TONGLET ADDS CHAPTER TO DREAM SEASON
LE Tonglet expected to have success when he joined defending world champion Jerry Savoie on the White Alligator Racing team this season.
But the professional firefighter from Metairie, Louisiana, said he never dreamed that he would dominate the Pro Stock Motorcycle class in his Nitro Fish Racing Suzuki.
“Not in a million years,” said Tonglet, who brought 10 career wins to the Savoie operation. “We knew that we would be competitive, but not this competitive.”
Tonglet earned his fifth win in seven races and recorded his second straight NHRA Sonoma Nationals Wally Sunday after defeating Matt Smith in the finals by a .0002 second margin.
Tonglet posted a time of 6.783 at 197.02 while Smith followed with a 6.790 run at 196.67.
“I could hear Matt the whole way and I knew it was really close,” Tonglet said. “I wanted to look over very bad but I just stay tucked and stared at the win light, and it lit. That was exciting.”
The latest conquest extended the points lead for Tonglet to 74 over Eddie Krawiec.
Tonglet, the 2010 Pro Stock Motorcycle champ as a rookie, passed the credit around to his team, starting with mechanical wizard and crew chief Tim Kulungian.
“Tim is really doing a fantastic job tuning, we’ve got a great group of guys behind us between rounds, my dad is lining me up dead-straight, and this bike is just flying,” Tonglet said.
While the bay breeze in scenic wine country cooled down the track late Sunday, it also created some serious crosswinds.
Smith actually had a quicker reaction time of .032, but was forced to correct his bike when it veered out of the groove.
“The wind or something got me,” said Smith, who felt that he actually won the race. “It jerked us to the center line at half-track and I had to lay off the bike. That cost us the race.”
Smith has lost three straight finals since his last win.
“We’ve got a fast Victory motorcycle,” Smith said. “We’re gonna win one win soon. I promise you that.”
Tonglet also won Saturday’s Mickey Thompson Pro Bike Battle, an experience that Tonglet said helped him Sunday.
“It’s a big benefit,” Tonglet said. “Winning the Battle builds your confidence. We didn’t match up with Matt, but we did race Hector (Arana) Jr. and then ended up racing him again today. To be able to beat him twice in one weekend is pretty cool.”
Cool would be a fitting description of the partnership between Tonglet and Savoie.
“We knew Jerry had some fast motorcycles and Tim is a very smart guy,” Tonglet said. “We just didn’t things would be this good early. The Harleys are kind of struggling right now. Once they get back up, they will start winning more rounds. It will be harder to get these race wins, so we just have to collect as many as we can while the Harleys are down.”
In Sunday’s semifinals, Tonglet used a reaction time of .030 to defeat Hector Arana Jr. in the semifinals. Smith enjoyed a reaction time advantage of .011 to .061 to edge Savoie in his semifinal hole shot victory.
“Going up to the final, I was talking with my dad and Tim about how Matt kind of revved up the engine against Jerry,” Tonglet said. “They just said for me to stay focused and cut a good reaction time and we should be able to win. I staged right away and I was waiting for Matt to kind of rev it up and try to throw me off, but he really didn’t.”
The other story in PSM involved the pursuit of the 200-mph barrier. In the first round of eliminations, Smith became the third rider to hit the 199.88 mark.