Cycle News

DRAG RACE NHRA PRO STOCK SERIES ROUNDS 1-2/SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2014 TEXAS MOTORPLEX/DALLAS, TEXAS P74 suitable track conditions. Needing a big effort to get back in the hunt, Hines de- livered. "This was a huge win, Hines said. "Yesterday, I al- most snuck one away from Eddie when we raced in the semi finals from Char- lotte. The way my bike has been running lately he'd be running away from me, but we seemed to have fixed our problems today. We changed a bunch of hard parts and a few key strokes on the computer and we were able to get back to where I felt we should have been, performance-wise. We're seeing our perfor- mance pick up and more than likely it was the tuning that fixed it." Hines had the best bike throughout most of Sun- day's final eliminations, but he also got by on a little luck including the final round where Steve Johnson, his scheduled opponent, was a no-show. Johnson dam- aged several engines dur- ing the weekend and even though he had several teams thrashing to help pre- pare his bike for the final, he simply ran out of time to an- swer the call. The loss was probably even harder for Johnson to swallow after he watched Hines' bike stum- ble badly when his transmis- sion malfunctioned. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER The NHRA took a week longer than expected, but Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Eddie Krawiec found the winner's circle for the third-straight race during the NHRA Carolina Nationals, a race that was originally scheduled for zMax Dragway in Charlotte, but later completed at the Texas Motorplex in Dallas a week later. It was Krawiec's third-straight win and fourth of the season. "It's been a long week," said Krawiec. "It's one thing to start a race at one facility and then pick up your stuff and drive 1000 miles across the country to race at another. It's hard to get back in race mode. It's an emo- tional rollercoaster out there." Krawiec was the top qualifier in Charlotte with a 6.84 before the event was postponed. Moving to Texas, the Pro Stock Motorcycle teams had to deal with a completely different set of weather and track conditions yet the Vance & Hines team was able to adapt. Krawiec also had the benefit of a single run in the first round when scheduled opponent Brian Pretzel was unable to attend the Dallas race. "You have to watch the weather because when it changes your tune- up changes," Krawiec said. "You have to work on your clutch program. Typically, the track is good in the morning and then it falls off in the heat of the day and gets better for the final rounds. You learn that the more runs you make and that's the advantage that our team has." Krawiec continued his domina- tion during eliminations with a 6.84 against Petrolhead Buell's Scotty Pollacheck and a 6.86 to 6.90 win against teammate Andrew Hines. Krawiec finished the rout with a 6.88 to 6.91 win over Steve Johnson's Suzuki. The win also gave Krawiec the points lead in the first race in NHRA's Countdown to the Championship. "I thought the final was excit- ing," Krawiec said. "I thought I left first against Steve. When I popped the clutch I thought to myself 'He's finished.' This is three wins in a row and for me it's a confidence thing. The important thing is to not go out and beat yourself. Having a fast bike Steve Johnson got unlucky, making it to the finals against Hines but not being able to make it to the start after engine woes. continued on page 76

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