| March 12, 2024
There are a lot of new things on the NHRA Drag Racing landscape in 2024, but the Pro Stock Motorcycle winner isn’t one of them. For the 12th time in his young career, RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Gaige Herrera emerged as the champion during the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, March 8-10.
By Kevin McKenna | Photos: Matt Polito
In his debut with the Vance & Hines team last year, Herrera won 11 of 15 events and easily captured the season title. Apparently, little has changed this time around, as his win in Gainesville was the result of another dominant performance.
Herrera qualified number one in the tough 16-bike field with a 6.746 elapsed time and then ran the table during Sunday’s final eliminations with a string of near record-setting performances including a 6.636 in the final round to stop Denso Buell’s Matt Smith, who trailed with a 6.748. Both riders were well over 200 mph at the finish line.
“Today was good and we ran really well,” Herrera said. “The weather was close to Dallas [last season], where I set the national record. Everyone picked up in the class, and we expected to do so as well. Overall, I had a very consistent motorcycle.
“We actually hurt the motor in the semifinals, so we had to swap motors for the finals. Overall, I had a very consistent, smooth motorcycle all day. As long as I didn’t miss a beat, the bike didn’t miss a beat. Even though I didn’t do any testing during the off-season, it felt like I didn’t even have an off-season, and I’m glad to come home with a win.”
The cool weather that descended on Gainesville early Sunday allowed all of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class contenders to improve their performance during eliminations, and no one took better advantage of the conditions than Herrera, who opened with a 6.639 in his win against Joey Gladstone. Herrera later dropped a 6.629-second run against John Hall, recording the second-quickest run in the history of the class, next to his own 6.627 run from last October’s Dallas event. Herrera reached the final by beating Angie Smith, who had earlier posted her career-best run with a 6.69 on her Denso Buell.
“It might look like we have an advantage, but you can tell the rest of the field is catching up to us,” Herrera said. “We worked hard in the off-season, but obviously the other teams did as well. Even in the first round, I was nervous to have to race Joey [Gladstone] because I know he’s a great rider. They struggled a bit in qualifying, but they’re going to figure it out. I just didn’t want that to happen against me.”
Herrera’s career record for round wins is 54-8 in just 22 events. He also has nine of the top 10 elapsed times in the class’s history and six of the top 10 speeds.
Although he lost the final, the news wasn’t all bad for Smith, who reached the final round for the 76th time in his career thanks to wins against Chris Bostick, Marc Ingwersen and LE Tonglet, who made his return to the series aboard a new Suzuki that is part of a Vance & Hines lease program.
Smith made a major change to his MSR team this winter when he abandoned his Suzuki program in favor of a Buell V-twin. Smith, his wife, Angie, and teammates Jianna Evaristo and John Hall will all race the Buell brand this season.
The next event for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class will be the Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina, April 25-28.
2024 Pro Stock Motorcycle Round 1 Gatornationals Results