{"id":55169,"date":"2025-10-12T22:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T03:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55169"},"modified":"2025-10-12T22:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T03:39:12","slug":"laser-focused-gadson-on-pace-for-his-first-nhra-pro-stock-motorcycle-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/laser-focused-gadson-on-pace-for-his-first-nhra-pro-stock-motorcycle-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Laser-focused Gadson on-pace for his first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

ENNIS – With two races remaining on the NHRA\u2019s Countdown to the Championship schedule, Richard Gadson is unashamedly doing the math.<\/p>\n

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Richard Gadson won the NHRA Pro Stock  Motorcycle race on Sunday at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals held at the Texas Motorplex. (NHRA photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMostly, I\u2019m counting points,\u201d said Gadson, who is chasing his first Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship. \u201cIt\u2019s a math equation right now for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadson\u2019s victory over Brayden Davis in Sunday\u2019s final of the 40th<\/sup> annual NHRA Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex padded his lead from 29-to-72 points over Vance & Hines teammate Gaige Herrera, the two-time\/reigning PSM champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not taking nothing for granted,\u201d said Gadson, a 39-year-old native of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., residing in Brownsburg, Ind. \u201cBy no means do I have this sewed-up. Everybody\u2019s kinda like already congratulating me. This ain\u2019t over yet and I\u2019m going to be just as intense the next two as I am this weekend. Got a job to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadson scored his fourth win of the season, first at The Plex and second in the Countdown with a quarter-mile pass in 6.796-seconds at 200.37 mph aboard his 2024 Suzuki Hayabusa. Davis, another V&N teammate, ran 6.817-seconds at 200.34 mph aboard his 2023 Hayabusa.<\/p>\n

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Richard Gadson celebrates after winning the NHRA Pro Stock  Motorcycle race on Sunday at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals held at the Texas Motorplex. (NHRA photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Gadson and crew chief Eddie Krawiec – a four-time Pro Stock Bike world champ – collaborated on a flawless weekend down the Motorplex\u2019s famed all-concrete surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely motivated right now,\u201d said Gadson, who qualified on-pole. \u201cI feel like I got something to prove _ not to anybody but myself. And I think Eddie is on-board. A lot of people don\u2019t know that my first NHRA race (at the Motorplex in 2022) a buddy of mine, James Johnson, let me put together a motorcycle myself. Brought it out here myself, tuned it, rode it and was ninth after the first round (before being trailered).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very next year I came to Dallas and never made it out of the burnout box. Same motorcycle but we had nothing but trouble. And that was my weekend that I auditioned with Vance & Hines. It all started here with the Stampede of Speed. It hasn\u2019t been a good racetrack to me _ and Andrew Hines and Eddie, they still believed in me.<\/p>\n

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Richard Gadson celebrates after winning the NHRA Pro Stock  Motorcycle race on Sunday at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals held at the Texas Motorplex. (NHRA photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI remember Terry Vance walked in my trailer and said, \u2018Are you going to get this thing down the racetrack or are you going to keep shitting the bed?\u2019 That\u2019s what Terry Vance – the first words he ever spoke to me. Needless to say, I was pretty rattled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadson\u2019s career as a successful journeyman rider changed course in 2024, when he was selected to replace Krawiec aboard the RevZilla\/Vance & Hines bike. Gadson finished third in the final 2024 standings, a massive 293 points behind Herrera.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor them (Vance & Hines\u2019 leadership) to believe in me and still put me in a position to do this and bring home a win for them today is really cool,\u201d Gadson said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Herrera\u2019s late-season bid to overhaul his teammate here ended when he fouled at the starting line during his semifinal pairing opposite Davis.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtremely rare,\u201d Gadson said of Gaige\u2019s unforced error. \u201cHe\u2019s usually a flawless rider. But when I see that happen I say I just have to capitalize. If he red-lights and I lose the same round it\u2019s a wash, it does nothing. I have to capitalize on these moments. I have to take advantage of any daylight I can get because that\u2019s how tight this championship battle is going to be. That\u2019s how tight this field is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Herrera parked for the afternoon, Gadson turned his laser-focus on Davis. \u201cI always race him good, and I was calm because it was already a good day,\u201d Gadson said. \u201cEverybody plays mental games with themselves differently. For me, I said, \u2018It\u2019s already a good day. It\u2019s already a good points-day and I\u2019m playing the numbers. He\u2019s beaten me three times – he can\u2019t keep doing it. It\u2019s got to swing my way, the law of averages. I\u2019m going to pop the clutch, cut a good light and one of these times I got to beat him down there.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Richard Gadson, Pro Stock Motorcycle No. 1 qualifier. (NHRA photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cToday was that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadson now is more than a fulltime Vance & Hines rider. In the real-work world, Richard is involved in product development, including an in-house ECU (engine control unit) and new line of Suzuki Hayabusa exhaust systems. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch this happen for other people so much,\u201d said Gadson, alluding to his current run of personal success. \u201cYou can want it for yourself all you want, but I try to live in the moment. I try to remember, \u2018This is the stuff you watch Gaige do. This is the stuff you watched Andrew and Eddie do.\u2019 You just try to be in that moment, you\u2019re living that dream. I\u2019m just trying to hold on for dear life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next event on the schedule is the NHRA Nevada Nationals Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It will be the fifth event in the Countdown and penultimate race of the season, which will conclude with the NHRA Finals from Nov. 13-16 at In-and-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interview: <\/h3>\n