SAMPEY TAKES FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON
BROWN ELIMINATED IN SECOND ROUND
SCHUMACHER DROPS CLOSE FIRST ROUND RACE
BAYTOWN, Tex., April 1 - U.S. Army Pro Stock Motorcycle pilot Angelle Sampey captured her first race of the 2007 season here Sunday in the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.
In other action, Sampey's Pro Stock Motorcycle teammate, Antron Brown, recorded a red light foul in a second round loss, while in Top Fuel, U.S. Army driver Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher lost a close first round match up with Brandon Bernstein.
Pro Stock Motorcycles
For Sampey, who set the national elapsed time record two weeks ago in Gainesville, Fla., this was her second straight O'Reilly Spring Nationals event title.
"And, it feels great," said an elated Sampey after beating Craig Treble in the finals with a 7.046-second pass at 188.91 mph. "Of course, any time we win it's for all of our soldiers. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be doing this."
Coming out of the second starting spot, Sampey had to take care of Shawn Gann, Peggy Llewellyn and Tom Bradford before meeting Treble.
"It's never easy winning these races," she added. "I'm just happy for the entire U.S. Army team today. They really worked their butts off."
With her 41st career victory, Sampey also moved closer to moving past the late Dave Schultz on the all-time Pro Stock Motorcycle victory list. She needs five more to take over the lead.
In his confrontation with Tom Bradford in round two, Brown actually posted a worse starting line foul than Bradford leading to his second red light defeat in as many races.
"What can I say -- I lost it again at the starting line (Brown had a -.003-second reaction time to Bradford's -.002-seconds)," said the New Jersey native. "At the last race, I was too slow in reaction time and today I was too quick. I guess I'm going to have to find a happy medium before the next race.
"For sure, we're going to keep working at this until we get it right. We're determined to win the world championship this year."
Top Fuel
Schumacher, who had qualified fifth, posted a quicker 4.540-second pass than Bernstein's 4.553-second run in the opening round, but Bernstein was first off the line (.034-seconds to Schumacher's .065-seconds) and, subsequently, first at the finish line.
"That's a tough one," said a disappointed Schumacher afterwards. "I thought my reaction time (to the green light) was pretty good, but he was clearly a lot better. You have to tip your hat to that team."
The Chicago native was seeking his second straight victory after capturing the ACDelco Gatornationals two weeks ago.
"It's a battle every weekend in this series," he added. "Like I've stated before, you better bring your best effort to the track on race day if you want to win. We'll just pick up from here and move forward. Failure is never an option for this U.S. Army team."
Schumacher will next head for The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 12-15, for the SummitRacing.com Nationals, while Sampey and Brown will wait to join Schumacher at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway,
April 26-29, in Commerce, Ga.
