Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec raced a Harley-Davidson® V-Rod® motorcycle to the semi-final elimination round at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, snapping a two-event streak that saw the defending Pro Stock Motorcycle champion eliminated in the first round of competition.
“We had to make some big changes after last week in Chicago, and I think we made some progress and were able to get the new engine more in its zone,” said Krawiec. “My V-Rod was struggling off the line all weekend and we made some significant clutching adjustments for Sunday that worked, until we seemed to hit a wall in the semi-final.
Advancing the development of the team’s new two-valve V-Twin engine, Krawiec qualified 11th for the event with an Elapsed Time (ET) of 6.986 seconds. Andrew Hines qualified the team’s other Harley-Davidson V-Rod in seventh place at 6.963 seconds. Sovereign-Star Racing Buell rider Michael Ray led all qualifiers with a 6.912-second ET. On Sunday, Hines lost in the first round to Sovereign-Star Racing Buell rider Scott Pollacheck.
“It was encouraging to see our performance better match that of the rest of the field this weekend,” said Hines, “but I won’t be happy until we see a win light four runs in a row.”
Krawiec used a 6.955-second ET in the first round to defeat Stockseth Buell rider Angie Smith, and ran 6.950 in round two to get a win over Steve Johnson on the PowerSports Institute Suzuki. Krawiec’s ET slipped to 6.999 in a third-round loss to Pollacheck, who ran 6.947. Pollacheck lost in the final round to Viper Motorcycle Company Buell rider Matt Smith.
After seven rounds of Pro Stock Motorcycle competition in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Jr., who fouled in the first round at Norwalk, still leads the class with 569 points. Ray is second with 521 points, followed by Smith with 487 points. Viper Motorcycle Company Buell rider John Hall is fourth with 471 points, followed by Pollacheck in fifth with 459 points. Krawiec is in eighth place with 360 points. Hines is 12th with 275 points.
The Pro Stock Motorcycles will next race July 19-21 at the 34th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado.
