Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 P57 Briefly... Finally… Eddie Krawiec won the AAA of Texas NHRA Fall Nationals for his first victory of the season. The Vance & Hines team won 15 of 16 races this year, but this was just the second win of the season for the team. my way this weekend. It's easy to show up to a race, but it's hard to be competitive. There are a lot of great motorcycles and racers and a lot of luck went my way this weekend. I was riding great, but I wasn't racing great but no matter; this is a huge win for the HarleyDavidson team." Krawiec qualified number five in the field with a 6.902 that set up a first round race against Vance & Hines teammate Hines, the winner of last weekend's Charlotte round. Since Krawiec qualified for the Countdown to the Championship and is thus eligible to win the championship, it was not surprising to see him easily defeat his teammate although Krawiec's 6.89 run would have been tough to beat regardless. A round later, Krawiec ran into a mechanical issue and slowed, but good fortune was with him as his opponent, Sovereign/Star Buell's Michael Ray, had already The Dallas round marked a bittersweet anniversary for Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Sr. as it has now been four years since his last victory in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Arana has been close a few times, including this event, as he qualified number one and then rode to the semi finals on race day. "Overall, we had a good weekend," Arana Sr. said. "Of course I wanted to win but we didn't. Nothing in this sport is easy, but like I've always told my kids, 'As long as we keep working hard, we'll see results.' " Arana maintained third place in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings after two events in the six-race Countdown to the Championship and is 33 points behind leader and son Hector Jr. Arana Sr. was plenty pleased on Saturday as he qualified number one for the 23rd time in his career and second this season. In a class where performance is usually measured in thousandths of a second, Arana recorded a 6.846 elapsed time that was nearly fivehundredths quicker than numbertwo qualifier Matt Smith's 6.893. "I knew the power was there," Arana Sr. said. "We just had to play it conservatively and get the right clutch tune-up. That's where we've been struggling this year. I hit it right the first time and that was impressive. I was happy with that run." The 2013 rules changes that were intended to restore parity to NHRA's two-wheel class appear to have done just that as Eddie Krawiec was the seventh different winner in the first 12 rounds. In addition to Krawiec, other winners this year are Hector Arana Jr. (4), Michael Ray (2), John Hall (2), Matt Smith (1), Andrew Hines (1), and Shawn Gann (1). What about Suzuki? While it would be hard to argue that the Suzuki's have not been competitive this season, they haven't found the winner's circle as the once-dominant brand has now gone two full seasons without a win. Michael Phillips was the last rider to hoist a Wally trophy while riding an inline four-cylinder bike. Despite the dry spell, Suzuki riders LE Tonglet, Steve Johnson, Jerry Savoie and Jimmy Underdahl continue to enjoy moderate success against the now dominant Vtwin bikes. Given the unique format of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, where the points are re-set for the six-race playoff that determines the world champion, Hector Arana Jr. had to watch his once dominant points lead shrivel as almost every rider in the top 10 is still a factor in the championship battle. In Dallas, Arana Jr. helped mitigate the damage by riding to the semi final round. "It's going to be a fight to the finish," Arana said. "I knew it was going to be a long, hard Countdown, and these two races have done nothing to change my mind. We've all got to dig deep and keep battling." Arana Jr. suffered an engine problem in his race with Smith, coasting across the finish line at just 30-mph. Reliability issues have dogged the Arana team for the better part of two seasons, and become a more prominent issue continued on next page

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