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Sonoma: Tom Bradford Saturday summary

Bradford Joins 6 Second Club! Tom Bradford became the fourth member of the exclusive Mickey Thompson 6 Second Club aboard his privateer Balbayis Asset Consulting/Hal's Speedshop Buell. Bradford ran a 6.981 in round 4 of Pro Stock ...

Published: Jul 30, 2006, 10:05 PM

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Bradford Joins 6 Second Club!

Tom Bradford became the fourth member of the exclusive Mickey Thompson 6 Second Club aboard his privateer Balbayis Asset Consulting/Hal's Speedshop Buell. Bradford ran a 6.981 in round 4 of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying for the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Mickey Thompson established the 6 Second Club to reward and commemorate the first eight riders that cross this milestone barrier.

qualifying round 3
6th Tom Bradford right lane 7.067 at 190.81 mph

"We were testing a little different clutch tune-up at Denver and when we came here," reported Bradford. "Although we were quick, we were quite a ways off what we wanted it to be. We were on the soft side of the clutch and we needed to be a little more aggressive with it and allow the tire and the chassis to do its job. We ran a 1.12 on that .06 run, really pathetic, and we weren't running the RPM's down the track that we thought the air and conditions could handle. We knew we had to put the 6 second deal out of our heads. We knew we couldn't be so afraid to make changes and made some pretty drastic changes to the clutch and gearing. We made wholesale changes that we rationalized and that made sense. We've got really good heads on this team with Rob Schopf and Jim Schneider, and I think that's the really strong part on this team. We were really just making a pass to make the data right."

qualifying round 4
2nd Tom Bradford left lane 6.981 at 192.00 mph

And the data that really counted was oh-so-right. "Bleepin' awesome!" said Bradford, literally. "I don't know how else to say it. This is outstanding. We are just so torqued up right now."

Tom's run was the third quickest in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, second only to champion Andrew Hines, who has the top two ET's ever and qualified number 1 for the Sonoma event. Bradford qualified second for Sonoma and faces Hines' teammate G.T. Tonglet in round 1. "We're obviously ecstatic and looking forward to eliminations, just taking it one round at a time and hoping to go rounds and maybe go on to the money round," said Bradford. "It's obviously a really, really fast field-6.97 to 7.09.

"But my God, the company we're in with the 6 Second Club-what an elite group! We're just this little team from Wisconsin on a shoestring budget. How can it all be happening? We hoped, we believed we could do it. We got here and obviously did everything in our power to make it happen. Now everybody's got sore jaws from smiling so much. This helps us in the Ringers Gloves deal too, and helps secure a little more safety in the top 8 situation that we're in. It's really, really cool."

-th

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