Eddie Krawiec Races Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki Hayabusa to Second Consecutive Final Round at NHRA Topeka Nationals

All Suzuki Hayabusa Final Goes to Joey Gladstone 

BREA, CA – August 15, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki rider Eddie Krawiec capitalized on his strong mid-season momentum in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class by racing his Suzuki Hayabusa to a second consecutive final-round appearance in scorching hot conditions at the Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, KS on Sunday.

After qualifying third overall with a 6.913-second/194.16 mph pass, Krawiec began an advance to his 91st career final round appearance with a first-round 6.908-second/196.16 mph victory over Ryan Oehler (7.081-seconds/192.36 mph). For the second race in a row, he advanced out of round two with a clutch win over Matt Smith, defeating the reigning class champion with a 6.874-second/196.36 mph blast to grab a 0.0054-second margin of victory over Smith’s 6.896-second/198.52 mph run.

With sweltering temperatures, Eddie Krawiec (4) was able to make
his second final round appearance in two consecutive races.

A victory over Jerry Savoie (6.913-seconds/195.25 mph vs. 6.992-seconds/193.54 mph) in the semi-finals pitted Krawiec in a rematch of the most recent final round at Sonoma against Joey Gladstone, but the four-time class champion couldn’t muster the horsepower to overcome the hot-streaking Gladstone, who rode his Suzuki Hayabusa to a second-consecutive victory with a 6.876-second/195.59 mph pass to defeat Krawiec’s 6.935-second/195.36 mph run. Gladstone took over the class points lead from Krawiec’s teammate Angelle Sampey, as Krawiec jumped up to third in the standings. Suzuki congratulates Gladstone on his second win this season.

Suzuki congratulates Joey Gladstone (1550) for the victory aboard his Suzuki Hayabusa.

With high humidity and temperatures soaring well into the 100s, the brutally hot conditions in Topeka created tuning and riding challenges for the racers and their motorcycles.

“This is weather you don’t even want to go outside in and we’re racing in it,” Krawiec said. “We saw 110 degrees under our awning yesterday. In the semi-final round against Jerry, I was getting ready to pre-stage and felt sweat running down my forehead. It blurred my vision in one eye, so I put it on the rev limiter early and luckily got away with it.”

“I was very happy with my bike set up all day today,” he continued. “It ran nice and straight, and everything worked well. I was just up against the most…