Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 18, 2014 P91 "I was really concerned about racing Chaz [Ken- nedy]. I was a little late be- cause the sun was in my eyes. We knew we had a good bike, I didn't want to push it too hard. I saw him in front of me, so I knew I had to run him down. When I crossed the finish line and saw I'd won that was a big sense of relief." For Arana Jr., the win was emotional, not just because it was the final event of the season or because it came at the expense of the rival Harley team. It was also the last time that Arana will race with his brother, Adam, who is scheduled to join the U.S. Coast Guard in January. "I got pretty emotional and when I was in the win- ner's circle I was crying a bit," Arana Jr. said. "This is our last race as teammates and I was happy to get to race with him one last time. As far as our team goes, this is going to be a good off-season. I'm glad we got the win for the team. This is a good confidence booster. It's good for our morale to be the champion for the next four months." CN FINAL 1. Hector Arana Jr. (Buell) 6.832/195.08 mph 2. Eddie Krawiec (Harley-David- son) 6.977/176.37 mph Briefly... For the second time this season, Star Racing Buell's Chaz Kennedy made the final four, a sure sign of his continu- ing development as a rider. Kennedy defeated Jim Underdahl and Scotty Pollacheck before he was outrun by Arana Jr. Kennedy's run ended when he broke an engine against Arana Jr. "We had an ignition problem for the first two races but somehow we man- aged to get by," Kennedy said. "Then, it just blew up. We obviously had a ma- jor problem, but I'm not sure we could have outrun Jr. anyway." With regular rider Angelle Sampey side- lined after suffering a severed Achilles tendon in a freak pit area accident in Las Vegas, Star Racing team owner George Bryce decided to give Dutchman Gert-Jan Laseur a chance to make his NHRA debut. Laseur, who stands well over six-feet tall and outweighs Sampey by more than 50 pounds, was admit- tedly not comfortable on the team's S&S-powered Buell, yet he managed to make the best pass of his career with a 7.11. "This was a dream come true for me," Laseur said. "Two weeks ago, I had no idea I'd be racing in America, but we made it happen. My best run in Europe is 7.17 and my goal was to run quicker than that and we were able to do that. It was a great weekend." Swedish rookie Elvira Karlsson quali- fied for the second time this season by making the quickest pass of her career, a 6.93 that was good for the 11th spot in the field. Although Karlsson red-lighted in her opening round against Hector Arana Sr., she was pleased with the progress she made this year. "That was my best run and that was a great way to end the season," Karlsson said. "We'll be back for sure next year." In a bit of a surprising move, John Hall parted ways with team owner Matt Smith prior to the Pomona race. Hall did not race in Pomona and his future with the team is unclear. The dispute appar- ently began at the Las Vegas race two weeks ago and was triggered by the be- havior of Hall's crew members. In another sign of NHRA's unpar- alleled diversity, the Pomona Pro Stock Motorcycle field included three women and riders from Sweden, Hol- land, Puerto Rico, and Australia. More than a decade after making his first start in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, Fred Camarena finally recorded his first six-second run. Camarena ran in the sixes on all four of his qualifying runs, including a best of 6.96 and also ran a 6.97 in the opening round, but it wasn't enough to stop Hector Arana Jr. It was a rough weekend for White Al- ligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie, who struggled to get his Vance & Hines- powered Suzuki up to speed and suffered a rare round one loss at the hands of Adam Arana. "We just missed the tune-up this weekend; that's all," Savoie said. "We should have run bet- ter than we did on every pass, but we were missing something. We had a good season and we're going to spend the winter making our program better." There were 22 Pro Stock Motorcycles in Pomona and the favorable weather condi- tions made for an all-six second field. One of the surprise non-qualifiers was Michael Ray, who had one of the fast- est bikes in Las Vegas yet missed the set-up in Pomona and did not make Sunday's final eliminations. "We strug- gled a lot this weekend," Ray said. "We broke parts and we missed our tune-up and basically it was a disaster. It was not a great way to end the season but we'll bounce back."

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