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NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series, Round2: By Kevin McKenna COMMERCE, GA, APR. 16-19 hree races into the 1998 season and reigning NHRA Pro Stock Bike champion Matt Hines still hasn't lost a round, and the way the Vance & Hines/Eagle One Suzuki GSXR is running, it doesn't appear that he's going to lose one anytime soon. Hines, who grabbed the early-season 'points lead with a win in the seasonopening Gatomationals and then picked up $10,000 after taking the title at the special non-points Winston Invitational event, extended his win streak to 11 rounds with a victory at the Fram Nationals in Atlanta, his 12th career victory in just 28 starts as a professional racer. Hines not only dominated the event, but 'he got a huge boost after three of his closest competitors - Dave Schultz, Angelle Seeling and John Smith - did the unthinkable and took themselves out of competition by red-lighting in the opening round of eliminations, which were postponed until Monday due to heavy rains. "When we saw what developed in the first round, we knew we had to dig in and take advantage of it," said Hines, who stopped AMA ProStar champ Paul Gast in the final. "This win is big because our goal was to try and get the points lead early in the year. Even though we won the championship last year, we got off to a slow start, and that put a lot of pressure on us. I didn't want to go through that again." Early in qualifying, Hines suffered a potential setback when he broke a cam chain on his best engine, a 1500cc twovalve combination that has carried him to his last four National-event victories and a 7.24 record in Gainesville. Hines and his father, Byron, installed an untested backup in time for Saturday's last qualifying and ran a 7.31 to steal the pole from new Team Winston member Seeling, who had earlier run 7.32 on her Star Performance Suzuki. 'We felt that our backup engine was as good as the one we broke, but we >yeren't sure because me never got a chance to test it," Hines said. "Fortunately, we were able to make some really good runs with it." . For many, just making the 16-bike field in Atlanta was an accomplishment. The bump spot of 7.57 was the third T (Above) For the third time in 1998 and the 12th time in his career, reigning NHRA Pro Stock Bike champ Matt Hines visited the winner's circle with his Vance & Hines/Eagle One Suzuki. (Left) Hines won his 11th straight round in the final of the Fram Nationals when Paul Gast red-lighted on his Fast By Gast Suzuki. Hines currently leads the points battle over Gast. 256 to 164. quickest in the history of the class, and established veterans Hector Arana and Steve Johnson, who finished sixth and ninth, respectively, in the 1997 points ba ttle, failed to make the program for the first time in more than a year. In round one, Hines didn't break a sweat with a 7.37-t0-7.74 win over Las Vegas police officer Oarke Paris, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the top qualifiers, as five of the top eight seeds failed to advance. In addition to Hines, only rookie Tony Mullen and defending Fram Nationals champ John Myers managed to advance in one of the most upset-laden rounds in recent years. Hines stopped Mullen:s Bell Additives Suzuki in round two with a 7.36, but upped the ante in the semifinals with a blistering 7.28 against Myers, who made his best run of the weekend with a 7.40 but finished well behind the Vance & Hines entry. I "That 7.28 was an awesome run," said Hines, who became the first rider to run in the 7.2-second zone last April in Richmond, Virginia, and is the current elapsed-time record holder with a 7.24. "In the pre-race interview, I predicted that we'd run low 7.30s, but I didn't e~ct to see a 7.28 today. I didn't think the air and track conditions were there for a runlike that. Last year, John Myers beat me in the semifinals at this race, so beating him was a nice little payback." With most of the class's top guns on the sidelines early in eliminations, the door was opened for several new players to emerge. c.r Smith, the older brother of three-time National-event winner John Smith, made it to the semifinals for the first time in his career aboard Pete Briggs' Lake Mortgage entry, the field's lone Kawasaki. Smith qualified with a personal-best 7.48, and went to round two when eight-time Fram Nationals champ Schultz red-lighted. In round two, Smith squeezed by Larry Cook's Suzuki in a race decided by less than a thousandth of a second at the finish line, before his day came to an end in the semis against Gas!'s Fast by Gast Suzuki, 7.43 to 7.53. "We didn't make any major changes to the bike before the final because, frankly, I knew there was no way we could pick up enough to run with Matt," said Gast, who red-lighted against Hines but moved into secon.d place in the points standings with his runner-up finish. "I tried to cut a light on him, but I didn't expect to red-light. The way Matt is running right now, all you can do is hope that he makes a mistake. Unfortunately, this time he didn't." fN Atlanta Dragway Commerce, Georgia Results April 16-19, 1998 (Round 2 of 14) PRO STOCK FINAL,!. Matt H;nes (Suz) 7.33. 188.67; 2. Paul Cas' (Suzl7.46. 178.14 (FOUL). Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Richmond, Virginia, April 23-26 Round 4 - Englishtown, New Jersey, May 14-17