Event No. 14 / ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals / October, 20 - 23 / Las Vegas, Nevada
Mike Berry / Pete Briggs - MB Precision Machining - Lake Mortgage Kawasaki

Mike Berry entered the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals happy with his late season change to Kawasaki, and proceeded to lay down good numbers throughout the weekend with the Pete Briggs Lake Mortgage bike.

"This Kawasaki is pretty strong," said Berry. "It definitely has a lot of power."

Berry opened qualifying with a 7.342 sec, 182.60 mph pass to grab the No. 14 spot early, then slipped to 16th after a 7.402 / 181.30 lap in the late Friday session.

Proving to be quick learners, the MB Precision Machining team cranked out a great 7.286 / 186.18 pass Saturday morning, to move up into the 13th spot, before finally ending qualifying back in the sixteenth position.

"Pete Briggs and I are collaborating on every aspect of making this bike run," said Berry. "He brings a lot of experience to the team and between both of us we keep coming up with more things we want to try on this bike."

The MB Precision Machining Kawasaki / Lake Mortgage team faced No 1 qualifier Ryan Schnitz on the Team Muzzy Buell in round one of Vegas eliminations, and considering the acknowledged performance advantage of the Muzzy Buell, the race seemed to be a long shot for the Briggs / Berry Kawasaki to win.

Although the Green Machine was given the best possible tune-up formulated from the Briggs / Berry camp, even they were surprised with the near low ET of the round pass laid down in the loosing effort from the Kawasaki.

"I figured I had to push the tree against the No. 1 qualifier, and in this case it was the wrong thing to do," said Berry.

After a maddening .009 red light start, the Machining Kawasaki / Lake Mortgage Kawasaki sped to a great 7.263 / 184.17 run, .003 better than Schnitz, and fourth best of the round.

"It's too bad because a reaction time of .046 or better would have won us the race, " said Berry. "The good news is that we are finally seeing the potential this bike has."