Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Eddie Krawiec won his third NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle event of the season, defeating his Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines teammate, Andrew Hines, in an all-Harley-Davidson final at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. It was the second-consecutive NHRA event to feature both Screamin’ Eagle V-Rods in the final round of eliminations – Hines won when the pair faced off on June 28 in Norwalk, Ohio. With his victory at Morrison, Krawiec extends his NHRA Full Throttle series lead to 88 points over second-place Hines.
"Three wins and six-consecutive finals after going last year without a win. That’s pretty amazing," said Krawiec, the defending Pro Stock Motorcycle champion. "The Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines team is really clicking right now. Winning over your teammate is the best victory I can get because we are so competitive with each other."
Hines qualified second for the event with a run of 7.342 seconds, while Krawiec’s best pass of 7.363 was good for fourth in qualifying. Hector Arana lead all qualifiers with an elapsed time of 7.319 seconds.
Both Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines riders advanced through Sunday eliminations with the benefit of opponent’s starting-line fouls, as eight of the 15 races during Sunday’s action were decided by red lights. Hines got red-light wins over Suzuki rider Jim Underdahl and NitroFish.com Buell rider Matt Smith in the first two rounds, and defeated Team Scream Suzuki rider Craig Treble in round three with a 7.335-second pass that would be the quickest run of the elimination rounds. Hines was on the verge of a red light himself, with a perfect reaction time of 0.000 seconds in round two and a 0.004 start in round three.
"I told everyone I was playing with fire at the starting line," said Hines. "But Matt Smith is right behind me in points and had just made a really quick run, and I knew it would take everything I had to beat him in round two. The perfect light was a little quicker than I wanted, but it worked out when he went early."
Krawiec dispatched MB Machining Buell rider Mike Berry in round one, and got red-light wins over Doug Horne on the Horne Racing Buell in round two, and Arana in round three. Krawiec had a reaction time of 0.004 seconds in the second round, his closest brush with a red light before the final.
Hines was too quick at the line in the final, leaving 0.008 seconds early to hand the win to Krawiec, whose reaction time was just 0.001 seconds.
"I don’t try to kill the tree unless I need to, but today we had equal bikes and in the final round I knew the best reaction time would probably win, so I went for it," said Krawiec. "I owed Andrew one after Norwalk anyway. I think all the red lights today are just an indication of the close competition in the class right now."
After eight events on the 17-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule, Krawiec leads the series with 739 points. Hines is in second position with 651, followed by Smith in third with 559, Treble with 535 and Horne with 506 points.
The next event on the 2009 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule is the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals, July 24-25 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.
Screamin’ Eagle Performance Parts are inspired by and built in the spirit of the raw adrenaline and power of motorcycle racing. Screamin’ Eagle Pro parts are specifically designed for race-use applications, while Screamin’ Eagle parts offer street-use performance options for the Harley-Davidson motorcycle owner. Visit www.harley-davidson.com for more information.
The Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines Pro Stock Motorcycle team is sponsored by Matco Tools, Dunlop and S100.
