Stotz Shatters Shootout Record
with Honda
May 06, 2004
By: Jack Korpela
• Photos by: Dragbikephotos.com
Kent Stotz, riding his turbo Honda CBR 1100XX, lowered the AMA/Prostar
Street Bike Shootout national elapsed-time record to an astonishing
7.423 seconds at the Lucas Oil Spring Nationals at Richmond, Virginia.
“This is what we worked all last year for,” said Stotz,
who dedicated the 2003 season to research and development. “People
are going to think that this came out of nowhere, but to us, the
two year plan is just coming together.”
 After
qualifying in the third position in the Streetbike Shootout field,
Stotz tore through Sunday’s eliminations with an impressive
series of elapsed times including 7.487, 7.429, and 7.423, to
defeat Lee Shierts, Alphonso Thompson, and current Shootout points
leader Mike Slowe. Stotz also ran booming top speeds including
a 194.24 mph charge which eclipsed the standing Prostar speed
record for the class.
Stotz, a four-time champion in the class, noted that the slow
road to this current level of performance gives him the benefit
of consistency. “There’s no reason to believe we can’t
do this at any racetrack this year that has good air and traction,”
Stotz said. “The performance has been there for a while
in potential. It’s all about getting traction. It takes
more finesse to tune when it’s running like this but its
not much harder to drive.”
 Stotz
gave much of the credit for strong performances and consistancy
to his hardworking crew chief Mark Harrell.
“Mark has everything to do with it,” Stotz said. “People
don’t realize how important a crew chief is. He was a major
part of the quick runs. He has done his job perfectly the last
few years. I’ve made mistakes that cost us a race, Mark
never has.”
Due to inclement weather the final round of eliminations between
Stotz and current Shootout champ, Kawasaki factory rider Rickey
Gadson, has been postponed until the next stop on the tour, the
PR Factory Store St Louis Nationals, at Gateway International
Raceway in St Louis, Missouri on June 5-6. Stotz knows exactly
what he needs to do to prepare for the next race.
“We’re tempted to leave it in the trailer the way
it’s running,” he joked. “The standard operation
procedure is to take it out and check every nut and bolt for the
next event. We’re going to pay particular attention to the
run data and make sure that we know exactly why everything happened
this weekend, so we can do it again.”
Stotz wished his friend Barry Henson of Velocity Racing, who is
recovering from a street bike accident, could have been there.
“We missed Barry,” Stotz said. “We’re
looking forward to seeing him at the next race. Our performance
would not be where it’s at without Barry’s turbo systems.”
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