GEICO Powersports rider Stoffer fires first shot of 2010 season; Lucas picks up pace

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 13) -- Veteran rider Karen Stoffer wasted little time showing her intentions for the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, screaming down Gainesville Raceway in a track record 6.855 seconds at 194.77 mph to put her GEICO Powersports Suzuki on top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle category.

"I’ve gotten the No. 1 before but I never had to fight for it like that," said Stoffer, who also was low qualifier in 2008 at Infineon Raceway. "It was nerve wracking to see Eddie Krawiec go out the pair in front of me, set low ET, and take the top spot away from us. At least we knew we had a fast enough bike to get it back; I just had to do my job."

Stoffer has positioned herself to reset the national elapsed time record if she goes quicker than 6.851 during Sunday's eliminations. If she sets the record, it will be worth 20 extra points in the standings.

"Tomorrow could be huge," she said. "I think we'll see some other teams step up and we should see the national record broken, that’s my prediction. We're in the batter’s box and we want to take a big swing at that record. That would be a first for me, and I would love to be able to do it here in Gainesville. I don’t know if we’re going to see these kind of conditions the rest of the year, so I think it’s going to be critical to get it done here."

Stoffer's GEICO Powersports teammate Morgan Lucas, who competes in Top Fuel, ended time trials in ninth place after a best of 3.880 at 303.43 mph.

"We're having some issues with the supercharger," Lucas admitted. "When the clutch goes one-to-one, that's when the supercharger makes all the horsepower that helps you get those big speeds and right now it's just not consistent. We changed some things since the last race to try and correct those problems and we just went the wrong way.

"We should have run a 3.83 or so but when it got down there and locked up the boost just flat-lined. In the space of a few hundred feet we went from a run that would have put us up near the top to one that has us mid-pack. That's drag racing, and that's why we do it -- it's that never-ending attempt to make a better run."

Lucas faces Steve Torrence, the No. 8 qualifier after a 3.856 at 294.05 mph. Lucas and his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil team ranked fifth in the world at the start of this event.

The 2007 Gatornationals champion, Stoffer will open eliminations opposite Redell Harris, who qualified in the 16th and final spot with a 7.032 at 186.48 mph.