Gaige Herrera earned his second consecutive victory in the 2024 Pro Stock Motorcycle season at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
CONCORD, N.C. – For the first time in over a month, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class returned to action at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals following their previous outing at the GatorNationals in Gainesville back in March.
Last year’s champion, Gaige Herrera, sought to continue his dominance and reign of terror in the second race of the 2024 season. The former champion had a great starting spot as he secured his 16th career No. 1 qualifier after four rounds of qualifying this past weekend with a time of 6.671 seconds at 202.70 mph, besting former champion Matt Smith in the final round of qualifying.
Matt Smith making a qualifying run at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina (Photo: NHRA Media)
Smith had the top spot for the previous three rounds before getting knocked off by the Vance and Hines rider. Herrera’s qualifying position this weekend earned him the honor of getting the 11th most No. 1 qualifiers in Pro Stock Motorcycle history.
As the race was another four-wide event, this meant we would see just three rounds of competition instead of the usual four on a regular race weekend. In a four-wide outing, NHRA takes the four cars and motorcycles, and races them in each round as well as the finals. This is the final four-wide nationals of the season.
For the first quad in the motorcycles, the Vance and Hines competitor raced against second-season rider Chase Van Sant and two other veterans, Steve Johnson and Hector Arana Sr. He won the pass with an E.T. of 6.696 at 203.34 mph, while Arana Sr. also moved on to the next round, being the second rider to cross the finish line in the runner-up spot. To note, the round win was the 228th in Arana Sr.’s career and the 10th most in the bike class.
In the next round of the Four-Wide Nationals, Herrera squared off against John Hall, Angie Smith and Van Sant. Van Sant fouled -0.002 too soon, while Herrera was the quickest off the line with a 0.017 reaction time, followed by Smith with a 0.018 light. At the end of the drag race, the winners were Herrera, with a win of 6.698 seconds at 202.70 mph, and Hall earned the runner-up spot after passing Smith late. Both riders ended up moving on to the finals.
Meanwhile, the two other riders that joined them in the last round, featured rookie Richard Gadson (Gaige’s teammate) and LE Tonglet. In their quad of competition, they eliminated Matt Smith and Hector Arana Jr. Furthermore, with Hall being his own independent team, the Vance and Hines team had three bikes in the finals, tripling their chance of winning the race.
Tonglet left the line too quickly and received a foul, eliminating him from the finals. This left three riders to battle it out for themselves and it was as an exciting side-by-side race. Ultimately, Herrera grabbed the victory by going 6.684 seconds at 202.73 mph over Hall’s 6.758 at 202.12 mph. The win was his second straight of the season and the 13th of his Pro Stock Motorcycle career. Additionally, he secured another win in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday afternoon.
Gaige Herrera kept his head down in the finals at zMax Dragway. (Photo: NHRA Media)
“After Q1 and Q2, I was a bit worried. On the first run we had a malfunction in our wiring, and then after the second run, Matt [Smith] held on to the top spot and that’s because of the rule change,” said Herrera, referring to a recent NHRA rules revision that mandated the same fuel type for both V-twin and inline four-cylinder bikes. “It has created parity and made for better racing. We still had three Vance & Hines bikes in the final (quad).
“In the end, me and [crew chief] Andrew Hines and the bike bond so well. We’re a hard combo to beat. This is just the beginning. It’s all the haters that make us push that much harder and we’re out there to prove them all wrong. I hear people say it’s the bike and that I can’t cut a light, and today my worst light was a .021, so I was here to prove a point. We had three fast bikes and almost everyone is running the same.”
Gaige Herrera celebrates his Pro Stock Motorcycle 2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory at zMax Dragway. (Photo: NHRA Media)
John Hall, Richard Gadson, LE Tonglet, Angie Smith, Matt Smith, Chase Van Sant, Hector Arana Jr., Kelly Clontz and Jianna Evaristo rounded out the Top 10 finishers.
Up Next: The Pro Stock Motorcycle class will continue their season at Route 66 Raceway, May 17-19.
