Saturday was very good to Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson Pro Stock Motorcycle teammates Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec as they split a pair of accolades during final day qualifying at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Hines captured the NHRA Pro Bike Battle at Sonoma Raceway while Krawiec captured the No. 1 qualifying position, his fifth of the season.

After two Saturday sessions, professional qualifying remained unchanged with Del Worsham (Funny Car), Steve Torrence (Top Fuel) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock) heading into final eliminations as the top seeds in their respective categories.

Hines successfully defended his Pro Bike Battle crown, and in doing so earned his sixth specialty event in NHRA history by running 6.775 seconds to edge Krawiec’s 6.811.

“Winning this event really doesn’t take any pressure off of what I need to do on Sunday,” said Hines, who enters Sunday eliminations third quickest on the strength of his final round win, which also counts towards qualifying. “Our team always makes sure we have good V-rods to go out there and win. We stumbled on a good tune-up after struggling Friday, and we knew we had some work to do with as fast as the class is this weekend.”

Jim Underdahl anchored the quickest-ever 16-bike field in Sonoma history with a 6.902.

Leading the field was Krawiec’s track-record 6.751 elapsed time.

“Being close to sea level here makes for fast runs and quick elapsed times,” said Krawiec. “I just feel comfortable and relaxed here.”

Funny Car champion Worsham remained atop the leaderboard courtesy of Friday night’s personal best, a 3.868, which is also the fourth quickest pass in Funny Car history.

Worsham has two No. 1 qualifying efforts in the last four races.

“Around March or April, we made some more adjustments to the car working with Toyota and their aerodynamics and their engineers, along with all of our people at Kalitta and we definitely have a faster race car right now,” said Worsham. “We’ve made some great improvements in the last month. Two out of the last four races our DHL Toyota has been the number-one qualifier and I’m pretty sure that we were on the way to the top in Chicago, but we had a mechanical problem there. It’s running well, but the bottom line is we’ve got to win races. It’s a Toyota-sponsored weekend, and we’re excited to win the pole for them. It’s great to do it here, where the Sonoma crowd here has been amazing.”

Torrence heads into Sunday’s eliminations as the newly crowned national record holder and the No. 1 seed courtesy of Friday night’s 3.671 elapsed time.

Saturday, Torrence was unable to improve on the record run but was impressive nonetheless.

“I’m more impressed with the 3.69 we ran today in the heat,” said Torrence. “It takes a lot to get to a low 3.70 and even more to get into the .60s. Hat’s off to my team because they are the reason I have run as well as I have. Those guys are the Mack truck and I am just the chrome bulldog on the hood.”

Torrence’s No. 1 effort marked his eighth of the season despite missing the Norwalk event, recovering from a heart attack.

“We want to win as bad as we want to breathe,” Torrence admitted.

Butner remained atop the Pro Stock field with a 6.553, followed by KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson.

“I have had a fast car all year,” said Butner, who recorded his second No. 1 effort since Phoenix. “We made four good runs, which is sometimes tough for me to do.”

Butner, who is winless while his teammates have twelve wins combined, believes the key to winning his first lies in the ability to focus on the task at hand and not overthink.

“The last few races, I have tried some stuff on the starting line,” admitted Butner. “I go in with the same routine and I don’t concern myself with who is in the other lane. I feel like if I leave with them I should win.”

Final eliminations for the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals will be broadcast on the FOX network, Sunday starting at 4 PM, EST.

Final round-by-round results from the NHRA Pro Bike Battle at Sonoma Raceway at the 29th annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

ROUND ONE -- Matt Smith, 6.844, 193.54 def. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 6.827, 196.64; Chip Ellis, Buell, 6.831, 196.13 def. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.911, 195.93; Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.803, 196.50 def. Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.922, 193.02; Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.751, 197.65 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.916, 195.14;

SEMIFINALS -- Hines, 6.772, 197.62 def. Smith, 10.677, 77.07; Krawiec, 6.793, 196.96 def. Ellis, 6.875, 196.53;

FINAL -- Hines, 6.775, 197.31 def. Krawiec, 6.811, 195.73.
 
Sunday's first-round pairings for eliminations for the 29th annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway, the 15th of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.

Top Fuel -- 1. Steve Torrence, 3.671 seconds, 331.04 mph vs. 16. Terry Haddock, 4.754, 161.04; 2. Antron Brown, 3.710, 323.27 vs. 15. Terry McMillen, 4.281, 311.41; 3. Doug Kalitta, 3.711, 327.98 vs. 14. Bill Litton, 4.026, 291.82; 4. Shawn Langdon, 3.714, 325.14 vs. 13. Scott Palmer, 3.921, 307.65; 5. Richie Crampton, 3.714, 323.58 vs. 12. Troy Buff, 3.813, 316.30; 6. Brittany Force, 3.728, 325.85 vs. 11. T.J. Zizzo, 3.807, 317.34; 7. J.R. Todd, 3.731, 324.05 vs. 10. Clay Millican, 3.764, 300.73; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.735, 318.99 vs. 9. Leah Pritchett, 3.751, 327.19.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Steve Faria, 9.029, 278.46.

Funny Car -- 1. Del Worsham, Toyota Camry, 3.868, 327.43 vs. 16. Tim Gibbons, Chevy Impala, 4.517, 275.84; 2. Courtney Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.871, 323.97 vs. 15. Gary Densham, Ford Mustang, 4.487, 288.52; 3. Robert Hight, Camaro, 3.874, 327.03 vs. 14. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Solara, 4.149, 305.36; 4. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.875, 330.15 vs. 13. John Hale, Charger, 4.011, 317.87; 5. Ron Capps, Charger, 3.877, 326.71 vs. 12. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.004, 309.70; 6. John Force, Camaro, 3.890, 329.10 vs. 11. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.946, 319.45; 7. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.902, 325.77 vs. 10. Chad Head, Camry, 3.920, 327.90; 8. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.903, 322.88 vs. 9. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.920, 323.27.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Brandon Welch, 5.969, 120.08.

Pro Stock -- 1. Bo Butner, Chevy Camaro, 6.553, 211.26 vs. 16. Joey Grose, Camaro, 6.779, 204.35; 2. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.567, 210.41 vs. 15. Alan Prusiensky, Dodge Dart, 6.736, 205.76; 3. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.573, 210.54 vs. 14. Deric Kramer, Dart, 6.640, 208.68; 4. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.575, 210.01 vs. 13. Jeg Coughlin, Dart, 6.632, 208.62; 5. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.584, 210.24 vs. 12. Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.631, 210.64; 6. Allen Johnson, Dart, 6.588, 209.95 vs. 11. Aaron Strong, Camaro, 6.630, 208.78; 7. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.592, 210.64 vs. 10. Erica Enders, Dart, 6.612, 209.26; 8. Jason Line, Camaro, 6.594, 209.62 vs. 9. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.601, 210.41.

Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.751, 197.65 vs. 16. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.902, 196.47; 2. Angelle Sampey, Buell, 6.752, 198.15 vs. 15. Angie Smith, Victory, 6.880, 194.41; 3. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.775, 197.31 vs. 14. Freddie Camarena, Suzuki, 6.876, 196.56; 4. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.780, 197.33 vs. 13. Katie Sullivan, Suzuki, 6.865, 193.93; 5. Chip Ellis, Buell, 6.796, 198.47 vs. 12. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.859, 197.25; 6. Matt Smith, Victory, 6.819, 196.82 vs. 11. Michael Ray, Buell, 6.858, 194.32; 7. Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.823, 196.19 vs. 10. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.857, 195.28; 8. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 6.827, 196.64 vs. 9. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.839, 196.13.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Melissa Surber, 6.910, 189.76; 18. Scotty Pollacheck, 6.914, 193.07; 19. Cory Reed, 6.930, 189.90; 20. Chaz Kennedy, 6.954, 191.70; 21. Shawn Gann, 6.968, 192.80; 22. Scott Bottorff, 7.015, 189.02; 23. Lance Bonham, 7.133, 186.48; 24. Brian Bognuda, broke.