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NHRA MELLO YELLO PRO STOCK SERIES VOL. 51 ISSUE 27 JULY 8, 2014 P95 Briefly... Fans in Norwalk may have gotten a glimpse of NHRA's next Pro Stock Motorcycle star when Swedish teenager Elvira Karlsson quali- fied her Suzuki for the first time. Karlsson, the first rider to run in the six-second zone in Europe, made her U.S. debut at the Gainesville season-opener, but did not qualify in her first four appearances on the tour. The recent addition of veteran crew chief Gary Stoffer made a noticeable difference in the team's fortunes and Karlsson made the Norwalk field with a 6.981. "I am so happy just to be racing on Sun- day," Karlsson said. "This is why we came to the United States to race. It took longer than we had hoped, but it was worth it." Andrew Hines' victory was the 35th of his career, tying him with drag racing legend "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. Among Pro Stock Mo- torcycle racers, only the late Dave Schultz (45) and Angelle Sampey (41) have more wins. A week after winning the Chicago round, Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Jr. had to deal with the dis- appointment of losing in the first round in Norwalk on a holeshot. Arana Jr. ran a 6.87, but he lost to Bad Boy Buggies' Suzuki's Jimmy Underdahl, who won with a slower 6.90 elapsed time after grabbing a big lead at the start. "I just had a brain lapse on the line," Arana Jr. said. "I guess I decided I needed to take a nap. I don't really know what was going on in my head, but it's all right; it's something I can work on myself. I'll just go back to the shop and sit on the practice tree as much as possible before the next continued on next page ing runs, the Vance & Hines team probably questioned the sanity of their decision, but a major revelation on Saturday night set them up for a long run on race day. Hines entered eliminations as the number-10 qualifier with a 6.913, but he improved to a 6.89 to win his first round race against John Hall. Another 6.89 followed in his win against Jim Underdahl. Hines reached the final when he beat Gainesville champ Steve Johnson in the semi final, 6.95 to 6.99. In the final round, Hines squared off against Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Sr., who was playing a hot hand after a runner-up finish against his son, Hector Jr., a week earlier in Chicago. After an even start, Hines surged to a slight lead and maintained the advantage to the finish line with a 6.901 to 6.924 victory. "We ran that 6.90 in the fi- nal which was very strong and I needed all of it," Hines said. "Hector [Sr.] is going to be a pain. He has his bike running strong in the back half. He's been on a losing streak, but now he's been to back-to-back finals and that says a lot about what he's done with his pro- gram." (Left) Andrew Hines (near lane) topped Hector Arana Sr. (far lane) in the finals of the NHRA Pro Stock Series at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio. (Below) Fast qualifier Eddie Krawiec (far lane) lost to Adam Arana (near lane) in the quarterfinals.