Richard Gadson Advances to Semi-Final Round at NHRA Reading

Brea, CA (September 15, 2025) – Richard Gadson opened the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown to the Championship playoffs by advancing to the semi-final round of competition Sunday aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki Gen 3 Hayabusa at the 40th NHRA Reading Nationals Presented by Nitro Fish at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA.

Race Highlights: 

• Richard Gadson qualified third and advanced to the semi-final round
• Gaige Herrera qualified first and advanced to round two of eliminations

Richard Gadson kicked off the first of six races in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs by qualifying third with a 6.763-second/200.92 mph run on Saturday.

In round one, Gadson ran 6.777-seconds at 199.91 mph to defeat Ryan Oehler (foul), then advanced to the semi-finals with a 6.781-second/200.00 mph win in round two over Chase Van Sant (6.902 seconds/195.25 mph) that was low-ET of the round.

The performance of Gadson’s motorcycle dropped off in the semi-final round, slowing after an engine and clutch change to a 6.949-second/199.26 mph run that wasn’t quick enough to advance against Matt Smith (6.862 seconds/197.83 mph). Gadson dropped one spot in the Countdown to third but is only nine points out of the lead in a tight four-way race at the top of the standings.

“I was having a great weekend until the semis, riding consistently and having the first or second quickest bike in each of the first two rounds. Unfortunately, we hurt an engine at the end of round two and had to change to a new clutch we had never used before. When I released the clutch lever the bike just went nowhere in the first 60 feet. It was a tough way to lose,” Gadson said. “Fortunately, the Countdown is six races and not one. We’ve been good on the Christmas tree and on the front end of the track all season. Now we have a motorcycle that’s performing very well on the back half of the track too, and that really boosts my confidence. The points are close, and everyone is within a round, so we’ll rebound and go to Charlotte and see who comes out on top.”

Starting the Countdown as points leader after winning the regular-season championship two weeks ago in Indianapolis, Gaige Herrera opened his campaign by posting a 6.745-second/200.20 mph run on Saturday to claim the top qualifying position for the fifth time this year and 28th time in his career.

Gaige Herrera narrowly falls behind new points leader Matt Smith. 

Starting the Countdown as points leader after winning the regular-season championship two weeks ago in Indianapolis, Gaige Herrera opened his campaign by posting a 6.745-second/200.20 mph run on Saturday to claim the top qualifying position for the fifth time this year and 28th time in his career.
 
After running 6.819 seconds at 198.26 mph in a first-round bye run, Herrera posted a 6.851-second/197.36 mph run in a round two loss to eventual race winner John Hall (6.806 seconds/198.61 mph). The early exit dropped Herrera into a second-place tie in the standings with Hall, just six points behind new leader Matt Smith.

“Obviously I wanted to leave here still with the points lead, but I feel like this track has my number. My main goal this weekend was to try to win here. It’s the only track on the NHRA circuit where I haven’t won yet, and it’s gotten the best of me the past few seasons. I got the number one qualifier and the extra points that came with that, and we were doing well as a team early in the weekend but by the end we were struggling. We’re trying some different things and learning as we go,” Herrera said. “Going to Charlotte next week will be good. It’s going to open a whole new can of worms for some of the other riders being a 4-wide race this year, and I think that works in my favor. I also like that we’re doing these three back-to-back races because it helps to stay in the groove and focused on what we need to do to keep putting up points on the board.”

RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki crew chief Andrew Hines was disappointed to have both riders exit earlier than expected but relieved that the points standing remain close.

“We’ve got to lick our wounds here a little bit. We need to figure out why Gaige’s bike was running slower than we expected. It wasn’t the engine, which we changed for the second round, but it didn’t perk up. Maybe I’m doing something wrong on the computer. Then Richard wounded an engine, which took out his clutch and unfortunately put us way behind the eight ball in the semi-final round. That was a painful one there,” Hines said. “We’ve got a lot of power and motorcycles that are running at a heavy mandatory minimum weight. Right now, it’s a struggle getting them to perform as well as we’d like in the first 60-feet on the track. We’re losing some of our performance in the late rounds on race days, especially when the tracks start to get greasy and harder to manage. It will be nice to get right back at it and rebound at Charlotte where we’ve had a lot of success. We need to figure out how to go fast again.”

With five races remaining in the Countdown to the Championship, Herrera and Gadson are second (tie) and fourth in the standings, with 2,178 and 2,175 points, respectively. 

The RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki team returns to action Sept. 18-21 at the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC.

Please visit suzukicycles.com/racing/drag-racing/revzilla-motul-vance-and-hines-suzuki for more updates and be sure to support our riders as they embark on this exciting journey.