Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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NHRA PRO STOCK SERIES two wheel racers immediately took shots at the long-awaited 200-mph barrier and Hines near- ly got there with a 199.23 mph speed. Their elapsed times were also in near-record territory with Krawiec taking the top spot with a 6.74 and Hines in third with a 6.778. Only the number two qualifier, Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Jr., was close. "To come in here and run 6.70s is phenomenal," Hines said. "Over the last year or so I VOL. 51 ISSUE 22 JUNE 3, 2014 P95 Briefly... Gaining confidence with each race, rookie of the year contender Chaz Kennedy picked up his second round win of the season after Hec- tor Arana Sr. fouled. Kennedy would have been tough to beat regardless with a 6.851 on the Star Buell. "I've made enough runs now that I'm start- ing to get more and more comfort- able," Kennedy said. "I'm also in a better position to give feedback to the team and that has helped us in tuning the bike. In short, the whole package is starting to come together." How quick was the Englishtown field? At last year's event, the number-one qualifier ran 6.931-sec- onds. This year, all 16 bikes quali- fied at 6.929-seconds or quicker. After destroying his only engine during qualifying, Jimmy Under- dahl was a no show for his first round race against Hector Arana Jr., who used the single run to make another solid run with a 6.774 on his Lucas Oil Buell. Underdahl's father and crew chief, Greg, had of- fers from other teams to borrow an engine, but elected to pass. "I just didn't feel right doing that," he said. "Once we weighed our options, we figured the best thing to do was sit out the round and start preparing for the next race." The Harley team aside, the most im- pressive performance of the week- end probably came from White Al- ligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie. The only bike in the field to use a Mo- Tech brand fuel injection and igni- tion system, Savoie has struggled at times with the set-up but found what he called the "sweet spot" in Englishtown with a 6.829 in quali- fying and another 6.829 in his first round win over Steve Johnson. "I would have been happy with any- thing in the 6.80s," Savoie said. "I never expected us to run 6.82 twice. It shows we're headed in the right direction with this program." European rider Elvira Karlsson and her father, Robert, hired veteran crew chief Gary Stoffer to help tune their Vance & Hines-powered Suzuki and the results were almost instanta- neous. Stoffer re-worked some sys- tems on the bike, and coached the 19-year old Swede. In Saturday's final qualifying session, Karlsson made the best pass of her career with a 6.94 but just missed the quick field, which had a 6.92 bump spot. The Karlssons were enthused enough to add additional U.S. rounds to their 2014 schedule. They now plan to make the upcoming events in Chi- cago and Norwalk, Ohio. Nitro Fish Buell's Matt Smith is more than just a rider. He's also a team owner who provides the S&S Buells for his wife, Angie, and teammates John Hall and Scotty Pollacheck. No one can accuse Smith of not giving his teammates quality equip- ment since Hall had the quicker bike when he raced Smith in the second round. However, Smith was able to win on a holeshot, 6.84 to 6.83. "I needed to cut a good light," Smith said. "He's got the better bike. I had to go up and do my job because he's a hell of a rider." Smith was one racer who was quite vocal about the recent performance gains made by the Harley V-Rods. Although all of the V-twin bikes are now racing with the same engine continued on next page It was an all Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson final in New Jersey with Andrew Hines (504) and Eddie Krawiec (3). All Harley, All The Time HINES DEFEATS KRAWIEC IN ANOTHER ALL-HARLEY FINAL ROUND