GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 13, 2011) - The best keeps getting better for 25-year-old Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Jim Underdahl. Despite a losing effort in his first-round eliminations match-up against reigning NHRA Full Throttle World Champion LE Tonglet, Underdahl was able to record new personal bests in ET and speed, continuing his momentum from the end of last season.
During qualifying, Underdahl bumped his career-best speed to 196.87 mph, and in his first-round match against Tonglet, he blasted to a career-best elapsed time of only 6.881-seconds, besting his time of 6.894-seconds he set just last year at the final race in Pomona.
In the race, Underdahl took a slight advantage off the starting line against Tonglet, but was unable to hold on for the win. At the stripe, it was Underdahl with a .014-second reaction time and an ET of 6.881 to Tonglet's slower RT of .021-seconds and a quicker ET of 6.843-seconds. Tonglet's margin of victory was 0.0317 seconds - or about 9 feet.
"You always look try and look for a silver lining when you go out first-round, and I think our performance is a definite positive note on this race," Underdahl said. "The conditions were amazing for racing, and we were able to pull really great numbers out of our Suzuki Extended Protection bike all weekend.
"Both my dad (Greg Underdahl) and Ben (Kriegsfeld, crew chief) were positive about where we are going. Of course, we want to win every round, but, to get another personal best time in the first race of the season sets up the rest of the year with great expectations," he said.
The next NHRA Full Throttle event where Pro Stock Motorcycle will be contested is April 29-May 1 at Royal Purple Raceway Park in Baytown Texas, just outside Houston.
"We've got some time to take what we learned this last weekend and really work to increase our performance even more. I'm thinking that if we just keep setting better marks every race, we're going to have a heck of a year!" Underdahl said.
During qualifying, Underdahl bumped his career-best speed to 196.87 mph, and in his first-round match against Tonglet, he blasted to a career-best elapsed time of only 6.881-seconds, besting his time of 6.894-seconds he set just last year at the final race in Pomona.
In the race, Underdahl took a slight advantage off the starting line against Tonglet, but was unable to hold on for the win. At the stripe, it was Underdahl with a .014-second reaction time and an ET of 6.881 to Tonglet's slower RT of .021-seconds and a quicker ET of 6.843-seconds. Tonglet's margin of victory was 0.0317 seconds - or about 9 feet.
"You always look try and look for a silver lining when you go out first-round, and I think our performance is a definite positive note on this race," Underdahl said. "The conditions were amazing for racing, and we were able to pull really great numbers out of our Suzuki Extended Protection bike all weekend.
"Both my dad (Greg Underdahl) and Ben (Kriegsfeld, crew chief) were positive about where we are going. Of course, we want to win every round, but, to get another personal best time in the first race of the season sets up the rest of the year with great expectations," he said.
The next NHRA Full Throttle event where Pro Stock Motorcycle will be contested is April 29-May 1 at Royal Purple Raceway Park in Baytown Texas, just outside Houston.
"We've got some time to take what we learned this last weekend and really work to increase our performance even more. I'm thinking that if we just keep setting better marks every race, we're going to have a heck of a year!" Underdahl said.
