7.106 seconds, followed by Ellis at 7.187 seconds.

In the opening round, Ellis recorded a speed of 189.63 mph, a personal career best and the fastest that his G Squared Buell has run since it debuted at the Columbus event in June of 2004.

Ellis had a goal at this event to put additional emphasis on his driving. He did just that. His reaction times on race day were .017-second in the opening round, a .009 light in round two and a .004 in the semifinals. He handled the bike well and made good shifts.

"Even I was surprised at my lights," said Ellis, from Americus, Ga. "It shows what practice and concentration will do for you."

George Bryce, who along with partner George Smith own G Squared Motorsports, likes what he saw today.

"Going to the later rounds is what I envisioned and felt that we could do as we started the year," said Bryce. "But we got off to a slow start. I think now we are back on track.

"From the first round to the semifinals, our elapsed times dropped each round. We are unsure, at this time, if that was the result of the tune up or an internal engine problem. These S&S-build engines are very reliable but this one does have quite a large number of races on it. We'll go back to our shop in Americus (Georgia) and review all data and inspect the engine. We'll be back and ready to go at Chicago."

After two weekends off, Chip Ellis and G Squared begin back-to-back-to-back races, the first of which is the CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals, June 9-12, at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., near Chicago. After Chicago, the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series moves to Englishtown, N.J. (June 16-19) and St. Louis -- Madison, Ill. (June 24-26).

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