ROCKINGHAM — New Mexico-based touring pro Doug Vancil, making his first appearance at Rockingham Dragway in almost 20 years, secured an impressive victory in the Ray Price Top Fuel Challenge portion of the 27th annual Jim McClure Memorial All-Harley Nitro World Finals on Sunday.

Vancil was riding a new bike — that was built for Doug Horne and tuned by Mike Romine — as he took down defending event champion Armon Furr (Orangeburg, S.C.) in the opening round, stopped newly-crowned NHRA champ Tii Tharpe (East Bend) in the semifinals, and raced past Tracy Kile (Ashville) in the final.

His semifinal victory over Tharpe was Vancil’s way of avenging his loss to the East Bend native in last month’s NHRA Harley Davidson Top Fuel Championship at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway.

It was the first Rockingham win for the two-time IHRA Nitro Harley world champion since he prevailed in the 2001 Autumn Nationals. Although he qualified only third, Vancil posted the quickest time in each round of eliminations — 6.226 in the first, a best-of-the-race 6.216 against Tharpe in the semis and 6.251 to cover Kile in the money round.

NOTE: The full version of this story, along with final-round results, can be found in the print and e-editions of the Daily Journal on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

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For the Daily Journal