CLERMONT, Ind. -- As the $15,000 K & N Pro Bike Klash sounded the opening bell at Indianapolis Raceway Park and the 48th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on Saturday, eight of the quickest and fastest motorcycle racers on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour had clear goals: Win the event, win the cash, and with any luck, take the $10,000 "Double Up" bonus offered by the NHRA should the Klash winner come back on Monday and go the distance in the sport's biggest race.

The heavy favorite going into the first round of the Klash was No. 1 seed Angelle Savoie. She won last year's U.S. Nationals for the first time in her career but has fallen in the final round of the bonus event three times previously.

Matt Hines, who has won the U.S. Nationals twice and the K & N race-within-a-race four times, all consecutively, was also considered a good bet to cash in before the day was over. Antron Brown, who accomplished the coveted achievement of winning both payouts in 2000 for a cool $25,000, was another favorite.

But no one was talking about Craig Treble, a rider who throughout his career has fought for his rightful recognition as a championship hopeful while racing in the shadows of the legendary Dave Schultz, three-time series champ Hines, and most recently two-time titlist Savoie. Treble seemed only to be an outside possibility to outpower the elite field of racers, which was determined by their qualifying performances over the past twelve months.

Mechanical problems on Friday had prevented Treble from making a single pass on the IRP quarter-mile prior to Saturday's event, which placed even more doubt on Treble's chances of a Klash victory. But Treble's outstanding starting line skills, clockwork consistency and raw determination were enough to send him all the way to the big money in his third career Klash appearance, beating first-time event participant Mike Berry in the final.

Treble began the Klash with a holeshot win against Antron Brown, 7.30/181 to a quicker 7.27/177. In the semis, again Treble's better reaction time moved him past Geno Scali -- the rider who defeated Treble in the Brainerd final two weeks ago -- 7.307/178 to 7.300/182.

In the final, Treble again ran a 7.30, but Berry's 7.36 was far enough off the pace that reaction times played no factor, and for the third time in three years, the K & N Klash was taken by a first-time winner.

"This is just great, I'm just totally speechless," exclaimed Treble as he received his $15,000 check in the IRP winner's circle. "We had some problems on Friday and I can't say enough about what my team did to make this possible. I really didn't dare believe we could pull this off and there were some awfully good riders out here today we had to beat, but somehow we did it."

Currently second in the points, trailing Savoie by 67 points with four races remaining on the schedule, Treble's Klash win has put him squarely into the role of a legitimate threat for not only the 2002 POWERade crown, but for many championship races to come. With four national event wins in 2002 and now the K & N Klash in his scoring column, his equity in the Pro Stock Bike class continues to take giant leaps forward.

He's in nobody's shadow anymore.