Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 26, 2006 9 I t took nearly a year, but Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Andrew Hines, the reigning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion, has finally returned to the win- ner's circle. Hines won the Mile-High Nationals in Denver on July 16, scoring his first victory since the Memphis round last August. In the process, Hines unseated U.S. Army Suzuki's Angelle Sampey from the top of the POWERade standings. "I was hoping this race would be the turning point of our season and we're look- ing like it really might be," Hines said. "This is my first win as a married man and my wife and son are here today, so that makes it even more special." Hines grew up in nearby Trinidad, Colorado, and his Vance & Hines team has a lot of experience racing in the thin air at Bandimere Speedway, yet he struggled in qualifying, posting just the ninth-quickest time in a field of 16 with a 7.45, more than a tenth of a second behind polesitter G- Squared/S&S Buell's Chip Ellis, who set the track record with a 7.33. On race day, Hines and his crew, led by his father, Byron Hines and his brother, three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion Matt Hines, found the sweet spot in their tune-up, as Hines powered past Karen Stoffer, Ellis, and former NHRA champ Geno Scali to reach his third final round of the season. Facing Rockin Buell's Matt Guidera in the final, Hines gave up a big lead at the start, but caught and passed Guidera's S&S-powered entry before the finish line to win, 7.43 to 7.56. "We had an absolutely dismal qualifying effort, but what a Sunday!" Hines said. "The team did such a great job making the adjust- ments and my V-Rod went right down the track every pass today like it was on a rail." Guidera, in just his second year of NHRA competition, has emerged as a legitimate threat after reaching his second final of the season. Guidera reached the final after a big holeshot win over U.S. Army Suzuki's Antron Brown. Guidera ran just a 7.50, but his quick move off the starting line was enough to hold off Brown's quicker 7.44. "Our team is still learning, but we're learning quickly," Guidera said. "Our plan all along was to assemble a team that could compete for a championship and I believe we're moving closer to that goal." Hines' win, coupled with the round-two loss of Sampey, meant that the Screamin' Eagle Harley rider turned a 28-point deficit in the points into a 28-point advantage with seven races remaining in the season. "To come in here 28 points down and leave 28 points up is unreal," Hines said. "Last year, I was in fourth place when we got to Denver and this year I'm in first, so we're ahead of our usual pace. I'm hoping that we can take the momentum from this win and maintain it for the rest of the season. The next race is in Sonoma, which is one of my favorite tracks to race at, so I feel pretty good about that." The NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle tour will next head to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the Fram Autolite Nationals July 27-30. Kevin McKenna Hines Conquers Thunder Mountain PHOTO BY NHRA "To come in here 28 points down and leave 28 points up is unreal." - Andrew Hines Andrew Hines storms to victory in Colorado. W ith the AMA announcing on Monday, July 17, that traction control will be legal in AMA Superbike and Formula Xtreme, the effect for the Parts Unlimited Ducati team will be immediate, according to Ducati North America CEO Michael Lock. "It will enable us to run a comparable specification to the one we run in World Superbike, which obviously, our motorcy- cle is designed for," Lock said on Monday, July 17. "Everything under the World Superbike is a derivative, so the closest the spec is, as far as we're concerned, between what Corsa is developing and what they race is better for us." So will the factory Ducatis have traction control at Laguna Seca for the July 22 AMA Superbike round? "I think you'll probably find that we will," Lock said. "I think we have it sitting in a box somewhere." And just how difficult will the system be to get up and running? "I don't think the problem is getting it to work, I think the challenge for us is that we do not have track time at Laguna Seca or any of the other tracks we get to race at," Lock explained. "Where we have cap- tured data and tested with the traction control, that's what we're missing. Not only the trackside team, but also the riders are familiar with the traction control sys- tem. Certainly Neil [Hodgson] has used it. That's not the issue. The issue is marrying up all the different elements in one place under pressure. If you ask anybody on the team, I think they prefer to have the tech- nology available to them. I know that Neil in particular is very fired up for Laguna Seca. He feels he really needs to be visible, which is entirely under- standable. So we shall see. We prefer to have the technology available than not." Lock feels the change will have an immediate impact, especially at Laguna. "My feeling is there are some circuits on the U.S. tour where it potentially gives us some advantage, and Laguna Seca is one of them," he said. "That's my feeling. We have been significantly off the pace this season. We have not threatened anywhere. We've not felt that we were really within reach of winning anything so far this season. To go from that position to suddenly being com- petitive in one race is a bit of a leap, but Laguna Seca is a good track for us. And both of our riders are very comfortable there. And bike is in as good shape as it can possibly be. If we're going to pull some- thing out of the bag, where you would choice to do it? You would choose to do it at Laguna Seca. In front of not only all the people from Ducati North America, but also all my bosses from Italy and the GP team and the decision makers for next sea- son. If you were going to try to pull some- thing out, that's where you'd do it. We did very well there last year. Even though Eric's [Bostrom] strong, Ben [Bostrom] and Neil are both capable of winning." One thing that was clear from the AMA meeting was that there would not be a dis- placement change to 1200cc for AMA Superbike racing - at least not for next year. This was something Ducati was pushing for. "My understanding is there will not be a displacement increase for next year," Lock said. "The rules are set until the end 2007. We've kind of seen that coming. If we were being fair, we would say the AMA is being consistent on that. There was not likely to be a revision of those rules. In reality, it's probably not going to affect us much for next year. I don't think it changes anything fundamentally for us." Although Hodgson said he hasn't been holding his breath for traction control, he was excited to hear the news that he'd have it in place for Laguna and beyond. "Certainly, it's an exciting prospect for all of us," Hodgson said. "The system works very well, as Troy Bayliss has demonstrated, and I hope to use it at Laguna Seca. I tested it last year during the wintertime at the test in Italy, and it defi- nitely felt good. Yeah, I'm excited." Hodgson knows getting all the pieces up to speed will be difficult, especially at Laguna where track time is at a premium during the combination AMA/MotoGP weekend. "In the Laguna Seca weekend definitely, only because we get no track time at all," Hodgson said. "It's not the best situation, but I'm not complaining. I think, hopefully, it should give us better tire wear and give us maximum traction out of every corner to the point where you're just about slid- ing, but not spinning. "Hopefully it's going to knock three seconds off the lap time," he said, jokingly. "I'd settle for half a second a lap." Henny Ray Abrams/Paul Carruthers How Traction Control Will Affect Ducati Neil Hodgson PHOTO BY BRIAN J. NELSON