Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/78404
VOL. 49 ISSUE 29 JULY 24, 2012 P61 this season after teammate An- drew Hines red-lighted. "Talk about a dream season." said. Krawiec "We never ex- pected it to go like this and to be 100 percent honest this race shouldn't have gone like this. On Friday we were struggling to keep up with the Aranas. Up here on the mountain, that extra weight that our bikes carry means a lot. This track is 5800 feet above sea level so our power to weight ratio gets drastically reduced. We just dug down deep and went after it." During qualifying, the Lucas Oil bikes of Hector Arana Sr. and Jr. enjoyed a significant perfor- mance advantage over the field. Hector Jr. led the way with a 7.23 and his father, Hector Sr., was close behind with a 7.24. Hines and Krawiec were seeded third and fourth, respectively, but were a full five-hundredths behind. "On race day, the weather changed and it fell in our favor and the whole field got bunched up closer together," Krawiec said. "That was the difference. We made the adjustments we needed and made four good runs on race day. Our whole deal has been about making minimal mistakes." In eliminations, Krawiec im- proved to a 7.24 in his opening round win against Gann's Speed Buell's Shawn Gann and then a 7.28 to beat Nitro Fish Suzuki's LE Tonglet in round two. In the pivotal semi final race against Arana Jr., Krawiec slowed to a 7.28, but managed to get the win when Arana's Buell slowed after wounding an engine. Krawiec was outrun in the final Briefly... Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Jr. grabbed the pole for the eighth- time in his career and swept all 12 available bonus qualifying points when he rode to the top spot with a 7.238-second run, but he was more impressed with his bike's consistency. "All of my runs were between 7.23 and 7.25 in the heat or the cool weather," Arana Jr. said. "It's really awesome, and I'm really excited. We haven't really made big adjustments, just teeny-tiny little adjustments. As you can see, we've been very consistent. Get- ting everything together, getting all the little bugs worked out, getting all our new things lined up - just like last year, everything's coming together." The privateer team of Katie Sulli- van and her father, Charlie, made history in Denver when they be- came the first father-daughter com- bination to line up against each other during qualifying. Although neither Sullivan made the field, their achievement did not go un- appreciated by the Denver fans. "I wish we could have both qualified, but being able to line up against my dad a couple of times during qualifying was something I'll always remember," Katie said. "He's done so much for my career; I could nev- er thank him enough. I just hope he had as much fun as I did." Krawiec beat Hector Arana Jr. in the semis. There is usually a significant drop off in entries during the annual NHRA Western Swing, which fea- tures back-to-back races in Denver and Sonoma, California. However, this year, the Denver event was strong with 19 Pro Stock motorcy- cles and it's likely that there will be continued on next page