FINAL ROUND
POMONA RACEWAY/POMONA, CALIFORNIA
DRAG RACING
P74
NHRA PRO STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP
(Left) Scotty Pollacheck rode
Matt Smith's Buell to the finals,
losing out to Krawiec.
(Right) Krawiec won the Wally
trophy and then gave it to Harley
icon Willie G. Davidson, who was
spectating at the track.
and lost a little ground in the
points. I was fifth when we got
here, but I knew that if the cards
rolled my way and I won, I could
have gone around Michael [Ray]
for number two. I came up a little
short, but after the way our season started, third place isn't bad
at all."
After winning 15 of 16 races
last season, Krawiec and the
Vance & Hines team were thrown
a curveball when the 2013 rules
package excluded their dominant four-valve engine combination. Forced to develop a twovalve configuration, the team
struggled for the first half of the
season. Krawiec's teammate An-
drew Hines won the Charlotte
round and Krawiec followed a
week later with a win in Dallas.
At the season finale in Pomona,
Krawiec qualified solidly in the
number six spot and rode to wins
over Steve Johnson, John Hall,
and Sovereign/Star Buell's Michael Ray before defeating Pollacheck to win his 22nd career
NHRA title.
Krawiec's win over Johnson
was particularly impressive since
it came via a starting line holeshot. Johnson had the quicker
bike with a 6.92, but lost to
Krawiec's 6.93. Krawiec also left
the starting line ahead of Ray and
held on for a 6.95 to 6.97 win.
After the final, he presented the
NHRA Wally [winner's trophy] to
Harley icon Willie G. Davidson.
"It was awesome to have Willie G, [Davidson] here this weekend," Krawiec said. "I look up
to him for what he's done in the
sport. He has a long history of
success in motorcycle racing.
I ended up giving him the Wally
trophy. He has everything he's
ever wanted, but he didn't have a
Wally. That was just a small token
of my appreciation for him."
Pollacheck not only raced to
his third final round of the season,
but was also riding his third different bike this year. After starting
the season as a member of the
Sovereign/Star team, he jumped
ship to Matt Smith's Viper Motorsports team late in the season. In
Pomona, he swapped rides with
Smith, taking over the reins of the
bike that has won the two most
recent events.
Pollacheck was the fourthquickest qualifier in the field and
then made the best run of the day
in the first round with a 6.85 to
6.87 win over rookie Chaz Kennedy. Pollacheck followed with
a 6.88 to 6.90 win against Lu-
