Barry Henson from Nicholsville, KY, won the debut of the Suzuki Pro Street Bike Shootout at the NHRA Sport Compact Fall Nationals at Englishtown, NJ, Oct. 1. Henson took his Team Velocity Suzuki turbo Hayabusa to a final round victory over number one qualifier Phil Stoll with a run of 7.30 seconds at 199 mph to Stoll's 7.43/200 effort.
Stoll, riding the Mirror Image Hayabusa out of Chicago, led the record-setting 8-bike field in qualifying with a run of 7.35 at 197 mph. Glenn Stickels' 7.83 e.t. anchored the first all seven-second field.
Henson, making his first competition appearance of the season, recorded the quickest Pro Street Bike run since the 3-inch ground clearance rule came into effect in 2005 with a 7.277 elapsed time in his semifinal win over Velocity Suzuki teammate Mike Slowe. Slowe recorded the top speed of the meet in the semi at 202.03 mph.
Stoll made the final when Honda Rider Club rider Kent Stotz hit a redlight foul on his championship Honda turbo CBR1100XX in the other semifinal.
Henson overcame a big holeshot by Stoll in the final to bring home his first ever NHRA "Wally".
"This is the best racing this class has ever seen," said Henson. "I want to thank all the people that made this event happen, Morgan Broadhead at Suzuki, Jaivier Ortega at NHRA, Eddie Krawiec at Englishtown and Matt Polito at Dragbike.com. They gave us a great event at a great facility. We put on a show for them."
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