Richard Gadson avenged a Saturday red-light loss with a dominant victory Sunday at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, beating John Hall in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final. Gadson ran 6.756 seconds at 199.97 mph on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki for his second career win, just weeks after his first at Bristol.
The victory came a day after Gadson fell to Matt Smith in the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout. “Luckily, for me, I got to go back out the next day and try it again,” Gadson said. “I had it on my mind and I just said, ‘You know what? Tomorrow, revenge is what’s on my mind.’ We all find our motivators from different things and that’s the kind of guy I am.”
The James Brown song Payback might not have been blaring over the loudspeakers, but his words fit the moment: “Hey! Gotta, gotta payback! Revenge! I’m mad! Got to get back! I need some get-back! Payback! Payback! That’s it! Payback! Revenge! I’m mad!”
Hall, a Matt Smith Racing rider, had previously beaten Gadson in Norwalk. “John Hall is a good friend of mine, but he beat me in Norwalk and that one slipped through the cracks,” Gadson said. “So today’s pretty sweet, man. I’m really happy to bring that.”
Gadson credited his team for key adjustments before the final. “The boys put their minds together at the trailer and we made a tuning decision in the semis that we hoped would show us either the bike slows down or goes really fast,” he said. “And it slowed down, so we knew the opposite direction was the right way to go and it showed in the final. 675 was a big run for the last run and I knew. When I got the third gear, I didn’t care what my light was. I pretty much figured I had enough motorcycle to win.”
Gadson, who also works with Big Brothers Big Sisters, said he would use the win as a teaching moment. “It’s all about how you rebound,” he said. “It’s all about when you’re facing adversity or you’re facing something that doesn’t go the way you want it to go, how do you make up for it or how do you fix it? … Just find your grit, find your toughness, and lock in. You’re your own worst critic. You’re your worst enemy. You’re your own motivator.”
The win carried extra meaning because of the rivalries involved. “This one’s definitely sweeter than the first one just because the first one was against my teammate,” Gadson said. “You want to win, it doesn’t matter who’s in the other lane, but you really want to beat your rivals.”
Gadson said Sunday’s track conditions forced major changes. “That motorcycle I rode in the finals was a completely different bike than I’ve ridden all weekend. We changed I would say almost everything. And it was a haymaker,” he said. “The racetrack, at 660 pounds, we are very, very, very dependent on the first 30 feet. That makes or breaks so much stuff about us because we can’t rely on back half. If we can’t get it moving early, we can’t recover from it.”
With the win, Gadson closed to 70 points behind teammate and points leader Gaige Herrera. “It would be really cool to win a regular season championship, but he’s got that in a good comfortable spot,” Gadson said. “I’ll set my sights on the countdown to the championship, the overall championship, and if God’s got a plan and I’m going to win the regular season championship too, then that’s just the way it’ll go.”
Gadson also shared a personal note about his faith. “To be honest with you, I’m heavy in my faith. I dreamt this morning that Angie’s bike wouldn’t start. After I won first round, I said, ‘God, please let her bike not start,’” he said. “And it didn’t start. I’m serious. That’s not for an interview, that’s God’s honest truth.”
The win continued Gadson’s surge, marking his fourth final-round appearance in five races. “I said they won the battle, but we won the war,” Gadson said. “To bring this home for Vance & Hines, RevZilla, Motul, Suzuki, and everybody else that helps us out is really big.”
