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Ellis Goes To Quarters, Treble Out Early


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LAS VEGAS, NV. November 2, 2008: ­ Chip Ellis rode the Schumacher Electric/XXX Racing Fuels Suzuki to a Pro Stock Motorcycle class quarterfinal finish today at the eighth annual Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was the fourth quarterfinal finish of the season for Ellis, who remained No. 7 in the points going into the final race of the season in Pomona (Calif.) Nov. 16.

DSR teammate Craig Treble went out in the first round aboard the Schumacher Electric/Albrechtıs Fast Track Suzuki. He is right behind Ellis in the No. 8 spot in points. Both riders are out of contention for the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, with one event remaining in the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

CHIP ELLIS, Schumacher Electric/XXX Racing Fuels Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle: Ellis began the day by defeating Angie McBride in the opening round with an elapsed time of 7.036 seconds at 189.55 mph after McBride was disqualified with a red-light start. The Florida native then squared off against fellow Countdown contender Chris Rivas in the quarterfinals. Both bikes left the starting line together, but Rivas pulled away at the top end to take the victory with a 7.052/186.56 pass to Ellisı 7.150/185.56.

The Schumacher Electric/XXX Racing Fuels Suzuki ran really good in the first round,² said Ellis, who has won twice in Las Vegas. ³We took a gamble with the tune-up in the second round and sometimes you have to do that, but it just didnıt work out like we had hoped. Iım disappointed that we lost, but Iım very pleased with the teamıs performance.

(Crew chief) Steve Tartaglia has done an awesome job all year,² added Ellis. ³Heıs a great tuner and a great engine builder and weıll get it together and go out to California and show them what weıre made of.

I think weıve got a little bit of momentum going into Pomona so weıll go there in a couple of weeks and have some fun. We had a great time here in Vegas this weekend and now weıll go back to the DSR shop in Brownsburg, Ind., and regroup and be ready to go some rounds when we get to Pomona.²

CRAIG TREBLE, Schumacher Electric/Albrecht's Fast Track Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle: Treble was up against fellow Countdown to 1 contender Andrew Hines in round one. Hines left the starting line first, holding on to the finish line to take the win with a 7.085/187.73 to Trebleıs 7.172/179.02.

I could have done a better job on the tree in the first round,² said Treble, who won in Las Vegas in 2003. ³I squeezed the clutch pretty tight because during the last round of qualifying I went -.009 red and that kind of startled me a little bit. I just wanted to keep it green and have a clean race. I knew that Andrew was having some trouble with his bike and it was kind of off and his reaction times were all over the place.

I had a .060 light (.000 is perfect). Iım not real proud of it, but it was green. I donıt know what happened to the bike. It just kind of laid down about half track on and just didnıt have any steam. Iım sure Steve Tartaglia will have a handle on it at the next race and weıll come out swinging and do the best we can do.²

The next race for the Schumacher Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle team is the 44th annual NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., Nov. 13-16.