Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines rider, Andrew Hines, broke his year-long winless streak this past weekend after fending off teammate Eddie Krawiec for the victory.
In an all-Harley final round, Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines prevailed over Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines teammate Eddie Krawiec to win the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at Summit Motorsports Park. It was the first event win for Hines since May 4, 2008, in Madison, Ill. Krawiec, the defending Pro Stock Motorcycle champion, rode his Harley-Davidson V-Rod to a fifth-consecutive final-round appearance and now leads the series by 70 points.
Hines set a new Pro Stock Motorcycle track record with a 6.944-second run in the final round of qualifying on Saturday to his 26th career No. 1 qualifier position. Krawiec qualified third with a time of 6.971.
Hines and Krawiec both charged through the first three elimination rounds on Sunday to get to the final. Hines defeated Mike Berry on the MB Machining Buell and Horne Racing Buell rider Doug Horne in the first two rounds, and made a solo pass in round three when Matt Guidera could not get the Rocklin Motorsports Buell to the starting line.
Krawiec beat Suzuki riders Jim Underdahl and Karen Stoffer in the opening rounds, and beat NitroFish Buell rider Angie McBride in the semi-finals to set up the final-round show-down with Hines. Hines and Krawiec had each won five times in previous head-to-head races.
Hines used a great 0.005-second reaction time to beat Krawiec (0.039) off the line, and put the race away with an 7.024 ET to 7.032 for Krawiec. It was the 16th career Pro Stock Motorcycle win for Hines.
“I knew that Eddie had a strong motorcycle today, and when I got that bye round in the semi-finals, I tried to hit the tree really hard,” said Hines. “The clutch felt great and I knew I could hit a good light in that lane in the final. Eddie has really been hot and I figured I’d need something extra to beat him, and it worked for me.”
Krawiec said teamwork has brought the Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines team back to the front of the field just three races after the NHRA rules added 20 pounds of weight to the team’s Harley-Davidson V-Rod motorcycles.
“I knew we would bounce back,” said Krawiec, who has now made the final round in nine of 12 events going back to the 2008 season. “This team is always in the top half of the field, while other teams are up and down from event to event. It’s all about being consistent, going rounds and winning points. We are racing with confidence on great bikes, and that equals round and event wins.”
After seven events on the 17-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule, Krawiec leads the series with 624 points. Hines moves up to second place with 554 points, dropping NitroFish Buell rider Matt Smith to third with 506 points. Team Scream Suzuki rider Craig Treble is fourth with 459 points, followed by Horne with 454 points.
The next event on the 2009 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule is the Mopar Mile-High National, July 10-12, at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.
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