Richard Gadson and Gaige Herrera have ridden motorcycles fast enough to make most people question their sanity, and both have survived some ugly moments along the way. But neither Vance & Hines rider wanted anything to do with the kind of ride awaiting them Sunday night in the final round of the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.
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The wind had become downright nasty, and the two Pro Stock Motorcycle championship contenders had already experienced enough in the semifinals to know what could happen if they tried racing again. NHRA apparently saw the same danger and postponed their final-round showdown until the season-ending NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif.
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The postponed Las Vegas final will be contested during Saturday’s third qualifying session, scheduled for 1 p.m. Pacific on Nov. 14. The decision gives the two teammates something neither particularly wanted: two weeks to think about a race that could have a considerable influence on the world championship.
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Gadson, the defending champion, will arrive at Pomona holding a 55-point advantage over Herrera, who has spent much of the season trying to chase down his teammate. Now the two will race each other twice in the same weekend, once to settle Las Vegas and again if they meet during Sunday’s eliminations.
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For Gadson, however, the immediate concern Sunday wasn’t points, trophies or bragging rights. It was getting off a motorcycle that had become nearly impossible to control.
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“Semifinals was pretty crazy,” Gadson said. “At the top end of the track when I turned off, I was pretty pumped up and Eddie got up there and I was like, ‘It’s unridable. I can’t ride the bike.’ I mean, I didn’t make a run full throttle all day today. I was having problems with it earlier.”
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Herrera had enjoyed a considerably better day until his semifinal encounter with Joey Gladstone. What happened during that run convinced him the conditions had crossed a line.
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“I was making picture-perfect runs around one and two and then we go to the semis and I almost hit the wall,” Herrera said. “Then I cross over into Joey’s lane past the finish line. It came out of nowhere. It’s like a swirl. It felt like we’re going through a tornado out there. You didn’t know what to expect.”
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For two racers accustomed to wrestling motorcycles at speeds approaching 200 mph, admitting they didn’t want to race was hardly an easy conversation. Both understood that one bad move could leave them with considerably more to worry about than a lost championship.
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“You can’t send two people down there and then we end up getting together in the shutdown or one of us hit a wall or something and then we really don’t get a chance to fight for it in Pomona if somebody gets hurt,” Gadson said.
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The decision was particularly difficult because the teammates had already earned their places in the final. Herrera qualified No. 1 with a best of 6.752 seconds at 200.05 mph and defeated Chris Bostick, Clayton Howey and Gladstone, while second qualifier Gadson eliminated John Hall, Angie Smith and Ryan Oehler.
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Gadson acknowledged that his competitive instincts were telling him to race, even while his experience was telling him something entirely different. He also remembered similar conditions at Chicago, where riders encountered dangerous situations and motorcycles struck the walls.
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“The right call was made,” Gadson said.
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There was another complication that might have escaped spectators watching other motorcycles make successful runs. Gadson and Herrera also compete on motorcycles without wheelie bars, machines capable of comparable speeds, but they insisted those motorcycles handle considerably differently in crosswinds.
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Gadson explained that the round rear tires on those machines allow riders to lean and steer through situations that become far more dangerous on a Pro Stock Motorcycle. The wide, flat racing slick and the motorcycle’s weight make sudden corrections particularly difficult.
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“With the motorcycle that heavy, when they start to make a move, correcting it is really hard,” Gadson said. “And another thing on my end, people don’t know is my physical stature is a disadvantage, me being short. So when I’m in the back hump and I’m straight armed, my arms are straight to hold onto the motorcycle.”
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He said his shorter stature can work against him when a motorcycle begins moving unexpectedly near the finish line. Reaching for a correction while stretched over the machine can actually pull on the handlebars and make the situation worse.
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“Trust me, I wasn’t thrilled to make these runs today or to make that run tonight,” Gadson said. “It’s a totally different ball game. It’s not the speed. It’s just the Pro Stock Motorcycle part of racing in the wind.”
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Herrera agreed, noting that the Pro Stock Motorcycle’s 10-inch slick and limited ground clearance leave little room for recovery when a rider gets the machine out of position. Lean too far, he explained, and the motorcycle’s body can begin dragging against the racing surface.
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“With the pro stock bikes with the 10-inch slick, you get on the edge of the slick and only have two-inch ground clear and start dragging the body, that’s when it can get real bad,” Herrera said. “At the end of the day, it was the right call.”
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Before NHRA announced the postponement, the two riders had already discussed their concerns privately at the Vance & Hines trailer. Neither particularly wanted to be the first to admit that racing under those conditions was a bad idea.
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Gadson said he looked to Herrera and crew chiefs Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines for their opinions, hoping someone would make the decision easier. The possibility of winning because a teammate crashed or was injured was something he couldn’t accept.
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“I was looking at the wind as an equalizer, I’m like, okay, maybe this can even the playing field a little bit, but you don’t want to go out there and somebody get hurt or watch your teammate and your friend get in any trouble or whatever, or even win that way, right?” Gadson said. “That sucks. How excited would you be if that ended up that way, right?”
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With the safety question settled, attention turned to what promises to be a particularly uncomfortable two weeks inside the Vance & Hines operation. Gadson has the championship lead, Herrera has the quicker motorcycle at the moment, and neither intends to make the other’s job easier.
Herrera was already enjoying the opportunity to remind Gadson what could be waiting for him at Pomona. His confidence was unmistakable, especially when discussing the possibility of beating his teammate twice in one weekend.
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“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Herrera said. “It’s going to be emotional. It’s going to be heart-aching. We’re both going to be sweating the whole weekend basically. But it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to get two weeks. Richard’s going to have two weeks to think about me open him up two times at Pomona. So we’ll see what happens. At the end of the day, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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Gadson wasn’t about to pretend Herrera’s performance hadn’t caught his attention. He also wasn’t above joking that he might need to get creative with Krawiec before the championship is decided.
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“Obviously we can all see his performance right now,” Gadson said. “His bike’s fast. So for me to look in the rearview mirror and look at what’s coming behind me, it’s hard to watch, right? So I’m going to just do a lot of praying and a lot of… I might bring Eddie some dinner or something like that. Say, ‘Man, you got any tricks up your sleeve?'”
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The banter continued when Herrera asked whether there would be any rain dancing at Pomona. Gadson, who has considerably more to gain by protecting his points lead, wasn’t going to pass up that opening.
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“No, I’m bringing a poncho and I’m going to watch a whole bunch of YouTube videos on rain dances, the whole deal,” Gadson said.
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There was plenty of laughter Sunday night, something that might have seemed unlikely when both riders returned from their semifinal runs. By the time they left Las Vegas, the danger had passed, but the pressure of a championship showdown was waiting for them in California.
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Gadson, who has spent the season defending the championship he earned a year ago, understood exactly what was coming. And although he could joke about rain and finding a little more horsepower, he wasn’t confused about the stakes.
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“This is what we were born for,” Gadson said. “This is what we were built for. This is the way it should have been.”
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