Cycle News Staff | October 19, 2021
Suddenly, the notion of Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Angelle Sampey winning a fourth NHRA Camping World Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship isn’t so far-fetched.
Angelle Sampey put herself into the championship hunt with a victory at the Bristol round of the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship.
By Kevin McKenna | Photos by Matt Polito
Sampey won her third championship in 2002, and many believed it would be her last, even after she joined the powerful Vance & Hines team three seasons ago. Fast forward to 2022 and Sampey is not only competitive, but she’s one of the favorites after winning her second race of the season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, October 15-17.
Racing against WAR Suzuki’s Karen Stoffer in a rare but not unheard of all-female final round, Sampey won a close battle, with her 6.77 elapsed time holding off Stoffer’s quicker 6.76, thanks in large part to a nearly perfect reaction time off the starting line. Sampey, who debuted with Stoffer 25 years ago at the Denver round, quickly acknowledged the historical significance of her latest victory. Her 45th win, Sampey is now tied with the late Dave Schultz for third-most in the class. Only Hines and Kraweic have more with 56 and 49 wins, respectively.
“I’ve been out here for so long, I’ve really learned to appreciate everything I get now,” Sampey said. “When I win a race, the emotions are 100-percent genuine because it’s a task to get it done. To get four round wins is really tough and it means so much to me. I love this sport so much and this team just works so hard. This mission was to catch back up in the points race and we made it happen. It was a fantastic day and it would be great to get the number one back on the motorcycle.”
There were other reasons for Sampey to celebrate the win. First and foremost, she was able to pull to within 25 points of leaders Matt Smith with only the Las Vegas and Pomona, California, rounds remaining. Sampey also became the first Pro Stock Motorcycle rider to win a race at historic Bristol Dragway. The track, nestled in a tree-lined canyon at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains, has hosted an NHRA event for 15 years, but the Pro Stock Motorcycle class had not been included until this season.
“I love this track; it’s so beautiful here, but it’s also bumpy and it was tricky out there today,” Sampey said. “The biggest task was for me to get it straight down the track. I had to stay on the throttle against Karen. Going into first round, I was so nervous. But it seems like when I’m nervous, that’s when I usually do well. When there’s so much going on around me, it seems like that’s when I do the best on the racetrack. I’m so proud of Vance & Hines and that was a heck of a race in the final round.”
Sampey didn’t have an easy time on race day as she had to win races against both of her Vance & Hines teammates, Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec. She also raced Chris Bostick, who red-lighted.
Karen Stoffer made it an all-women, all-Suzuki final.
Sampey was consistent for the most part with a 6.821 against Hines and a 6.814 against Krawiec, which was her quickest run of the weekend before the final.
Stoffer wasn’t considered a favorite to win the race until the final four, when she unloaded a 6.78 elapsed time, the quickest run of the weekend to that point. Stoffer needed that run since she was up against points leader Smith, who had also been the second-quickest qualifier on his Denso Buell. Stoffer’s also defeated Ron Tornow to reach her second final round this season and 25th in her career.
Heading into the penultimate round in Las Vegas, Smith leads Sampey by 25 points with Steve Johnson still in the mix, 56 points behind.
P FINAL
- Angelle Sampey (Suz)
- Karen Stoffer (Suz)
