Pomona, CA.
 In his final race with longtime
sponsor Matco Tools, Craig Treble was determined to give his
primary sponsor a proper send-off, while admittedly also
looking forward to the end of a difficult season.
"We had a lot of good things
happen this year," said Treble, "but unfortunately we just
never turned the corner and performed the way we know this
team is
capable of."
The Matco Tools / Lucas Oil
Suzuki started qualifying in Pomona with an off-pace 7.701 /
139 mph run, but picked it up significantly on the second
attempt, running a 7.139 / 188.10 pass to take the No. 9
qualifying position on Friday.
Two Saturday qualifying sessions
helped almost no one as the sixteen qualified bikes suffered
minimal juggling of the order, leaving Treble No. 9 heading
into Sundays eliminations.
"The Saturday weather was not
good enough for anyone to really improve," said Treble.
"About all we could do is try a few things and get ready for
racing on Sunday."
First round of Pro Stock
Motorcycle paired the Matco Tools / Lucas Oil Suzuki against
No. 8 qualifier Wesley Wells and his Ray Skillman
Performance Parts Suzuki.
The race was all Treble after a
.014 to .041 reaction time start, and a 7.285 / 182.58 to
7.384 / 176.81 pass to put the Matco Tools / Lucas Oil
Suzuki into round two.
"That was a nice, safe lap for
us," said Treble. "Harry Lartigue, temp crew man Lonnie Grim
and I all agreed that we should be able to make the bike run, I just needed
to do my job riding."
A second round race against No.
16 qualifier Michel Phillips was a near carbon copy of the
first, with Treble again leaving with a great .014 reaction
time, then laying down a winning 7.264 / 178.83 lap to
advance to the semi final round.
 "Michel was right next to me the
whole way, but we had the tune-up right and which kept us
just ahead of him through the finish line."
Racing against Suzuki's until
this point, Treble was to now face the Team Muzzy Buell
ridden by PROstar standout Ryan Schnitz.
In what has been a common
occurrence throughout the during the 2005 NHRA Pro Stock
Motorcycle season, the Buell was second off the line, but
thundered by to take the stripe first with a strong 7.175 /
183.84 to 7.247 / 182.43 run.
"With all of the new rule
changes in 2006, I would believe that next year you will see
the Buell's and the Suzuki's running close to the same,"
said Treble. "Tuning and riding will come back into play."
"Hopefully we can find enough
funding to start out strong in Gainesville next year."
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