Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec won his fourth Pro Stock Motorcycle event of the season, defeating his teammate, Andrew Hines, in an all-Harley-Davidson final-round at the 33rd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. The Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines team remains undefeated after seven events in 2012, and Krawiec leads the series in points.
“The Screamin’ Eagle team really prides itself on consistency,” said Krawiec. “Andrew and I are both riding really well, and I think we have the best-prepared bikes on race day. Sometimes that’s better than having the fastest bike.”
Both Krawiec and Hines have qualified for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs that begin with the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway nearCharlotte, N.C., on Sept. 14-16.
Hines (7.283-second Elapsed Time) and Krawiec (7.298 ET) qualified third and fourth, respectively, behind the Lucas Oil Buell tandem of Hector Arana (7.243 ET) and Hector Arana Jr., the number-one qualifier at 7.238 seconds.
Krawiec advanced through the Sunday elimination rounds with wins over Pirana Z Buell rider Shawn Gann, GT Racing Suzuki rider LE Tonglet, and Arana Jr., in the first three rounds.
Hines also charged through Sunday eliminations, with wins over Michael Phillips on The Edge Suzuki, Sovereign-Star Racing Buell rider Scott Pollacheck, and Geico Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer.
That put two Harley-Davidson V-Rod® motorcycles in the final round for the second time this season, and as he did at the season-opener in Gainesville, Fla., Krawiec left the winner. Hines had the better Elapsed Time with a 7.285-second run, but left the starting line 0.002 second early to hand the automatic win to Krawiec, who had a 0.009/7.301 run. Krawiec now has 15 national event wins in his NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle career.
“We both knew we were going to have to go for the win at the starting line,” said Hines. “The two V-Rods have been evenly matched all weekend. We were probably not favored to be in the final, but once again this team did its job on Sunday. Right now we seem to be making the fewest mistakes in the motorcycle category. That’s why we keep winning.”
Krawiec leads the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle division with 714 points. Hines is in second place with 670 points, followed by Arana Jr. with 574, Arana Sr. with 510, and Stoffer in fifth place with 396 points.
The Pro Stock Motorcycles will be in action again on July 27-29 at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
