Cycle News

first laps here and I love this facil- ity. I love the fans and the scen- ery." Although Hines qualified num- ber two behind Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Jr., he clearly had the most consistent bike in the field with four qualifying runs be- tween 7.198 and 7.226. "This weekend I was second- best all through qualifying. I was second to Junior [Hector Arana Jr.] and to Eddie [Krawiec], but I'll take second as long as we have a shot on Sunday," Hines said. "We might have had an advantage when we lived here but lately, the Arana's have dominated. They've been number one in qualifying for the last three years. Up here in Denver, every little move is compounded because you don't have enough power to over- come mistakes like short shifts or body movements. This place also throws your mental timing off. You have to be focused and thankfully I had a V-Rod that went straight down the track." Hines won his first two heats when Kandy Buell's Angie Smith and Bad Boy Buggies Suzuki's Jim Underdahl both red-lighted. Hines followed with a 7.23 to 7.28 win over Steve Johnson to move into his fifth final round in eight VOL. 51 ISSUE 29 JULY 22, 2014 P103 Briefly... For the third-straight year, the Lu- cas Oil Buell team dominated quali- fying in Denver. Hector Arana Jr. ran a 7.178 on Friday that shattered his own 7.237 track record from last season. Arana Jr. also bumped his own Bandimere speed record of 186.54 to a 186.72 run. "I hon- estly didn't expect to see that," said Arana Jr. "We put in a tune-up that we had left over from last year. The motor is different but the tune-up is the same and it was really strong. The combination really came to- gether. We have a good set-up for the mountain, but I did not expect to see the numbers we saw." Four races in the first round were decided by red-light starts but none were more bizarre than the match between Lucas Oil Buell's Adam Arana and Steve Johnson. Arana fouled at the start, making Johnson the automatic winner even though his Suzuki never left the starting line. Johnson's bike stalled just as he rolled into the staging lights and he was able to advance with- out ever leaving the starting line. "That was really bizarre, but I'll take it," Johnson said. "I don't ever get breaks like that." With his Denver victory, Andrew Hines has now appeared in 60 ca- reer final rounds and claimed 36 wins. He is the third most success- ful rider in the history of the class behind the late Dave Schultz (45), and Angelle Sampey (41). The Denver race went on without the White Alligator Suzuki team and rider Jerry Savoie. As the owner of a large and prosperous al- ligator farm in Southern Louisiana, continued on next page Hines' victory was his fourth of the season and his 36 th career Pro Stock victory. (Left) Vance & Hines' Andrew Hines won the Denver round of the NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock series. MOUNTAIN

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