Futuristic Suzuki Hayabusa Dominates Professional Inventory Drag Racing

Gaige Herrera bought his 2023 Professional Inventory season off to a killer begin with a win within the class at Gainesville on his new Gen III Suzuki Hayabusa. The Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki rider first joined the group again in November and solely bought his first passes on the brand new bike a few weeks again.

Editor’s observe: Learn and watch the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R MC Commute Assessment for perception on this mannequin. Additionally peruse the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R Observe MC Commute Assessment.

At Gainesville, he grabbed consideration early with a 6.685-second/203.49 mph run that set the monitor’s top-speed file within the class and marked the sixth-fastest high pace in Professional Inventory historical past. Herrera stored the momentum up by means of the weekend, taking wins in each spherical till grabbing his first Professional Inventory win with a straightforward victory over Angie Smith.

“It was a surreal weekend. The brand new Gen III Suzuki Hayabusa is a dream to journey. There have been plenty of firsts for me. My first primary qualifier, a private finest 6.68-second elapsed time, and my first win,” Herrera mentioned in a group press launch. “I by no means thought this could be doable. I’ve bought to thank the entire Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki group and Andrew Hines for seeing the potential in me. It’s superb being on a group of this stage that loves to tug race as a lot as I do and desires to win as badly as I do. It is a particular weekend and I hope there’s extra to return.”

Staff crew chief Andrew Hines added, “I noticed one thing in Gaige final 12 months through the US Nationals. I used to be sitting at house with COVID watching the race on my sofa for the primary time in 30 years. His was the primary bike I noticed go down the monitor that weekend. I noticed one thing particular in him and he proved it at the moment. With all of the work our store put in over the winter to develop the brand new Gen III Hayabusa bodywork and new Vance & Hines billet four-cylinder engine circumstances, plus to debut a brand new rider, I really feel like we earned this one by means of preparation.”

Herrera’s teammate, the legendary Eddie Krawiec, was one of many riders taken down through the rookie’s spectacular weekend, dropping to the younger rider through the second spherical on Sunday.

Comply with alongside as Herrera and the Vance & Hines/Mission Suzuki group head to the Circle Okay NHRA 4-Broad Nationals at zMax Dragway in Harmony, North Carolina, April 28–30.