Tak Shigematsu

In the final round, Tracy had to deal with “The Man From Japan,” Takeshi Shigematsu. This time the tables turned on Tracy, his .096 light was no match for Tak’s .038 RT as they wowed the crowd with identical 6.52 elapsed times. Yes, it was 6.529 Vs 6.524 but Tak’s 38 shot him into the winner’s circle.

In Hawaya Pro Fuel racing, the word WOW was uttered time and again. During qualifying, Kirby Apathy took his homemade, self-designed “Gunfighter” motor to the next level. In P/F racing, 7.30’s are great runs and 7.20’s are rare. The last time anyone ran a 7.0 was in 2014 and it was only the second 7-oh anyone had ever recorded on a carbureted high gear-only bike. When Kirby stopped the clocks during the ManCup World Finals with a 7.07, the place went hush then erupted-wow! His glory was short lived, as he wasn’t even off the return road when P/F rookie Michael Ray came storming by on Johnny Vicker’s “Terminator” bike: 7.06. Wow again!

One Kirby supporter was overheard to say, “Jesus, whatever happened to 15 minutes of fame? That was more like 15 seconds!” And that was pretty much how the rest of the race went for the stab-and-steer crowd. Michael Ray, on Johnny Vickers bike with Johnny Vickers doing the tuning, was there to take names and kick ass and they did, all the way to the winner’s circle.

Ray dispatched Jim Martin, did a competition single, then terminated Cliff Holly and Jordan Cruz for his second consecutive ManCup event win in 2016. This team combination can be devastating if they stay after it in 2017.