Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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DRAG RACING NHRA COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5/OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 2, 2014 THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY/LAS VEGAS, NEVADA P76 power out of the bike now and Matt [Hines, brother and crew chief] can tune it. That [6.85] was an amazing run. You only have a few like that in your ca- reer and that was one of them." Hines wasn't able to duplicate his 6.85-second run in Sun- day's eliminations, but he didn't have to. The Screamin' Eagle bike advanced through the first two elimination rounds with runs of 6.93 and 6.94 to de- feat John Hall and Star Racing Buell's Chaz Kennedy. The big- gest challenge for Hines came in the final four round where he was paired with White Alligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie, the win- ner of the St. Louis round last month. Earlier, Savoie dealt a crippling blow to the champion- ship hopes of Hines' teammate, Eddie Krawiec, but couldn't take out both Harleys and Hines won with a 6.95 to extend his points lead. In the final round against Nitro Fish Buell's Matt Smith, Hines was consistent with an- other 6.95 while Smith, seeking his first win of the season, was close behind with a 6.97. "I've been in this spot before; chasing a championship and haven't been able to get the job done so it was nice to get it done here," Hines said. "I had one of my biggest rivals [Smith] in the other lane and we got af- ter it and I barely squeaked by. I will sleep a lot easier for the next couple of weeks until the end of the season. I've been chasing this [fourth] championship for a long time. Now we just need to finish the job." CN FINAL 1. Andrew Hines (Harley-Davidson) 6.955/191.02 mph 2. Matt Smith (Buell) 6.971/192.11 mph Briefly... "We made an error back in the pits and that's why the bike didn't go down the track," Sullivan said. "Still, we had a great weekend. I qualified really well and we won a couple of rounds. The bike is basically the same as it was the last time we ran in in Sonoma in July. We didn't touch it so I'm ecstatic." The hot rumors floating through the Pro Stock Motorcycle pit area this weekend included the possibility of one, or even two new manufacturers joining the series next year. If true, both manufacturers would likely be- gin with the current S&S V-twin en- gine platform before developing their own pushrod V-twin. After leaving the Star team earlier this season, Michael Ray returned with his own Buell entry. Leasing engines from Matt Smith, Ray qualified num- ber three with a 6.88 and defeated Jim Underdahl in round one before he broke against Katie Sullivan. "For what is basically a new team, I'm pretty impressed," Ray said. "In fact, we think this might be the best way to go. We enjoy racing by ourselves and as long as I can get good en- gines from Matt Smith, I think we can be successful." Hector Arana Jr's slim chances of winning the 2014 championship came to an end when he red-lighted in his round one match against Eddie Krawiec. "For whatever reason, I was red every time in the right lane," Ara- na Jr. said. "The other lane was fine, so I don't know what it was with the right lane. I just went out there to win. When I saw the lights come on, I let go of the clutch. I reacted to the Tree and it ended up being red-again." The Screamin' Eagle Harley- Davidson team celebrate Hines' sixth win of the season.