IN
THE
WIND
P32
KRAWIEC
OUTDUELS
SAVOIE IN TEXAS
F
or the third-straight year, rivals Eddie
Krawiec and Jerry Savoie met in the
final round of the AAA Texas Nationals and
after back-to-back losses, Screamin' Eagle
Harley-Davidson's Krawiec emerged with
the win to extend his lead in the NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle points standings. Krawiec
ran the table in Dallas. He was the number-
one qualifier, and then went on to win the
final round after reigning champ Savoie left
the starting line too soon and fouled.
"For me, it's the drive to get that cowboy
hat; that's what it's all about," Krawiec said,
referring to the special edition Stetson tradi-
tionally awarded to all the Dallas champions.
"This is huge. There are just two races left
after this so this sets the tone for the cham-
pionship. Coming in here, I put more pres-
sure on myself to do well and I had a perfect
weekend. In qualifying, I went out there and
got some [bonus points] and qualified num-
ber one then we won the race. That's about
as good as it gets."
There was more good news for Krawiec
when his biggest championship rival, Nitro
Fish Suzuki's LE Tonglet, suffered a rare loss
in the first round of eliminations against San
Marino Excavating Suzuki's Joey Gladstone.
That resulted in a huge points swing where
Krawiec now has a 107-point lead with just two
races left.
"When I saw LE go out in the first round, I knew
we needed to capitalize on it," Krawiec said. "It
was unfortunate for him, but I knew we needed
to pick up the ball and run with it. That was my
motivation for today."
Krawiec's day began with a win over David
Hope and also included wins against Big St.
Charles Suzuki's Karen Stoffer and Suzuki Ex-
tended Protection's Scotty Pollacheck. Against
Stoffer, Kraweic ran a 6.785, the quickest
run of the weekend in the class. He defeated
Pollacheck with a 6.853 elapsed time and
later rolled the throttle in the final after he saw
Savoie's red light.
Eddie Krawiec met Jerry Savoie
(pictured) in the Pro Stock Motorcycle
final; Savoie jumped the gun and
Krawiec cruised to victory.
