Productive weekend for Stoffer By: Jack Korpela GEICO-backed NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Karen Stoffer boasted the quickest Suzuki all throughout qualifying and cut a perfect reaction time to advance to the second round of eliminations at a productive weekend from the NHRA Pontiac Excitement Performance Nationals from Columbus, OH. “We were pretty happy with our performance this weekend,” Stoffer said. “Gary (Stoffer) and Doug (Johnson) have been working really hard. I feel like I have been riding it well too.” The highlight of the weekend for the team was a stellar qualifying pass of 7.07 at 191 mph to land the No. 4 spot. It was the quickest run in qualifying for any inline-four-cylinder motorcycle. “We have been doing a lot of extra testing and it’s really paying off,” Stoffer said. “We get great support from GEICO and all of our sponsors.” In round No. 1 of eliminations Stoffer defeated Shawn Gann on a holeshot with a perfect .000 and a 7.088 elapsed-time to Gann’s 7.084. In round No. 2 Stoffer was defeated by Matt Guidera, who banked a slight starting line advantage and ran 7.12 to Stoffer’s 7.11. “We were a little bummed after the round because we knew we could have won,” Stoffer said. “After cutting the perfect light I wanted to make sure I didn’t go red. I got a little too conservative and squeezed the clutch lever in just a little too hard. These bikes react so fast, it’s hard to slow them down. And when you do slow them down it’s easy to go too far.” Next up for Stoffer will be the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals from Chicago, IL, June 8th-11th. Stoffer extended a special thanks to all of the 2006 sponsors. Geico Motorcycle Insurance 1-866-326-2036, Mac Tools, Bates Leathers, NGK, Airtech, Wrath Motorsports, Square One Graphics, and Vance and Hines Motorsports.