A recent rider swap onboard Ray Price’s phenomenal Harley (coming into this race, previous occupant of the hot seat on the silver and red nitro hog, Joey Sternotti had the quickest fuel Harley ticket in history with a 6.141 set back in March at Valdosta) doesn’t appear to have slowed things down a bit as Tommy Grimes carded a 6.155/216 in the first qualifying session and then backed it up with a 6.169/224 to set an unofficial record; all of this with a comparatively small cubic inch motor. When the heat got into the track on the Sunday, Price backed the tune up down a tad and a 6.366/230.96 covered a wall threatening high six from Geoff Pollard in the first round of eliminations and a 6.293/232.71 did for Takeshi Shigematsu in the semis. With the track cooling off as the sun dropped below the horizon, Price and Grimes patiently waited for the McBride camp to resolve their issues and then had the unwanted excitement of a small trailer fire to deal with before setting the switches on the bike to kill for the final. Unfortunately the track didn’t quite hold it, but Price and Grimes were delighted with the performance levels over the weekend.