Rivas posts quarterfinal finish at Mid-South Nationals

The fickle world of Pro Stock Motorcycle racing was on display in Chris Rivas’ pit area Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park.

The rider of the G2 Motorsports Drag Specialties S&S Cycle V-Twin Pro Stock Motorcycle was puzzled because his performance slowed in the first two eliminations rounds of the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals.

“We don’t really know why yet,” said Rivas. “We tried everything we could to get the motor to make power on the top end . . . but it didn’t. Last week we couldn’t do anything wrong and this weekend we weren’t doing much right.”

A week ago, Rivas rode to his second 2008 NHRA POWERade Series win at Dallas, using new components that never wavered during eliminations. “Obviously, we have a learning curve we need to address,” he said with smile. “We will get it figured out.”

Rivas, who qualified second for the third of five Countdown to 1 races with a best run of 6.970 seconds, came close to that in his first-round decision over Junior Pippin, 6.997 seconds at 186.98 mph to 7.134 at 181.52. But against Eddie Krawiec in the quarterfinals, his 7.021 couldn’t keep up with Krawiec’s 6.971.

Rivas stayed third in points with 2240 and Matt Smith continues to lead with 2319. Krawiec is second at 2277.

Rivas and the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders in title contention must wait until Oct. 31 before resuming competition at Las Vegas. The finale will be at Pomona, Calif., Nov. 13-16.