Cycle News

IN THE WIND P28 HINES TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS TITLE S creamin' Eagle Harley- Davidson's Andrew Hines is on the verge of winning his fifth NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship, and if he is able to pull it off, he'll look back on his win in Las Vegas, October 30 – November 1, as one of the key moments in the season. In a final round pair- ing that featured the top two rid- ers in the class, Hines defeated White Alligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie, who fouled at the start. As a result, Hines heads for the final round of the championship in Pomona with a respectable 46-point lead. Had he lost the final, Hines and Savoie would have been separated by just six markers. "This is a big day," Hines said. "The biggest thing was a final round battle between first and second in points. It could have gone his way just as easily. We've been neck and neck but he had the pace on us this weekend. We minimized the damage in qualifying. That's how I felt; I was doing damage control. I was lucky to turn on a few win lights and we got my motorcycle consistent and that helped a lot. During qualifying, no one could touch Savoie, who set the Las Vegas Motor Speed- way track record with a 6.852 run. Savoie was also quick on race day in his wins over Fred Camarena, Steve Johnson, and Nitro Fish Suzuki's LE Tonglet. Hines wasn't able to keep pace until the final where he ran a 6.92. Savoie was still quicker with a 6.91, but the accompany- ing red-light start gave Hines his 42nd career victory. "As soon as I popped clutch, I saw the red light on in Jerry's lane and I said to myself, 'Hey, that's 46 points, not six,'" said Hines. "I'm the type that counts points. That's what I do. My team figured out how to go five- hundredths quicker in the final. It didn't matter because of the red light but it could have paid big dividends. We also learned something in the final. We got a lot closer to that Alligator bike. I was feeling so comfortable all day long. That was a lot differ- ent than last year when it was so close I was ready to throw my lungs up. I've had nothing like that this year. I had a chain come off in Dallas. I wish it wouldn't have happened but we're mak- ing the best of it. I'll take the 46 points and go to Pomona." Kevin McKenna DUCATI HAS STYLE, APPARENTLY T he flow of YouTube videos from Ducati contin- ues this week, as the company releases a short 40-second film clip dubbed "This Is Style." Your guess is as good as our as to what it is, but we won't have to wait too long to find out, as all will be re- vealed at the EICMA Show in Milan on November 16. Ducati will be releasing nine new models for the 2016 model year, with the Monster 1200 R and low- capacity Scrambler confirmed, what will this one be? CN

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