MCKINNEY MAKING GAINS IN ADRL PXM QUALIFYING

As the leader after two rounds of qualifying for Dragstock IX, Pro Extreme Motorcycle points leader Eric McKinney was waiting last in the staging lanes at zMAX Dragway when rain came to postpone what remained of the ADRL two wheelers’ third round to Saturday morning.

No matter, he seemed to have the field covered with a 4.119 at 174.71 that came in the second round—but not without some serious work in the pits.

“We’ve been having serious crank problems this year,” McKinney revealed. “We broke a crank in the final round (of the ADRL’s previous event last month) in Michigan and we broke another one today in that first pass with a brand-new crankshaft. We went out with the exact same tune-up we had in it at Michigan and it ran a 4.14 and we’ve gone over everything and it all seems to be okay, so we’re not sure where the problem is yet.

“So we took that motor out between rounds and put in our back-up motor and it went 4.11, so that was pretty good. We still have our ‘super-duper’ motor in the trailer, too, but we’re saving that for tomorrow just in case we need it (in eliminations),” he added.

Qualifying number one and winning the race obviously were McKinney’s first order of business at zMAX, but he also was keeping the big picture in mind as he battles Casey Stemper—who mustered only a 12th-place result after two attempts—for the 2012 PXM season title.

“I want to keep our momentum going and try to wrap this championship up in the next race or two,” McKinney stated. “We’re definitely thinking about that.”

Ron Procopio was second in both sessions to McKinney and also improved his qualifying time from 4.157 to 4.140 seconds.

“I’m happy with that,” Procopio insisted. “I’d be happy if they wanted to straight to eliminations now.”

Travis Davis made a huge jump up from the 16th and final position to third place with a 4.142 at 168.58 in round three before the wet stuff arrived, pushing Charlie Prophit down to fourth and 2010 class champion Kim Morrell into fifth. Six riders remain outside the 16-bike field before the completion of round three and a scheduled fourth session on Saturday. 

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