Event No. 12 / Mac Tools U.S. Nationals / Aug 31 - Sept, 5 / Indianapolis, Indiana

With the biggest drag race of the NHRA season on the line, Mike Berry headed to the 51st edition of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals with three race ready Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle engines on hand.

Unfortunately, before eliminations even began, the MB Precision Machining team was down to their third string motor, and little usable data in which to tune the engine to race winning form.

"We blew up our best piece early, then lost our second-stringer on the final qualifying session," said Berry. "Using up that much equipment hurts, and going into round one of eliminations with a fresh engine and a basic tune-up is not what we wanted to do."

Qualifying for the U.S. Nationals started on Friday with a tire spinning 7.324 / 181.11 pass. A second session, engine eating  7.259 / 179.18, followed by a late Saturday afternoon 7.271 / 178.31 runs left the MB Precision Machining team one spot short of the sixteen bike field.

With two final shots available Sunday, the Berry team picked up the pace with a great 7.135 / 181.67 to jump up into the No. 10 qualifying position, only to lose the engine on the final attempt in Indy.

"In the fourth session we had the run we were looking for, it put us solidly into the show, then the next pass we were going to work on a tune-up for eliminations and the engine went away," said Berry. "

A Sunday night engine swap made sure that the MB Precision Machining would be on the starting line Monday morning, but only with a basic tune up Berry believed the chances of winning the 51st Mac Tools U.S. Nationals were slim.

"Of the three engines, the last obviously has the least amount of dyno time invested in it. The piece is one I believe has some great potential but it needs time to get it to be competitive," Said Berry.

The round one pairing against Chip Ellis again featured a Suzuki vs. V-Twin battle, this time against the house Buell of the G Squared/S&S team.

In the match, Berry left first .012 too Ellis's .056, but was caught and passed at the 400' mark as the Buell ran a winning 7.109 / 186.54. The MB Precision Machining Suzuki's off pace 7.301 / 181.08 was about all the Berry team believed they would run, and basically reinforced the belief that the current format for running the Suzuki's and V-Twin's is not working.

"NHRA is going to look at the rules and engine parameters and work on a solution for 2006," said Berry. "The way it is now there are quite a few Suzuki riders that are talking about throwing in the towel because they realize that unless the V-Twin's break or red-light, they are going to win the race."