Cycle News

ROUND 5/JUNE 23, 2013 NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY/EPPING, NEW HAMPSHIRE DRAG RACING NHRA PRO STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP Tonglet in the final four, 6.92 to 6.95. Although it was the first NHRA final in his two-year career, he handled the pressure admirably. "The key was that I stayed calm all day," Hall said. "I think that if I had made it to a final last year I wouldn't have been this calm, but I was focused today. I finished number 11 in the points last year and looked back at some of the mistakes I made that kept me out of the top 10. I've learned to deal with the pressure a bit and to stay focused. I try to stay green and not do anything I'll regret." Like Hall, Arana was also appearing in the first final round of his career after just five events. The son of World Champion Hector Arana Sr. and the younger brother of rookie of the year winner, Hector Jr., Arana rode to wins over Bad Boy Buggies Suzuki's Jim Underdahl, Johnson Racing Suzuki's Steve Johnson, and low qualifier Sovereign/Star Buell's Michael Ray. "I was nervous, anxious, and excited," Arana said. "I made a mistake on the starting line. That's all. I just have to learn to stay calm, relax, and not overthink things. I am happy; I am comfortable on the bike, and everything is going smoothly," Arana said. "Other than the final, my reaction times were all consistent. Getting into the top 10 was my main goal and I'm ninth right now so that was big. I accomplished a lot this weekend." CN Final 1. John Hall (Buell) 6.924/193.93 mph 2. Adam Arana (Buell) 6.924/193.57 P90 Briefly... Nitro Fish Suzuki's LE Tonglet had to abort his first run on Friday when he encountered a shifter malfunction and also had a carburetor fall off mid-way through the run, but he made a quick rebound and posted back to back runs of 6.918 and 6.893 to qualify in the top half of the field. Tonglet was also the quickest Suzuki rider in the field. "If we had made all of our qualifying runs, I think we could have been even a little quicker," said Tonglet. "At least we got all of our problems out of the way on one run." The non-qualifiers in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class included DHR Racing's Michael Phillips, Joe DeSantis, and local racer Sam Hurwitz of Newton, Massachusetts, who leased a bike from the Gann team for the event. After experimenting with the latest S&S V-twin engine, LAT Oil Buell's Mike Berry found that he actually ran quicker using last year's engine combination. Berry qualified number nine in the field with a 6.920 and lost to Hector Arana Jr. in round one. "We lost 20 horsepower with the new engine so we just went back to the old stuff and it seems to run much better," Berry said. "Ultimately, I'm sure the new stuff will be better but with three races coming up in three weeks, I don't really have the time to fool with it right now. Sometimes I find that we do better when we don't mess with things." After spending the better part of two weeks working to improve their new two-valve V-Rod engine program, the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines team came to the New England Dragway event with high hopes, but the event was nothing short of a disaster as riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec both lost in the opening round of eliminations. Hines was outrun by Tonglet's Suzuki and Krawiec redlighted against Matt Smith. "We tried a lot of things and really thought we'd made progress, but it just didn't show on the racetrack," said Hines, who also works in the team's engine shop. "We made 94 pulls on the dyno and we should have run better than we did. I just think we made bad tuning choices because we should have had a better weekend than this." While his younger brother reached the final round for the first time, Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Jr. suffered a rare first round loss in New England. Arana Jr. qualified solidly in the field, but red-lighted against LAT Oil Buell's Mike Berry. "There are no excuses," Arana Jr. said. "I saw the yellow light and I went. I was on it. I still have a heck of a lead and will leave this event leading the points. The bike ran all right, but it's still not itself. We hurt the engine in Englishtown and we put it together with some other parts we had and they are good, but not as good as it was. I'm just getting [bad luck] out of my system before the Countdown to the Championship [playoffs]."

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