Stoffer outshines men for NHRA Pro Stock Bike victory
SportsLine.com wire reports
BAYTOWN, Texas -- Karen Stoffer became the seventh woman in NHRA history to win a professional race Sunday, earning the Pro Stock Bike title at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals.
Brandon Bernstein, Tim Wilkerson and Greg Anderson also earned victories in their respective categories at the $1.9 million race.
Stoffer won for the first time in the two-wheel category by beating Antron Brown in the final. She rode to the win with a 7.159-second pass at 186.38 mph to top Brown's run of 7.176 at 186.05.
The final margin of victory was .0018 seconds, or approximately six inches.
"I knew it was going to be a tough road for us because we had such good competition on our side of the ladder," Stoffer said. "But we are a tough team, too, and right now anything seems possible."
Bernstein earned the fifth Top Fuel win of his career in his Budweiser dragster and has won all five of his final-round appearances. Bernstein went 4.695 at 271.79 to beat first-time finalist Clay Millican's 5.032 at 238.81.
Wilkerson earned the fourth win of his career in Funny Car with a 4.896 pass at 303.30 in a Chevy Monte Carlo to beat Jerry Toliver's 5.081 at 277.03 in a Toyota Celica.
Anderson beat his teammate in the Pro Stock finale in a duel between a pair of Pontiac Grand Ams. Anderson earned the 20th win of his career by turning in a 6.738 run at 205.57 to top Jason Line's 9.466 at 98.16.
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