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/853132
DRAG RACE 2017 NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6 / JULY 22-23, 2017 BANDIMERE SPEEDWAY / MORRISON, COLORADO P94 BY KEVIN MCKENNA PHOTOGRAPHY BY NHRA T he question of how long will it would take for the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team to get used to their new Street Rod bikes was answered this weekend when Eddie Krawiec rode the new machine to his 38th career NHRA victory at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver. After winning eight cham- pionships and 84 events with their tried and true V-Rods, the Vance & Hines team debuted the new Street Rod a month ago in Englishtown, New Jersey and struggled to find both performance and consistency. In Denver, where the thin mountain air makes for some of the most chal- lenging race conditions on the tour, Krawiec broke out in a big way when he qualified number one and then rode to his second win of the season on race day. In the final, Krawiec finished rode to a 7.145 pass at 188.28 to defeat Polaris Victory Magnum's Matt Smith in the final round. After notching his 35th career number-one qualifier on Saturday, Krawiec earned the 38th win of his career. "We've gotten off to a slow start since we had to switch bikes, so we were behind in terms of figuring out the strengths of this new bike and how it works," Krawiec said. "We really like where we are at currently, and we're going to try and keep this momentum going on the West Coast." After qualifying in the top spot with a 7.178, just a thousandth of a second ahead of the Lucas Oil Buell of Hec- tor Arana Jr., Krawiec defeated David Hope, Joey Gladstone and Scotty Pol- lacheck as he locked down his third final-round appearance this season, but his first on the new machine. Krawiec went on to explain the thought process that led to the design and development of the all-new bike. "We were kind of off to what I'd consider a very slow start," Krawiec said. "Harley-Davidson came to us back in January and they told us they wanted to race a bike that they actually sell. They'd discontinued the V-Rod and came out with this all-new Street Rod. We designed and built them but we were a little behind the eight-ball. We only made a few runs [in testing] before we raced them in Englishtown and we stunk up the place. We had 15 years of data on our old bikes. We know its trends and the way it works and this new bike is a different animal. It's a whole new chassis and a new body and we needed to learn how to make the bike work on all track condi- tions. Fortunately, we've had good success here in Denver and the bike responded once we got here." Krawiec also noted that the team built a pair of special engines specifi- Eddie Krawiec celebrates his first win on the new H-D Street Rod in Colorado. MOUNTAIN MAGIC Krawiec wins in Denver as Vance & Hines team scores first win with new Street Rod bikes