Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 30 JULY 30, 2013 "This has been a long time coming," said Arana Jr. "For a while, I lost focus. "After I won those three races in a row, I started to think about winning the race before winning the first round. I think that's what happened to me in my little slump; I was trying to win them all. I'm not going to do that anymore." The atmospheric conditions in Sonoma allowed for some of the quickest elapsed times in this season and Arana was right in the thick of it, as he qualified number two in the field with a 6.840 right behind final-round opponent Matt Smith. Arana was strong during Friday and Saturday's qualifying rounds and he was even better on race day, as he rode to a 6.842 in his round-one win against Sovereign/Star Buell's Scotty Pollacheck and a 6.851 a round later versus the resurgent Suzuki of White Alligator Racing's Jerry Savoie. During his three-year career, Arana Jr. has longed to race his father, Hector Sr. in a final round and that dream nearly came true in Sonoma. Arana Jr. reached the final when he rode to a 6.856 win in the semi final against Tough Girl Designs Suzuki's Katie Sullivan, but father Hector Sr. fell in a close battle against Smith's Viper Motorcycle Co. Buell. "When we looked at the ladder and saw that Dad and I were on opposite sides, it became our goal to get there and have the first father-son final in the class," P75 Briefly... After four years as a part-time privateer, Tough Girl Designs Suzuki's Katie Sullivan enjoyed her best day as a pro in Sonoma, which is also her home track. Sullivan, who has seen dramatically improved results after enlisting Gary Stoffer as her crew chief, qualified number 14 with a 6.94 and then rode to a big upset in the first round when Michael Ray's Sovereign/Star Buell bogged badly off the starting line. Sullivan then added a second-round win after Angie Smith red-lighted against her. "This was so exciting," Sullivan said. "I feel like we've been working up to this the whole time I've been out here. I made seven runs this weekend in the sixes and I couldn't be happier about that." In last week's Denver round, the Suzukis were thoroughly dominated, but the sea-level conditions and cool temperatures in Sonoma provided a much-needed boost to the four-cylinder bikes as five Suzukis qualified for the field and all of them ran in the 6.8-second zone at some point. The battle to make the Countdown to the Championship field heated up in Sonoma as several riders jockeyed for the tenth and final spot in the upcoming playoffs. With one race remaining before the field is set, Shawn Gann is ninth, just four points ahead of Steve Johnson. Former champions LE Tonglet and Andrew Hines are both out of the field. Tonglet is 29 points behind Johnson and Hines is 43 points back. With essentially 20 points available per round, Tonglet will have to advance two more rounds than Johnson, and Hines will have to pick up three rounds at the next round in Indianapolis. For the last few years, it has been generally accepted that the Buell bodies used in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class are not as aerodynamic as the Harley-Davidson or Suzuki bodies, but Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Sr. blew that theory out of the water with a pair of 198mph runs in Sonoma. Arana Sr., who also had the quickest elapsed time of the weekend with a 6.80, attributed the improvement to a new engine combination, and smooth riding. "The bike left straight as an arrow, and I didn't have to fight it," Arana Sr. said. "I knew it was on a good run. I was able to stay tucked, and to my surprise it ran 198 mph. That's the fastest I've ever gone. Overall performance-wise, and what we have found, yes I'm happy, especially going back home [to Indiana]. We have time to freshen up all these engines." The Pro Stock Motorcycle class continues to show strength as 20 bikes competed for the 16 available qualifying spots in Sonoma. Traditionally, West Coast events have had difficulty attracting full fields as most of NHRA's two-wheel teams are based in the East. The four riders who did not qualify for Sunday's eliminations were Jim Underdahl, Fred Camarena, Jim Surber and Daryl Meadows. A year after losing her longtime sponsor, Karen Stoffer made a one-off return to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class in Sonoma with her Jonco Motorsports Suzuki. Stoffer qualified solidly with a 6.91 before a continued on next page

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