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Rou 10: IndianapolisRacewayPark nd Drag Racing NH WINSTON DRAGRACING SERIES RA By. Kevin McKenna INDIANAPOLIS,IN, SEPT. 1-6 ith time running short in his quest to catch Angelle Seelin g in the ra ce for the Winston Pro Stoc k Bike championship, Matt Hin es entered the U.s . Nationals at Indi anapolis Ra cewa y Park in desperate need of a victo ry. The two-time and defending series champ, who won 10 of 14 even ts last yea r, en tered the biggest race of the yea r with jus t on e wi n, and he was beginning to feel the heat. "W he n w e w e re ge tti ng read y fo r this race, I told my d ad (Byron) that we ab solutely had to have the fast est bike thi s weekend ," Hin es said. "We mad e sure we had all our engines read y to go, a nd that our be st eng ine was in good shape to go as man y rounds as we needed to get the job done. We d id eve rythin g we could to make the bik e fas t, and it paid off." Indeed , Hines not only beat Seeling in the final to win his seco nd career Ll .S. Iatio nals title, but he also beat Seeling in the fin al of Sa tu rday's Holl ey Pr o Sto ck Bike Dom ina tor Du el, a $15,000to-win specialty event open only to the eigh t most consistent qu alifiers fro m the pr eviou s yea r. Hines wo n the eve nt for the fourth consecu tive yea r, se tting the stage for a n Indy sweep. For wi nning bo th races, H ine s collecte d j HR A' s $ 19,000 d oubl e - up b onu s, a n d h e receiv ed an a d d it io na l 510,000 fr om sponsor, Action Collectibles, bri ngi ng his weekend total to nea rly 550,000, one of the lar gest payouts in all of motor cycle racing. Through a speci a l one-race p romotion with Action a nd DC Comics, th e Van ce & Hines Eagle On e Suzuki GSX-R was pa inted in Superm an colors for the Ll.S. Nationals, and Hin es wor e a matchin g helmet and leathers. Th ere mu st h av e been so m e th ing to the wh ol e s u p er he ro thin g , as H in es turn ed in what was undoubtedly his finest per for mance of the year. "We were strugglin g in the ear ly part o f th e seaso n, and she (See li ng) took advan ta ge o f tha t by go ing o u t a nd qu al ify in g o n th e po le a n d wi nnin g races ," Hines sai d. "As the season progressed, we started ru nn ing bette r, bu t we mad e a lot of mista kes in e limi nations. 1 hop e this is the race tha t changes our pattern ." In qualifying, Hi nes 's Suzuki GSX-R was clearly the dominant bike, as he rip ped off a track-record 7.26 , which was a full .06 seconds quicker th a n Seeling's best of 7.32 on her Team Winston Suzuki. H in es ha d nea rl y twotenths on round-one opponent Brian Delong, but he wasn 't about to take the independent racer lightly, especia lly after sufferi ng an embarrassing firstr o u n d loss against a lower-seeded opponent at the most recent event in Brainerd, Minnesota. "The first round is usually tough for me because I know I should win, but usua lly t he g uy i n th e o ther lane is throwing everyth ing he' s go t a t me," said Hines, who tu rned back Delong's 7.70 wit h the quickest ru n of the round , a 7.32 . ''I' d mu ch rath er ra ce a Da ve Sch u ltz" a n A n tro n Bro wn , o r eve n An gelle in the first round ." Hines a lso br eezed th rou gh round two wit h a 7.33-to-7 .46 win over G reg Underda hl's Tas Racing bike, and in the semis he ca ug h t a break wh en Antron Brown red-li ghted aboa rd the Team 23 .Su zuki. Brown, who is also a factor in th e champion ship chase foll owing his ea rly-sea so n win s in Dallas , Texas, and . Columbus, Oh io, had beaten Hines in their two mo st recent meetings, but this (Above) For the second straight year, Man Hines made a clean sweep of the U.S. Nationals title, and the special Holley Pro Stock Bike Dominator Duel at Indy. The two-time Winston champ walked away from NHRA's biggest event with nearly SSO,OOO in prize money. (Right) Hines , sporting the Superman colors on his Vance & Hines Suzuki for one event , left the starting line threehundredths of a second ahead of Team Winston 's Angelle _ Seeling in the Pro Stock Bike final, and crossed the finis h line by the sa me margin, 7.34 to 7.34. this time he dumped the clutch too soon an d fouled. Seeling wasn't able to match Hines' pace early in eliminations, but she was quicker tha n eve ryone else in the field w ith a 7.37 in rou nd one aga inst rookie Chris Bostick, and a 7.38 in the second that e rased the 7.44 of John Smith's Anoka-Ramsey Sport Center Suzuki. W hile H ine s slowed in the semis wi th a 7.36, Seeling actually improved with a 7.35 in her win over Brown's Tea m 23 te a m ma te, Ton v Mull en . A final-round loss wou ld ha~e been devastating to Hines' champ ions hip hopes, so the Vance & Hines team left nothing to cha nce, tearing th e top e nd of th e engi ne a pa rt befor e the final, searc h ing for any signs of damage. . "As eliminations went on, we not iced a problem with the engin e," Hin es said . "O u r com p u ter kept telling us that we w ere losin g vac u u m goi ng d own th e tr ack . Before th e fin al , we pulled th e wh ol e top ' e n d o ff th e m ot or a n d chec ke d th e p ist on s a n d r in g s . We d idn 't find an yt hin g, and we put it back together ." As it turns out, Seeling was the one who had mechanica l troubles in the final, as a stickv carbu reto r slide caused her throttle to ~tick wide open after the burnout. Seeling worked the throttle desperately in a n effor t to b r ing th e engine back to idle, and her team owner, George Bryce, finally stepped in and fixed the problem wit h a quick crack of th e thrott le . With her co ncen tratio n shaken, Seeling trai led H ines off the starting line by .03 of a second, and that was enough to p ro vid e th e ma rg in of victory wit h Seeling an d Hines ru nn ing matching 7.34 ela psed times. "When I hea rd he r throttle s tic k, I th ought th ey w ere go ing to s hu t her bik e o ff a nd give m e a s ing le, whi ch would hav e been okay by me," s a id Hines, who gai ned 21 points on his riv al in the stand ings, but still trail s by 77, or the equivalent of four round s, with four events remaining . " If we ca n ke makep in g s u re we have the best bike, it will put a little more pressure on her . I think that before the year is over, we'll set the n a tiona l re cord a nd ge t th e 20-point bon us that goes with it, so that should Indianapolis Raceway Park Indianapolis, Indiana Results: September 1-6, 1999 rRO STOCK FINAL: I. M.ltt If i n ~'s (Suz) N N ~ 7.34, 17tJ.35; 2. Angelle Seeling (Suz ) 7.~, 176.2 1. Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 - Reading. Pennsylvania. September 16-19 Round 12ยท Memphis. Tennessee. October7-10 Ql .c E Ql Ci. (}l 23