Angelle Sampey, making her 145th consecutive bike event, was disqualified following her first-round victory over Ryan Schnitz. Sanctioning-body officials said her bike was too light, but an angry Sampey denied the charge.

"They're throwing me out and I don't understand it," she said. "We didn't do anything wrong. Now everybody's going to say my team cheating, and my team is not cheating. They're working so hard."

Sampey said she met the post-race minimum weight requirement of 615 pounds. "I was 615 pounds without the helmet," she said.

The decision cost Sampey, who entered the race second in points, a chance to gain valuable ground on leader Andrew Hines, who fouled out in the first round against Marco Andreano. "The window of opportunity was open, but it just slammed down on me," she said. "It's tough to take this, I have to tell you. It's so hard to explain the fact that before the race we were spot on with the weight and then we came up five pounds short afterwards.

"I'm just going to have to put this out of my mind and start thinking about Memphis next weekend. With five races to go [n the bike-class season], there's certainly time for me to rebound." She left Brainered fourth in points.

Not only was she clearly disappointed for her Steve Tartaglia-led crew, but she also was frustrated that she would have to wait another year to try for that elusive first victory at Brainerd International Raceway. The three-time series champion has earned 40 victories but none at BIR. "This was my chance," she said, but she conceded, "I'll get over it."

Seeing teammate and best pal Antron Brown win the Pro Stock Motorcycle trophy and take the points lead made her feel better. But she's 51 points behind Brown.

As for Schnitz, he advanced to the semifinals when Round 2 opponent Karen Stoffer had a red-light disqualification. Schnitz got no more help Sunday, lost in the semifinals to Steve Johnson. 

(Click here to view video of Angelle discussing her disqualification on 1320 TV)