Michael Philips doesn’t claim to be an NFL General Manager but he knew a good player when he saw one on the waiver wire earlier this week.

Philips, of Baton Rouge, La, and rider of the Racers Edge-sponsored Suzuki put Craig Treble to work shortly after Don Schumacher Racing ceased operation of their Pro Stock Motorcycle team.

Last weekend in Chicago, Treble was the No. 1 qualifier. After the first day of qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ, Phillips borrowed a measure of Treble’s momentum to claim provisionally the No. 1 spot with a 6.855, 197.16 pass.

“I had been fighting this bike and was unable to get it off of the starting line the way it needed to but [Craig] Treble came over and showed me a few things on the clutch,” said Philips, who established both ends of the track record on the run. “We’ve always had big power, just couldn’t get the big to run to the 330. I knew if we could get to the 330, we could beat the [track] record.”

The current national ET record is a 6.847 held by Karen Stoffer while Andrew Hines holds the speed mark at 197.45.
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Michael Philips doesn’t claim to be an NFL General Manager but he knew a good player when he saw one on the waiver wire earlier this week.

Philips, of Baton Rouge, La, and rider of the Racers Edge-sponsored Suzuki put Craig Treble to work shortly after Don Schumacher Racing ceased operation of their Pro Stock Motorcycle team.

Last weekend in Chicago, Treble was the No. 1 qualifier. After the first day of qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ, Phillips borrowed a measure of Treble’s momentum to claim provisionally the No. 1 spot with a 6.855, 197.16 pass.

“I had been fighting this bike and was unable to get it off of the starting line the way it needed to but [Craig] Treble came over and showed me a few things on the clutch,” said Philips, who established both ends of the track record on the run. “We’ve always had big power, just couldn’t get the big to run to the 330. I knew if we could get to the 330, we could beat the [track] record.”

The current national ET record is a 6.847 held by Karen Stoffer while Andrew Hines holds the speed mark at 197.45.

In what has proven to be one of the best seasons for manufacturer parity, Philips believes the conditions present in Englishtown on Friday night favored his four-valve Suzuki.

For Philips, the timing was also perfect to bring in Treble.

“I called him right after he lost his job with Schumacher and asked if he was going to come over and help me,” Philips revealed during Friday evening’s press conference. “He showed me a few things about the clutch and it was actually the same clutch he ran here last year.”

Treble enters this weekend as the defending event champion and thanks to Philips he will suit up and try to qualify on Saturday.

“I have the engine I won Memphis with and will give it to him in the morning,” Philips said. “I just got the cylinders back from the NASCAR team that’s been helping me, so he should be able to run fast tomorrow too.”

Until then, Philips plans to spend the night relishing in the memories of “the run”.

“The bike snapped me coming off of the line,” Philips admitted. “Then I grabbed second gear and I knew it was hauling. I hit third gear and knew it was going fast. I got myself in tight away from the wind and when I went through the lights, I knew it had to be a good run.”