DRAG RACING
NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP
FINAL ROUND / NOVEMBER 17, 2019
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY / POMONA, CALIFORNIA
P74
als in Charlotte. Hines went on to
earn wins in Atlanta, Richmond,
Norwalk, Denver, Sonoma and
the fall Charlotte event. He also
won the special $25,000 Mickey
Thompson Pro Bike Battle in
Sonoma.
Hines' sixth championship is
also the 10th title for the Vance
& Hines team and the Harley-
Davidson brand in the last 16
seasons. In addition to Hines' six
titles, teammate Eddie Krawiec
has four NHRA Championships in
his career. Hines' older brother,
Matt, is a three-time champion,
and team co-owner Terry Vance
is also a multi-time class cham-
pion in Pro Stock Motorcycle and
Top Fuel Motorcycle classes. CN
FINAL
1. Jianna Salinas (Suz)
2. Jerry Savoie (Suz)
get those Mello Yello points and
win the championship. I love my
guys, and I love everything about
this."
Hines' title drive caps off what
has easily been the best season
of his long career, and it also
qualifies as one of the most dom-
inant seasons in the history of
the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.
After suffering through a winless
2018, Hines has rebounded in
style with eight wins and 10 final-
round appearances this season.
He was the point leader in all but
one event and was never ranked
lower than second at any point in
the season.
Hines kicked off 2019 with
a win at the traditional season-
opener in Gainesville, and then
reached a milestone when he
became the first Pro Stock Mo-
torcycle racer to win 50 national
events at the Four-Wide Nation-
This is for them."
As for Hines, he admitted that
the wait to clinch the title was
pure torture since he was certain
he'd squandered his chances
with his round-one loss. When
Salinas defeated Savoie in the fi-
nal, Hines was not watching from
the starting line, but rather was
back at the team's hauler listen-
ing to the play-by-play.
"I wanted to throw up," Hines
said. "Sometimes I have this bad
tendency to rock back when I
stage the bike, and I rocked back
out of the [staging lights] and I
got a red-light. I was absolutely
certain that I'd thrown away the
championship. I was sick, but I
can't thank my team enough for
supporting me all day long. My
Harley-Davidson team, that's
what they do best. I was so
disappointed in what I did today,
but we persevered all year to
Jerry Savoie made it an all-Suzuki final.
