NHRA Northwest Nationals Pacific Raceways Jul 19-21, 2024 PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Chase Van Sant made his own history and also ended a historic run in Pro Stock Motorcycle on Sunday, picking up his first career victory with a run of 6.720 at 201.31 on his Trick Tools Suzuki over defending world champion Gaige Herrera in […]

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NHRA Northwest Nationals
Pacific Raceways
Jul 19-21, 2024

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Chase Van Sant made his own history and also ended a historic run in Pro Stock Motorcycle on Sunday, picking up his first career victory with a run of 6.720 at 201.31 on his Trick Tools Suzuki over defending world champion Gaige Herrera in the final round. It snapped Herrera’s record-breaking run of 12 straight victories and 46 consecutive round wins, a string that dated back to last September.

Van Sant, though, was impressive throughout eliminations, taking down Brandon Litten, John Hall and Matt Smith. Van Sant left first on Herrera and led wire-to-wire in a rematch of the final round in Chicago this year. This time, though, Van Sant, the 2023 NHRA Rookie of the Year, got the best of Herrera, denying him any chance of an undefeated season and picking up a victory he won’t soon forget. Van Sant also moved to fourth in points with the win.

“I got down to the top end and saw my win light on and I was just shaking my head,” Van Sant said. “We were down in the shutdown and Gaige yelled something at me and he pointed and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know. Like is this real?’ I’ve gone up against Gaige five times and lost all five times, so to cut a light and get away early and outrun him just speaks volumes to how hard this team has been working kind of silently in the midst of all the drama in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“Gaige and I have known each other for a while and every time we raced, it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed it. I was super happy for him breaking all of those records, but I told him “If I can end your streak, I will be the happiest person in the world.'”

Herrera maintained a dominant points lead, advancing to his seventh final this season and 19th in his career after defeating Eiji Kawakami and Jianna Evaristo.

ROUND ONE

W – Jianna Evaristo / 0.063 / 6.733 / 201.52
L – Steve Johnson / 0.027 / 6.862 / 196.16

Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 59 percent, barometer 30.05 inches, adjusted altitude 1,863 feet. Johnson is 5 – 3 against Evaristo in prior events. Johnson with the starting line advantage, but Evaristo chased him down by half track for the win.

W – John Hall / 0.021 / 6.865 / 197.94
L – Angie Smith / 0.014 / 7.530 / 156.26

Smith is 5 – 2 against Hall in prior events. Smith the with the starting line advantage, but shook and clicked it off. Hall is straight down the groove for the win.

W – Richard Gadson / 0.051 / 6.748 / 198.70
L – Chris Bostick / 0.025 / 6.831 / 195.90

Gadson is 1 – 0 against Bostick in prior events. Bostick with the starting line advantage, but Gadson chased him down by 400 feet and takes the win.

W – Matt Smith / 0.053 / 6.709 / 202.64
L – Hector Arana Jr / 0.019 / 7.015 / 192.80

Arana Jr is 15 – 14 against Smith in prior events. Arana Jr. with the starting line advantage, but spun and Smith is straight down the groove. He makes the quickest and fastest pass in the history of PSM here. Matt Smith’s incremental times: 60ft-1.066 sec., 330ft-2.828, 660ft-4.312/164.73 mph, 1,000ft-5.605. He will have lane choice over Gadson in the next round.

W – Chase Van Sant / 0.067 / 6.735 / 200.20
L – Brandon Litten / DQ / 0.031 / 99.999 / 1.00

Litten with the starting line advantage, but started to drift out of the groove and crossed the centerline, taking out a block or two. Van Sant with his quickest and fastest pass of the weekend for the win. He will have lane choice over Hall in the next round.

W – Gaige Herrera / 0.050 / 6.744 / 199.88
L – Eiji Kawakami / -0.015 / 7.078 / 190.59

Kawakami goes red to give Herrera the win. He will give up lane choice to Evaristo in the next round.

ROUND TWO

W – Chase Van Sant / 0.040 / 6.745 / 199.55
L – John Hall / 0.053 / 6.875 / 198.44

Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 56 percent, barometer 30.04 inches, adjusted altitude 2,067 feet, track temperature 105 degrees. Hall is 2 – 0 against Van Sant in prior events. Van Sant with the starting line advantage and the win.

W – Gaige Herrera / 0.037 / 6.737 / 200.32
L – Jianna Evaristo / 0.087 / 6.704 / 203.95

Herrera and Evaristo have each won 2 times against the other in prior events. Herrera with the starting line advantage and the power to hold on for the hole shot win. Gaige Herrera’s MOV: 0.0177 seconds (approximately 5 feet). Evaristo makes her career quickest and fastest pass to set both ends of the track record. Jianna Evaristo’s incremental times: 60ft-1.058 sec., 330ft-2.825, 660ft-4.312/164.57 mph, 1,000ft-5.604.

W – Matt Smith / 0.044 / 6.735 / 201.76
L – Richard Gadson / 0.026 / 6.794 / 197.59

Smith is 1 – 0 against Gadson in prior events. Gadson with the starting line advantage, but Smith chased him down around 800 feet and takes the win. He will have lane choice over Van Sant in the semifinal.

SEMI-FINAL

W – Gaige Herrera / 0.046 / 6.781 / 200.17
L – Earned Bye

Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 53 percent, barometer 30.04 inches, adjusted altitude 2,106 feet, track temperature 114 degrees. Herrera with the bye run into the final. He is advancing to his 19th career final and seventh this season.

W – Chase Van Sant / 0.014 / 6.896 / 197.86
L – Matt Smith / — / — / —

Van Sant is 2 – 1 against Smith in prior events. Smith’s bike will not start to give Van Sant the win. Van Sant bogged right at the hit and will give up lane choice to Herrera in the final He is advancing to his second career final round.

FINAL

Win – Chase Van Sant / 0.017 / 6.720 / 201.31
RU – Gaige Herrera / 0.025 / 6.754 / 200.80

Weather conditions: air temperature 80 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 30.02 inches, adjusted altitude 2,122 feet. Herrera is 6 – 0 against Van Sant in prior events and Herrera is 1 – 0 against Van Sant in prior final rounds. Van Sant with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. He wins his first National event Wally.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action July 26-28 with the 36th annual Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

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SATURDAY QUALIFYING

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera enjoyed another terrific day at Pacific Raceways, holding on to the No. 1 qualifier position and also picking up the win in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge over rival Matt Smith, going 6.745 at 200.32 on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. Smith went red in the final round matchup of the specialty race, handing the victory to Herrera, who claimed his third victory this season in the bonus race, but also his first in two months.

He again made four strong runs in qualifying, also taking the No. 1 spot for the fourth time this season on the strength of Friday’s 6.734 at 201.22. It’s also the 18th in his career as Herrera looks to win his 12th consecutive race and seventh straight this season.

“It was a little hot today for sure, so we were battling the track a little bit, but we made a few changes to the transmission to accommodate the heat, and it paid off in the final against Matt Smith,” Herrera said. “Unfortunately, he went red or it probably would have been a really good race.

ROUND 1
W – Matt Smith / .033 / 6.755 / 201.16
L – Richard Gadson / .035 / 6.769 / 199.88

W – Gaige Herrera / .033 / 6.803 / 199.17
L – John Hall / .023 / 5.711 / 6.838

FINAL
W – Gaige Herrera / .028 / 6.745 / 200.32
RU – Matt Smith / -.029 / 6.780 / 201.43

“Tomorrow I think we’ll have to go at least another [6.]70 and it might even dip in the [6.]60s. It just depends on what the weather’s going to do. It’s an early start, so tomorrow is going to be good.”

Chase Van Sant took second after going 6.742 at 199.44 and Smith is third with a run of 6.755 at 201.43.

1. Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.734, 201.22
2. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.742, 199.94
3. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.755, 201.43
4. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.756, 199.88
5. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.765, 201.43
6. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.792, 197.33
7. Jianna Evaristo, Buell, 6.802, 200.86
8. John Hall, Beull, 6.807, 199.73
9. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.812, 197.19
10. Hector Arana Jr, EBR, 6.872, 199.02
11. Brandon Litten, EBR, 7.073, 184.77
12. Eiji Kawakami, Suzuki, 7.122, 185.59

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FRIDAY QUALIFYING

Pro Stock Motorcycle debuted at Pacific Raceways a year ago and on Friday, Gaige Herrera continued to dominate at the facility, setting the track speed record and taking the provisional No. 1 spot with an impressive run of 6.734 at 201.22 on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. Herrera has quickly taken a liking to the Pacific Northwest, making the quickest run of both sessions as he looks to pick up his fourth No. 1 qualifier in 2024 and 18th in his career.

Of course, Herrera is also undefeated in 2024 and his past 11 races, looking to continue his dominant run this weekend at Pacific Raceways.

“I feel like me and the bike are one at this point, so we came in there very confident on what we’re going to run,” Herrera said. “If we didn’t bog on the starting line in Q2, we probably would have run a .68. We just didn’t accommodate for the track tightening up that quick as the sun went down, the track dropped quite a bit on the temperature. and it hurt us. Hopefully, we’ll hold on to one spot, but there’s a lot of good bikes out there.”

Chase Van Sant is currently second after going 6.742 at 199.44 and Richard Gadson is third with a run of 6.756 at 199.35.

1. Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.734, 201.22
2. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.742, 199.94
3. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.756, 199.35
4. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.804, 197.33
5. John Hall, Beull, 6.807, 199.73
6. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.812, 197.19
7. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.822, 200.56
8. Jianna Evaristo, Buell, 6.835, 199.52
9. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.836, 200.62
10. Hector Arana Jr, EBR, 6.872, 199.02
11. Brandon Litten, EBR, 7.073, 182.50
12. Eiji Kawakami, Suzuki, 7.122, 183.44

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ABOUT NHRA

The National Hot Rod Association, the largest auto racing organization in the world, has come a long way since Wally Parks founded it in 1951.

Though it has grown into a global sports-entertainment business, NHRA has not lost sight of Parks’ original goal: to provide competitors a place to race. But now those places are deluxe supertracks in major U.S. markets, and the racing runs the gamut from 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters to 5-horsepower Jr. Dragsters. Drag racing’s journey through the decades has been sometimes swift, sometimes rocky, but always exciting and always worth the trip.

In the 1950s, top performance marks were 140 mph in 9 seconds. Today, they’re more than 330 mph in less than 3.7 seconds. Back then, winners earned little more than a trophy and bragging rights. Today’s racers compete for trophies and bragging rights as well as a share of more than $3 million in prize money.

In 2024, NHRA joined forces with Mission Foods to present the world’s fastest motorsports attraction as the flagship sponsor of the national touring series, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

Under the leadership of President Glen Cromwell, NHRA raced forward in 2020 with a number of key initiatives, including a multiyear partnership with FOX Sports to televise NHRA events from the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, and the Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. FOX Sports networks aired more than 500 hours of programming throughout the year, highlighted by 22 race-day shows, including eight on FOX’s national network, in addition to primetime Friday night qualifying shows, and fans are in for more of the same this year.

NHRA has extremely loyal fans that are committed to the sport they love, and it’s easy to see why. They continue to have the best access to the behind-the-scenes action of racing. NHRA’s open-pits policy allows fans to get an up-close-and personal view of how teams rebuild engines. Drivers are often found in their pit areas, signing autographs and chatting with fans, who have the rare opportunity to get behind the wheel themselves in a variety of racing simulators in the Nitro Alley Fan Zone. Those are just a few reasons NHRA fans continue to be some of the most loyal in any sport.

For more information, log on to NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

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About Mission Foods

Great food is a great motivator. It brings everyone to the table and inspires us to explore all kinds of delicious destinations. At Mission®, it drives us to seek the freshest ingredients, simple recipes, diverse flavors and wholesome products that help us discover all the places our tortillas can go. There are better-for-you destinations like with our high protein, low carb, or gluten-free tortillas. Of course, tacos and nachos are favorite stops. We are always up for those. www.missionfoods.com

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