VOL. 54 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 14, 2017 P107
our issues. I'm most proud of
what we had to overcome to get
back to level we expect from
ourselves."
The final round was one of
the most bizarre races of the
year. Hines was distanced by a
clutch issue with his bike yet still
managed to win after Krawiec's
bike slowed.
"In the second round, we
pulled the clutch cover off of Ed-
die's bike and the clutch came
out in pieces," Hines said. "I
think the same thing happened
to me in the final. I did my burn-
out and the clutch wanted to pull
the bike across the starting line.
I had to modify my whole routine
in order to hold it. I was super-
frustrated because I thought
I'd lost my whole chance to
win a race this year. I managed
to regain my composure and
somehow, it held together to run
Krawiec occupied the pole in
Pomona with a 6.781 pass on
his Street Rod and Hines was
close behind with a 6.799. The
Vance & Hines team entered a
third Street Rod in Pomona and
fill-in rider Chip Ellis rode that
bike to a 6.805 for the number-
three spot. During Sunday's
final eliminations, Hines had the
quickest bike in the opening
round with a 6.820 in his win
over rookie Ryan Oehler. Hines
followed with another strong
6.824 win against Joey Glad-
stone and a 6.817 in the semifi-
nal to defeat Nitro Fish Suzuki's
LE Tonglet.
"Our bike was fast and
consistent," said Hines who
has now won at least one race
for 14-straight years. "It's been
a long year for my side of the
team. We struggled and we
worked hard to overcome all
(Right) Krawiec
officially clinched
the title during
the qualifying
rounds. (Below)
Andrew Hines met
teammate Krawiec
in the final and
came away with
the win.
