Joliet: Craig Treble final report

NO. 1 QUALIFIER TREBLE IS FIRST-ROUND FINISHER IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, Ill. (June 6, 2010) - No. 1 qualifier Craig Treble was upset in the opening round of Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations today at the 13th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals by No. 16 qualifier Redell Harris because of a mechanical problem on the Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki.

The pair took off side-by-side, and it was clear by the 60-foot mark that Treble was in trouble. After qualifying with a 6.932-second elapsed time at 190.27 mph, Treble crossed the finish line in second, posting an uncharacteristic 7.123/190.30 pass to Harris' winning 7.070/185.08.

"We were thrilled with our qualifying effort; the Valvoline Suzuki is obviously extremely fast. For whatever reason, we'll figure it out when we get back to the shop, the two-step (RPM limiter) did not work," he explained. "I ended up launching the thing at about 13,500 RPM. I'm sure I had a terrible reaction time (.050 to .036) because when it went to the high side like that it launched the clutch.

"I thought for sure I was going red (foul) and I grabbed the front brake and stopped it. Then the light turned yellow and I let it go. With all that commotion going on, I just did what I could do. I tried to chase him down. I was reeling him in, but I just ran out of real estate and came up on the short side of it. The good note is Steve (Tartaglia, crew chief) has definitely got a handle on the horsepower, and hopefully at the next race we'll perform as well again."

Next up for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class is the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J., June 11-13.

-source: dsr