NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle
Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec retained his lead in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, winning one round of eliminations at the rain-delayed Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The Pro Stock Motorcycle class ran one round on Sunday, and then continued racing on Monday.
Krawiec won on Sunday, defeating Shawn Gann on the Dirt World Nation Buell. On Monday, Krawiec lost in the second round to SAF & Motorcycles Specialties rider Jerry Savoie. Krawiec’s 7.120-second ET was his slowest run of the weekend, and not enough to beat 6.949 pass by Savoie.
Ed Krawiec (Harley-Davidson V-Rod Dragster) says: "I had him covered in round two, and then when I shifted to third gear, the motorcycle shut down for three or four tenths of a second.
"In three years of riding the Harley V-Rod I’ve never had an electrical problem, but it seems that’s what happened today. The bike started right back up, but by then the round was lost. We’ll figure out what happened and be ready for the next race. The good news is we came in with a nice cushion in the points, and we used it today."
Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines won two rounds on the team’s other Harley V-Rod, defeating Nitro Fish Suzuki rider LE Tonglet in round one and The Edge Suzuki rider Michael Phillips in round two. Hines set a new personal ET record at 6.794 seconds in the second round, the fourth quickest time in class history. Hines lost in the third round to Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Jr.
Arana Jr. defeated Buell rider Matt Smith in the final to win the second event of his career.
After three of six Countdown events Krawiec leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle class with 2362 points. Arana Jr. moves from third to second place with 2327 points, and Smith is third with 2292 points. Geico Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer, who lost in round one at Maple Grove, drops to fourth with 2261 points. Hines is fifth with 2253 points.
The fourth round of the Countdown to the Championship, the 27th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, takes place Oct. 14-16 at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.