Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines, Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammates met in the finals Sunday at the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

Krawiec, who has now been in six finals in a row, collected his third win of the season when Hines collected a redlight off the starting line.

Krawiec avenged a loss he suffered to Hines in the last event at Norwalk.

Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines, Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammates met in the finals Sunday at the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals.

Krawiec, who has now been in six finals in a row, collected his third win of the season when Hines collected a redlight off the starting line.

Krawiec avenged a loss he suffered to Hines in the last event at Norwalk.

"To have two Harleys in the finals at back-to-back races is making a pretty good statement," said Krawiec, the 2008 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ. "It shows that our team is consistent. We go out there on race day and we have not had the best bike every single round, but we're doing our job as riders and that's what we need to do. Andrew and I are probably the most two competitive people in this entire park. Whether it's walking or cutting the grass, Andrew and I are trying to race each other doing it. I also think we feed off of each other. If I'm out there doing well, Andrew takes that positive energy and applies it to himself, just like I do.

Krawiec is atop the points standings with 739 points, followed by Hines (651) and Matt Smith (559).  Hines was gracious in defeat.

"The thing I didn't want to do was redlight, but I was playing with fire all day," Hines said. "I was perfect in the second round and I was .04 in the semis. I just tried to hold down the clutch as long as I could, but it just came up red. It was nice to get back in the final in Denver, where I won in 2006. The last couple of years I kind of struggled here, but it was good to be back. We're really good up here on the mountain when we lived in Trinidad and we're still good coming back. This is a tribute to how good Matt (Hines) is as our crew chief."

Last year, Krawiec fell in the semifinals to Steve Johnson at Bandimere and Johnson beat Hines in the second round. Krawiec's bike never left the line against Johnson because his bike had throttle leakage.

"To put the Harley in the winner's circle for the 21st time is real cool opportunity," said Krawiec, who has three wins this season. I have been to six finals and that's something I never dreamed of. I'm just glad to do all this for my entire team."  Vance & Hines' win at Bandimere Sunday shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the history the team has at the track.

Krawiec now has one win at the Mile-High Nationals and Andrew has one as well in 2006.

Matt Hines, Andrew's brother and his crew chief, won Pro Stock Motorcycle crowns at Bandimere in 1996, '97, '98 and 2002.

Matt benefitted from the fact that Byron Hines, Matt and Andrew's father, owned and operated the Freedom Motorsports shop in Trinidad from 1997-2004. Byron moved the shop to Brownsburg, Ind., in 2004 and the shop is now called Vance & Hines Motorsports. Trinidad is about three hours south of Bandimere Speedway. Byron Hines is the owner of the Harley-Davidson team.

"Our engine dyno was at 6,000 feet when we were in Trinidad, so we kind of knew what to do with the engine when we got here (to Bandimere)," Matt said. "Denver has treated us well over the years."

Andrew Hines made his Pro Stock Motorcycle debut at the Mile-High Nationals in 2002, losing in the first round to Reggie Showers.

That wasn't a sign of things to come.

Hines went on win three consecutive world titles from 2004-2006.

Matt Hines also has quite an impressive resume. He won 30 career Pro Stock Motorcycle races and he also snared three consecutive world championships from 1997-99.
 

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