Arana Jr. Goes Back-To-Back
in Las Vegas
N
ot that anyone thought his
recent win in Dallas was a
fluke, but Hector Arana Jr., who
has been confined to a part-
time schedule this season due
to funding issues, reaffirmed his
status as one of NHRA's best Pro
Stock Motorcycle riders by win-
ning the Nevada Nationals in Las
Vegas, October 28-30.
After winning in Dallas, Arana
and his father, Hector Sr., se-
cured the funding they needed
for the final two rounds of the
season from GETTRX and made
the trip west to Las Vegas. In a
stunning turn of events, Arana
defeated reigning world champ
Matt Smith in the final round.
Arana was nearly perfect off the
starting line and rode his Buell
to a 6.866, holding off Smith's
slightly quicker 6.862 effort on
his Denso Buell.
"It was a fight just to get here,"
said Arana Jr. "Dallas was sup-
posed to be out last race. We
didn't have the funding to keep
going, but we got a deal with
Steve Bryson and GETTRX and
that made it possible to get to
the last two races. Honestly, we
weren't prepared. We had to go
home and rebuild engines after
Dallas and then we had trouble
on the road and had to borrow a
motor home."
During the first two days of
qualifying, Arana hardly looked
like a threat to win the event as
he struggled to adapt to the thin
air in Las Vegas. While Smith
was setting the track record with
a 6.78-second run, Arana was
well off the pace with a 6.937
that was only good for number
15. NHRA races are seldom won
by anyone who's qualified that
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Working on a shoestring
budget, Hector Arana
Jr. made the trip to Las
Vegas worth it coming
away with the NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle win.
