Stotz Looking Forward to an Award Winning Season
April 20, 2004
Multi-time AMA/Prostar Street Bike
Shootout champion Kent Stotz is eager to regain the prestigious
number-one plate in 2004 after back to back championships in 2001
and 2002. After the first two national events are in the books,
including a runner-up performance at Atlanta, Stotz and his Honda
CBR 1100XX are currently second in the championship points chase.
“We’re very excited about this season,” Stotz
said. “We’ve been running 7.50s in testing and we
used 5 lbs less boost than last year.”
Stotz debuted his new-look operation with crew chief Mark Harrell
at the AMA/Prostar MRE Sunshine Nationals from Gainesville, Florida
but waited until the second race to unveil his new stealthy body
work so that he could keep it in prime condition for a photo shoot
with Two Wheel Tuner magazine due out in the premier issue July
1st.
Stotz qualified in the number-four spot at Gainesville with an
impressive 7.76 and defeated Lee Shierts in round-one before being
upset by Mike Elekonich in round two. “We hurt our 7.50
motor in testing and had to use an untested R&D motor in competition,”
said Stotz
The next Stotz event was the AMA/Prostar MTC Elmer Trett Nationals
in Atlanta, Georgia, where the former champ was able to get a
better handle on the motor.
"We went to Atlanta with the same motor and were able to
get 7.60s out of it in testing, but not consistently enough as
I would like,” continued Stotz. “My programs have
always been about consistency and not just fast ETs.”
Stotz qualified in the number-three spot and defeated Shierts,
Brandon Pryer, and Chad Traham, before meeting up with Velocity
Racing’s Mike Slowe in the first ever AMA/Prostar Pro class
all-Honda final. Stotz fouled-out with an uncharacteristic red-light
but went on to post top speed of the event with a blazing lap
of 7.89 at 190 mph.
“I felt good leaving Atlanta,” said Stotz. “Getting
two Honda’s in the final was something we have worked hard
for.”
Although Stotz was ecstatic about the all-Honda final, he wished
it could have been with his former teammate Barry Henson, who
was unable to attend the race because of injuries sustained in
a recent streetbike accident.
“I just wish Barry Henson could have been the one in the
final with me,” Stotz said of his former teammate. “We
worked very hard to get an all-Honda final last season. I’m
sure Barry will be back soon. Barry’s drive is almost superhuman.”
The next event for Stotz is the Lucas Oil Spring Nations from
Richmond, Virginia, May 1-2, where he plans to unveil his new
turbo VTX in the debut of the V-Twin Shootout class. “We
are very excited about running our VTX1800 Turbo,” said
Stotz. “It has been a project we have been working on for
some time. I think it is going to be a fun class.”
Stotz extended a special thanks to crew chief Mark Harrell who
works tirelessly to assure that the Blackbird is prepared at the
highest possible level every time it comes to the line.
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