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NHRA Motorcycle
Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec raced his Harley-Davidson V-Rod to the semi-final round of Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. Krawiec also posted the top speed of the event at 185.84 mph. Karen Stoffer rode the Geico Suzuki to win the final round.
Krawiec qualified third for Sunday eliminations with an elapsed time (ET) of 7.258 seconds. Andrew Hines qualified the other Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines V-Rod in sixth position with a 7.276-second run. Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana led all qualifiers with a 7.240-second pass in qualifying.
In Sunday eliminations, Hines (7.316) lost in the first round to Nitrofish Suzuki rider LE Tonglet (7.285).
Andrew Hines (Harley-Davidson V-Rod) says: "Facing Tonglet in the first round was luck of the draw after he qualified in the final round, a repeat of last year’s championship and one of us was going to be disappointed.
"I had an up-and-down weekend with my riding, and I wish I had more to show for this trip to the mountain, but we have the V-Rod motorcycles running closer to each other. Now we have to re-boot for racing near sea level at Sonoma."
Krawiec opened Sunday’s action with a win over Suzuki Extended Protection rider Jim Underdahl in round one, and advanced in round two after Tonglet fouled at the start, leaving 0.014 second early. Krawiec faced Stoffer in the semi-finals, and lost on a hole-shot. Stoffer’s 0.002-second reaction time and 7.338-second ET was just 0.0343 quicker than the 0.049/7.325 run posted by Krawiec.
Ed Krawiec (Harley-Davidson V-Rod) says: "Well, Karen did not leave much on the plate with that start. I would have liked to be a little quicker off the line, but not a lot. We are still in a tight race, and there are a lot of points left to win."
Stoffer defeated The Edge Suzuki rider Michael Phillips in the final.
With her win at Denver, Stoffer takes the series points lead from Krawiec. After seven of 16 scheduled Pro Stock Motorcycle events, Stoffer has 599 points. Krawiec drops to second with 566 points. Matt Smith, who lost in the first round at Denver, is third with 456 points. Tonglet is fourth with 453 points, followed by Hines in fifth position with 436 points.
The Pro Stock Motorcycles will next race when the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series stops at the 24th annual Fram/Autolite NHRA Nationals, July 29-31, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
