An undetected mechanical problem precipitated LE Tonglet’s quarterfinal loss Sunday at the AAA Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
The reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and last year’s race winner defeated Angie Smith in the first round, but his Nitro Fish/Tonglet Racing Suzuki GSXR slowed considerably in his match against Hector Arana Jr.
Tonglet’s first-round win came in 6.987 seconds at 191.70 mph when Smith fouled out by two-thousandths of a second. Against Arana Jr., however, Tonglet had a .044 reaction to a .061.
“It looked like we were running better, but the motor bogged really badly,” he said, and that’s when Arana took advantage, winning with a 7.005 at 192.06 to a 7.022 at 190.65.
“We discovered later that a clutch sensor was going out and giving us false readings. That’s caused the thing to bog.”
Tonglet said the motor also had a weak cylinder and it was sent to Vance and Hines for repairs. He expects it to be fixed before Friday’s start of the third Countdown to the Championship race at Reading, Pa., Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
The reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and last year’s race winner defeated Angie Smith in the first round, but his Nitro Fish/Tonglet Racing Suzuki GSXR slowed considerably in his match against Hector Arana Jr.
Tonglet’s first-round win came in 6.987 seconds at 191.70 mph when Smith fouled out by two-thousandths of a second. Against Arana Jr., however, Tonglet had a .044 reaction to a .061.
“It looked like we were running better, but the motor bogged really badly,” he said, and that’s when Arana took advantage, winning with a 7.005 at 192.06 to a 7.022 at 190.65.
“We discovered later that a clutch sensor was going out and giving us false readings. That’s caused the thing to bog.”
Tonglet said the motor also had a weak cylinder and it was sent to Vance and Hines for repairs. He expects it to be fixed before Friday’s start of the third Countdown to the Championship race at Reading, Pa., Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
