Cycle News

ROUND 9/JULY 28, 2013 SONOMA RACEWAY/SONOMA, CALIFORNIA DRAG RACING P76 NHRA PRO STOCK SERIES Briefly... red-light start ended her day against LE Tonglet in round one. "It was good to be back, Stoffer said. "We're still looking for a sponsor, but in the meantime we're going to run this race and the next one in Indy. For me, it was just nice to be back on the bike again. Hopefully we can race more often." The win was Arana Jr.'s fourth of the season. Arana Jr. said. "It didn't happen, but everything happens for a reason. I was able to come back and get the win for our team. That felt really good and gratifying." Smith, the winner of the Norwalk round last month, has worked steadily to improve the performance of his Viper Motorcycle Co. Buell this season and his efforts paid off in Sonoma, as he grabbed the pole position with a 6.838, knocking Arana Jr. from the top spot by just two-thousandths of a second. Smith's performance carried over to race day as he powered past Gann's Speed Buell's Shawn Gann with a 6.82 and then posted a 6.843 to 6.842 holeshot win over Screamin' Eagle Harley- Davidson's Eddie Krawiec in round two. "I didn't get the win and that's really disappointing but that doesn't mean we didn't have a good weekend," Smith said. "We tried some new things on my bike and it was fast. Those are things that will help us for the rest of the year, especially in a couple of races when the Countdown begins. We're going to be just fine. I'd be really surprised if our three bikes didn't win more races this year." CN Final 1. Hector Arana Jr. (Buell) 6.878/195.45 mph 2. Matt Smith (Buell) 6.877/195.45 mph It was a case of good news bad news for the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson team as riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec had to race each other in the first round of eliminations for the fourth time in nine races this season. Although Hines desperately needed a round win to help his chances to make the Countdown, Krawiec wasn't about to give it to him. Ultimately, Krawiec won the round, severely crippling Hines' chances. "I'm a little more comfortable in my spot, but by no means am I locked into the Countdown," Krawiec said. "We went for it and my bike made a great run. I hate it for Drew [Hines], but we pretty much did it to ourselves. If we had qualified better we wouldn't have had to race each other." After sitting out most of the season following neck surgery, White Alligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie finally returned to form in Sonoma as he recorded the quickest pass of his career with a 6.85 and claimed a round win over rookie Adam Arana. "We've come a long way but it's finally coming together," Savoie said. "I feel good and we've got the bike running well. It's fun to be out here now." A week after winning in Denver, Prianah-Z Buell's Shawn Gann struggled to qualify in Sonoma. Gann wound up 16th in the field and had to race low-qualifier Matt Smith in round one. Predictably, Smith won the round, 6.82 to 6.92. "We hurt the engine that we ran in Denver and we just didn't have enough runs on this new one to get it where we wanted it," Gann said. "We still have power but we just never found the combination for this track. We'll just have to be better at the next race."

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