Motorcycle
Maestro Gill Enjoys Second Straight Bristol Title
By Jeff Birchfield
Elizabethton Star
They say repeating as champion
is tougher than winning the first time around, but that wasn't
the case for Bristol Dragway champion Mike Gill, who capped
off a second consecutive title run in the Motorcycle class on
Sunday.
"It was a little easier
this year," said the Elizabethton resident, who already
had wrapped up the title going into this past weekend. "Maybe,
I was lucklier was what it was. It was probably tougher racing
this year than last year, but I got a lot of lucky breaks."
Gill put an exclamation point
to the season, making it to the finals on both Saturday and
Sunday. Both days he lost to Cherokee Dragway champ Scotty Lee,
who exacted some revenge for Gill going to Rogersville and beating
Lee four times at his home track last season.
Looking at the bigger picture,
Gill beat former Carter County resident and ex-Bristol champ
Tommy Lane by 160 points in the final track standings. Third
place went to David Rogers, who calls Whitesburg, Ky. home.
Compare that to the 2002 championship
run, where he won the title by only 35 points over runner-up
Lane and had only a 10-point lead going into the final day of
racing.
"I had it wrapped up going
into the final weekend," Gill, who rides a 1992 Suzuki
1100 GSXR, commented. "There was no way second place could
have caught me, but I wanted to win the last two races. Earlier
in the season, David Rogers really gave it a run. We went back
and forth. One week he would lead in the points and the next
week I would lead."
This time around Lane could actually thank Gill for helping
him to finish higher in the standings.
"Tommy got put out on that
final day and I had to race David Rogers," Gill explained.
"If David would have beat me, he would have passed Tommy.
Tommy lost earlier in the day. When I beat David, that kept
Tommy in second place."
Asked reasons for his improvement
over last season, Gill offered up the following answers.
"I changed some things over the winter to become more consistent,"
said Gill, a Huntington, W.Va. native. "I did a few things
working with the delay box. Then I had more experience and track
time. I have to again say there was a lot of lucky breaks that
I caught."
With five wins during the 2003
season, Gill has bumped his career total up to 20. He also finished
second place this season on three other occassions.
On a personal side, Mike and
his wife, Melissa, are the proud parents of six year-old Taylor
Nicole.
As is the case with many racers,
Gill is still searching for a major sponsor. Still, he has been
quite successful in that arena getting support from local businesses
Hayworth Tire, Jim's Honda/Suzuki in Johnson City, the Cutting
Edge in Elizabethton and from Kent Peay with AMSOIL. APE and
his employer Superior Wheels of Johnson City are other contributors
to his racing efforts.
Gill is looking forward to an
upcoming trip to the NHRA Regional bracket finals in Gainesville,
Florida. Last year, he and the contingent from Bristol Dragway
made a similiar journey to Montgomery, Alabama and it was a
trip still not forgetten.
That Friday night, Gill won
the Race of Champions where he bested the track champs from
21 other drag strips. The following day, Gill did go out in
the first round eliminations.
However, the previous year in
Atlanta he made it all the way to the quarterfinals out of 64
entries.
"There is some pride when
track champions are facing off," said Gill, 34. "At
that Race of Champions, I won a Wally (a trophy that resembles
NHRA founder Wally Parks). That was a big highlight of my career
to beat all those other track champions."
"This time, I would love
to win in Gainesville on Saturday and get to go to California.
You roll through the gate in California, they hand you $3,500
and you race for another $5000. That's what I am shooting for."
What Gill is referring to in
California is the National Finals for NHRA motorcycle racers
at Pomona Dragway.
Unlike cars which tend to be
hyper sensitive to track conditions, Gill says there are no
major changes he has to make to the bike when racing in Florida
as oppossed to the mountains of East Tennessee.
"The times will change
I'm sure, but as far as changing anything mechanically, I don't
expect to have to do that," said Gill. "You just have
to adjust to the altitude. That will play into the time trials.
You will either pick up or slow down or sometimes it even stays
the same. I don't think I will have to change anything. I think
I'm ready. I just want to go down there and make it to the final
four or final two running."
Note: There were several other
Carter County-based racers who finished in the top ten of the
Bristol Dragway point standings at season's end. Jason Buckles
was sixth in the Pro standings, Carl Widener took seventh place
in the Sportsman division, David Elder of Hampton wound up fifth
in the Motorcyle class and Chad Cathell finished third in the
Junior Dragster Division 1. |