Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki rider Angel Sempi qualified first and set a new record at Texas

On Saturday, Angel Sempi took the win in an action-packed qualifying session that featured some of the fastest speeds in class history. Sempei claimed her fifth number one qualifying finish of the season and 58th of her career with a record-breaking 6.728 seconds/202.05 mph blast that would have the team’s hopes up for the rest of the weekend.

After a morning rain delay, Sunday’s final eliminations opened under cloudy skies with the threat of more rain. But Sempi’s day only got worse in her first-round match against Ryan Oller when her Suzuki Hayabusa swerved hard to the right after leaving the start line, sending her on a terrifying ride to the timing and across the center line, resulting in an automatic disqualification that made Sampei imagine what could have been.

“It’s disappointing that Suzuki were number one again in qualifying and it didn’t happen for us in the race,” she said. “In the first round I did a double takedown. My body was moving to go, but my arm wasn’t. When this happened, the motorcycle did not go out of bounds as it should have and began to head to the right. Here there is a strong crosswind from left to right, so as soon as I started moving in that direction, the wind pushed me to the right harder. I tried my best to keep the bike in my lane, but when I let off the gas, it hurtled through the cones. I could see that Ryan hadn’t heard me, so I let the bike drift to keep him under control and brought him back as I slowed down. It’s unpleasant. The championship is over for me, so winning the next two races and redeeming myself for my team is the only option I have. That’s my goal.”

Eddie Krawiec finished seventh in the team’s second Suzuki Hayabusa at 6.815 seconds/199.29 mph. He got off to a strong start in the first round, passing Chris Bostick (11.660 seconds/68.21 mph) in 6.834 seconds/198.88 mph, the third fastest time of the round. But Kravets faced stiff competition in the second round from championship leader Matt Smith, who showed he had the most consistently fastest bike in the class since the start of the five-race countdown to the championship. Krautz’s pass of 6.904 seconds/193.97 mph was not enough to beat Smith, who advanced with a run of 6.804 seconds/200.07 mph.

“We changed the clutch to try to improve my reaction time. I was in the 20s and 30s in response time every lap, so we got the bike moving better, but now it’s about managing the power so it’s more controlled in the first 60 feet. We’re making progress, but we’re not there yet,” said Kravets, who with 49 wins in the class this season is two shots away from the career milestone. “To say I’m fighting for the championship, it’s a tough fight right now. I won’t say it’s impossible, but my personal goal right now is to get the win and earn as many championship points as possible.”

After making grip adjustments during pre-race testing that improved the start-line response of both team bikes and taking the top qualifying position, crew chief Andrew Hynes hoped that those qualifying results would be rewarded with a better race result, but a combination of factors including wind track conditions proved to be the team’s undoing.

“It’s a pity. This course was notorious for strong crosswinds. In hindsight, if I had adjusted the bike differently to compensate for the wind, or if Angela had done something different at the start line, it could have been better. It’s a coincidence and we came away undefeated,” Hines said. “Every time we go to the start line we try to give everything we can and try to reduce the lap time in each lap and try to win this race. It’s not for lack of effort, it’s just that the stars haven’t aligned as often this year.”

With two rounds remaining in the championship, Kravets and Sampei occupy sixth and seventh places with 2237 and 2218 points, respectively.

The Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki team will return to action October 27-30 at the NHRA Nevada Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2022 Pro Stock Motorcycle season concludes Nov. 10-13 at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

For the latest Team Suzuki news, race reports and information visit SuzukiCycles.com/Racing/Drag-Racing.