Cycle News

DRAG RACING ROUND 4/JUNE 1, 2014 OLD BRIDGE TOWNSHIP RACEWAY PARK/ENGLISHTOWN, NEW JERSEY P96 NHRA PRO STOCK SERIES thought that someone else would sneak in there ahead of us and run 200 [mph] but we're back in it. That says so much about the resilience of this team. That 199- mph run was great but if I had it to do over, I think we could have gotten to 200. We made a better run in the first round on Sunday, but the conditions weren't the same. We were missing the nice tailwind. Hines opened eliminations with a single run after Lucas Oil Buell's Adam Arana couldn't get his bike to fire on the starting line. A round later, he fought off a challenge from Star Racing Buell's Michael Ray to win, 6.76 to 6.83. Hines then edged Arana Jr. in the clos- est race of the day; winning with a 6.80 to a 6.82 for Arana Jr. Both riders had identical reaction times on the starting line. The final round was also a great side-by-side battle with Hines leading all the way, 6.82 to a 6.83 for Krawiec. Earlier, Krawiec scored wins over Angie Smith, White Alligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie, and Nitro Fish Buell's Matt Smith. "There is maybe five-percent of me that feels bad for Eddie because this is his home track and I know how much he loves this race," Hines said. "The other 95-percent doesn't feel that way. I actually do feel a little bad be- cause of how good a teammate he is. After the last race in At- lanta, we were struggling with my bike and he was a good sport and let me swap engines so it was his engine that won this race. He ran just as good as I did so I'm sure I'll give it back to him for the next one." CN Final 1. Andrew Hines (Harley-Davidson) 6.828/196.56 mph 2. Eddie Krawiec (Harley-Davidson) 6.837/196.30 mph Briefly... configuration and the same weight, Smith was upset that the Harley's re- cently got NHRA to approve a new air scoop design for their V-Rod bod- ies. "It's just not fair," Smith said. "Eddie [Krawiec] came out here and ran a 6.74 and there isn't another bike here that can run like that. It's just so frustrating." LE Tonglet, the 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion, made his first race of the season on his Nitro Fish Suzuki. Tonglet sat out the first three events of the season because he was in training for his "other" career as a firefighter in his hometown of Metairie, Louisiana. Once he arrived in Englishtown, it didn't take long for Tonglet to start making competitive runs including a 6.86 that was good for the num- ber 12 spot in the field. "Actually, we struggled on the first couple of runs but we got it figured out," Tonglet said. "For me, it was nice just to be back out here. I missed it." Hector Arana Sr. had a very early red-light start on his Lucas Oil Buell in the opening round that ended his race at the starting line and immedi- ately gave opponent Chaz Kennedy the victory. Arana Sr. has struggled since his championship season in 2009. "I staged, he staged," Arana Sr. said. "There was no rush, no games, nothing like that. It was just like a switch went on and off, like everything went black and came on and I reacted. As soon as I reacted, I knew right there and then what I had done. It's so frustrating. If I could get out of my skin and kick myself, I would do it. That's how mad I am, but I guess this is why it is a drag race because it's not easy." The victory was Hines 34 th career win and his second of the 2014 season.

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