Hines puts second win on NHRA motorcycle scoreboard
The Staff of Clutch and Chrome
May 7th 2008
Screamin’
Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines rode a
Harley-Davidson V-Rod to his second Pro Stock Motorcycle win
of the season at the 12th Annual O’Reilly NHRA Midwest
Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International
Raceway.
Hines
defeated NitroFish/Torco Buell rider Matt Smith in the final
round to take his second consecutive win of the season and
the 15th of his career. Four races into the 2008 NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle season, Hines has appeared in three final
rounds, has two wins, and leads the series by 56 points.
“Four races and three finals and two wins, it's just a
tribute to how good my team is,” said Hines. “They like
being on top and they're giving me a motorcycle underneath
me to be there a lot this year. It's so fun right now.
There's a lot of work back at the shop for the guys and
they're just trying to dig and scrape and find anything they
can to help us out. This is a perfect way to go into a
month-off swing. It's going to be fun once we get to
Chicago. Everybody else in the class is going to go home and
do their homework. At this point last year we went out and
made 40 test runs and went out and won Chicago. We plan on
doing the same thing. We're not going to slack off any bit,
we're just going to enjoy this win right now.”
Hines qualified third for the event with a pass of 6.943
seconds, behind Chip Ellis (6.907) and Smith, who lead the
field with a pass of 6.901. Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines
rider Eddie Krawiec was right behind Hines, qualifying
fourth at 6.945.
Hines opened Sunday’s elimination rounds with an event-best
6.875 pass to beat Joe DeSantis, and then defeated Karen
Stoffer and Ellis to reach the final. Krawiec beat Mike
Berry and Angelle Sampey before losing to Smith on the
starting line in the semi-final round, as both riders posted
6.965 runs down the track. In the final, Smith and Hines
left the line together but Smith’s bike faltered down the
track and Hines collected the win, 6.882 to 8.098. Hines has
now posted 16 consecutive six-second runs.
The win by Hines and a first-round loss by Matt Guidera
shuffled the points standings after four rounds in the 2008
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Hines leads with 405
points, followed by Smith with 349, and Chip Ellis with 325.
Guidera, who was second coming into Gateway, drops to fourth
with 296 points. Krawiec is sixth with 220 points. NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycles will race next at the Torco Racing Fuels
Route 66 NHRA Nationals, June 5-8 at Route 66 Raceway,
Joliet, Ill. |
