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DRAG RACING NHRA WINSTONDRAG R ACINGSERIES By Kevin McKenna COLUMBUS, OHIO, JUNE 11-1 4 hile his road racing cou n terpart , Antho ny Gobert, was ridin g th e Vance & Hines Du cat i to victory at the AMA Superbike Series eve nt a t Elkhart Lake, Wiscon sin, Team Vance & Hines' other rid er, NHRA Winston cham p Matt Hines, was d oin g the same thing aboa rd his Eagle On e Suzuki GSXR in the Pontiac Exciteme nt Nationals at Na tiona l Trail Raceway. Hines, w ho en te red the Columbus even t as the runaway poin ts lea der in the 14-race series, was never challenged as h e scored hi s si x th win in seven events this year - and the 16th win of his career - wi th a 7.34-t0-7.48 win over sixtime NHRA cham p Dave Schultz in the final. W Round 7: National Trail Raceway "We came her e with the same exact setu p we wo n with in Chicago two weeks ago, an d we expected it to wo rk, bu t the tra ck kind of th rew u s a curve:' said Hin es, n ow 27· a n d 1 in elimina tion rounds of com pe tition for 1998. " It was slippery at first, and a lot of guys we re complaining about the traction, bu t as the weekend we nt on it got better. This track is 10 times better than it was last year." The results spoke for themsel ves as Hines took th e p ol e p os ition with a track-record 7.37, we ll ahead of Ange lle Seeling's 7.42, and ext ended his lead over the rest of the field wi th a 7.32 on a single run in round two of eliminations. Hines' would-be opponent Tony Mullen couldn' t show after breaking a cranks ha ft in his round-one win ov er John Myers . "I felt the engine 'break right at th e finish line:' said Mu llen, a leadi ng contender for the NHRA Rookie of the Year award. "We tried to put a new engine in but we just ran out of time. It was a very big thrill to beat Joh n Myers, but it sucks tha t I bl ew up . I would lov e to ha ve raced Ma tt again." Hi nes , who has bea ten Mu llen three times in thr ee meeti ngs this yea r, foug ht the track in round one wh en he slowed to a 7.42 against Kawasaki racer Rob Sho rt, but found the combi nation in the second, and maint ained his tenth-of-asecond advantage th rough out the res t of eliminations. "In qualifying, the bike made a har d right on one pass, and broke a coil wi re on another, so we really didn't make the run w e were looking for ," Hines said . "We mad e a wheelie-bar adjustment after qu alifying , and it seemed to help, but it d idn't work in the first round, so we went back to the exact setup we had in Chicago, and thin gs just clicked after that." H in es a lso di d n' t ha ve to co n te nd w ith Seeling, who has bee n a thorn in h is si de for mu ch o f this season. The Team Winston rid er - the onlv one othe r than Hines to win a n even-t in 1998 appeared to be o n pace to make he r fourth s traight final in Columbus a fter she breezed past a broken Steve Johnso n in the openi ng round w ith a 7.43, bu t she slowed to a 7.54 in rou nd tw o and lost to Antron Brown , who powered to a 7.48 on Troy Vincent's Team 23 Suzuki. "We' re d o in g good because we' re still second in the point s stand ings, but we 've g o t so me probl em s with the b ike," Seelin g sa id . "In th e p a st, th e p rob lems ha ve been with my driving, but now we're hav ing problems ge ttin g the bik e down the track . I'm just going to keep on doin g my job because I'm confi dent that (crew chief George Bryce) and the gu ys at the s ho p will get it strai ght like they always do." Schultz, the six-time Winston cham p, managed to d o a pretty good job of silencing the critics who dared su gg es t tha t his days as a final-r ound thr eat ar e over, as he reached the final round wi th a narrow semifinal victory over Brown, 7.46 to 7.47, thou gh his 7.48 in the final wasn't nearly enough to run wi th Hines, who clinched the title with a 7.34. "We feel pr et ty good abou t mak ing it to the fina l;' sa id Sch u ltz, w ho hadn't won a round since his runner -up finis h a t the seaso n opener in Gain esvill e. "We blew up 11 engin es last year, and we we re determined to get a better handle o n reli abilitv thi s s e aso n , e ve n if it meant sacrificing some performance. Obviously, I won't be satisfied until we tip the odd s our way, but in genera l. we're m ovin g in the righ t di rec tion. 1 hop e to be on an even kee l with Byron (Hines) by the end of this season." Despit e his overwhelming performance edge, Hi nes wa sn' t abo u t to take th e s port's a ll-ti me wi n ni nges t bike racer ligh tly. '. " W hen Da ve gets to a fin al , you never know w hat he's goi ng to do," said Hines, w ho red -ligh ted against Schultz in h is firs t-e ver fina l in Co lumbus in 1995. "You th ink you've go t hi m covered and he all of a sudd en pops up and beats you. I knew that I couldn't afford to ha v e a bad light aga in st him, s o 1 went up there ready to go. "This one feels pretty good :' Hines continued. "We lost 80 points to Angelle in Englishtown, but we put 20 points on her in Chicago and gained 60 on her, so I'm back to where I wa s before Englishtown , Our ri va lry is getting pretty in tense . Ever ybod y is talking about it, but I'm jus t tryin g to win races, and if she' s in the way, then it just ha ppens to be that way." Do National Trail Raceway ColumbUS, Ohio Results: June 11-14 (Round 7 of 14) PRO STOCK FINAL: 1. Matt H in es (Suz) 7.34.• 178.42; 2 Dav e Schu ltz (Suz) 7.48. 170.74 Upcoming Rounds: Round 8 - Madison, Illinois, J une 25-28 Round 9 - Denver, Colorado, J uly 16-19 00 0\ 0\ ,...... 34 (Top) In what has beco me the most familiar s ight on the NHRAtour in 1998, M Hines celebrated another victory, his att s ixth in se ven races this season, (Left) In a rematch of the final at the seas on-opening MacTools Gato rnationals . MattHines ran his record to 27-1 in 1998 with a 7.34-t0-7.48 win over Dave Schultz's Sunoco Suzuki.