NHRA News: Stoffer working hard to regain lost ground (7/03/2004)

Stoffer working hard to regain lost ground

7/03/2004

Karen Stoffer

Karen Stoffer was on top of the world following her breakthrough first victory earlier this season at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston, but her world has come crashing down in the last few races, the direct result of, well, a crash.

Stoffer came off her Cycle-Gard by Geico Direct Suzuki just after completing a 7.372-second qualifying pass at 177.81 mph at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing in Columbus, Ohio.

Karen Stoffer's dream season took a wicked turn when she was unseated from her Suzuki in Columbus. Click here to view the video.

Stoffer's front brake appeared to lock up, which immediately threw her clear of the machine. She slid on her stomach for several hundred feet before springing up in time to watch her bike continue rider-less into the top-end sand trap.

"That was the weirdest sensation I've ever felt before," said Stoffer, who walked away virtually unscathed. "I'm not sure what happened but just as a grabbed for the brake the bike went right and I bailed. I'm interested in see the video to see if we can figure out what broke.

"Other then a scrape on my elbow, I'm fine, but this is a very tough break for us because we're on a limited budget. I feel so bad for my team owner and my team."

Stoffer's pass was not good enough to keep her in the field, but it would have mattered little as her machine was a twisted mess.

Stoffer rebounded to qualify for the field in Englishtown aboard a Suzuki leased from Craig Treble, but lost in round one.

Stoffer gathered her thoughts and the next week was back in the field, albeit in the final spot, astride fellow rider Craig Treble's Suzuki at the K&N Filters SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J. She put a substantial holeshot on low qualifier Andrew Hines, but her 7.21 couldn't hold off the Harley rider's rampaging 7.02.

Her woes continued the following weekend at Gateway Int'l Raceway, where her 7.30 best fell well short of the bump spot.

"We're just trying to get a handle on things," said Stoffer. "We've got a different chassis, Craig Treble's older chassis, which he was kind enough to lease to us, and we're using an old motor because we broke our new one on that pass in Columbus.

Stoffer hopes soon to hoist another NHRA "Wally" as she did after her win in Houston.

"I think the combination of having an old motor in an old chassis just wasn't competitive. I had to do a little more riding to get used to it, so I think some of it was me. But we're out here. We lost just about everything in the crash, but we were able to stay on the road with a lot of help from Craig. With a limited budget, you can't recover as fast from things like that."

Stoffer said she plans to have her chassis repaired in time for Denver, though she'll likely have to use the same engine.

"We don't have the funds right now to put another [engine] in the bike," she said. "We'll just freshen it up and run with it."

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