2010 NHRA U.S.NATIONALS - PRO STOCK BIKE
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MONDAY WINNER - MIRACLE AT INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK - Talk about an improbable victory.
Less than three weeks after he thought his Pro Stock motorcycle season was done because of damaged engine, LE Tonglet was standing in the winner’s circle at the U.S. Nationals Monday evening.
Tonglet, a 20-year-old rookie, did the improbable by defeating Andrew Hines in the finals with a stout 6.869-second run at 195.22 mph to edge Hines’ 6.962-second effort at 194.13 mph.
“The U.S. Nationals is the biggest race of the year and just to be competing here is crazing and unreal for us,” said the baby-faced Tonglet, who cut an outstanding .011 light in the finals.
Tonglet, who started the Countdown to 1 playoffs at Indy in seventh place in the point chase, moved all the way up to second on Monday. Hines, thanks to overpowering the track during qualifying and setting the national record, leads Tonglet 2,243 to 2,155.
Tonglet’s status at Indy was in doubt when he broke the cam chain in Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 15, the last event before the U.S. Nationals.
Ironically, Tonglet was able to enter Indy because Vance & Hines fixed up his damaged motor at a price Tonglet’s limited budget team could afford.
“Vance & Hines and Fuel Pak stepped up a lot to get us here,” the 5-foot-11 135-pound Tonglet said. “I would have never expected after Brainerd I would be sitting here talking about winning the U.S. Nationals. Whenever you are up against the Harleys you know they are going to lay some numbers down. We outran Eddie (Krawiec) (Hines’ Harley teammate) in the semis and that was huge. I knew we were going to have to turn it up against Andrew and I finally got my dad (Gary) to lean on it because he was scared to turn it up because of what happened at Brainerd. He told me after we beat Eddie that we were going after it in the finals. To outrun the Harleys is crazy.”
All weekend, Hines was dominating at Indy. He set the national record time of 6.815-second at 197.17 mph Saturday at O’Reilly Raceway Park to win the pole. The speed he clocked on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson was also a track record.
Although impressed with Hines’ performance, Tonglet wasn’t intimidated. He was however surprised.
“I couldn’t believe it when that win like came on,” Tonglet said. “I can’t describe what I am feeling. We’re just going take things race-to-race at this point, but it’s safe we’re going to be at Charlotte.”
This is Tonglet’s second national event win in three final-round appearances. He also won at Chicago in June, but that didn’t compare to Monday. A victory made more impressive by first-round losses at Sonoma, Calif., Denver and Brainerd.
Tonglet’s posted wins over Joe DeSantis, Chip Ellis, and Eddie Krawiec before besting Hines.
MODAY QUICK HITS - RACE REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION
SEEING RED – There’s no question that a lot of victories in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class are decided at the starting line.
With that in mind, several drivers were trying to get an edge over their opponents by cutting a perfect light.
It didn’t work out well.
In the first round alone, Wesley Wells, Karen Stoffer, Joe DeSantis, Craig Treble, and Shawn Gann all had red lights to lose. Those anxious mistakes gave easy wins to Andrew Hines, Steve Johnson, LE Tonglet, Chip Ellis, and Matt Smith.
The red light trend continued in round 2 as Matt Smith, the 2007 world champion, left early against Eddie Krawiec.
UNDERDAHL ON UPSET PARADE – Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Jim Underdahl, the No. 12 qualifier at the U.S. Nationals, is doing his best to shake up the field.
Underdahl knocked off Michael Phillips and Hector Arana in consecutive rounds. Phillips came to Indy third in the points and Arana, the defending class champion, was second.
Underdahl edged Phillips 7.012 to 7.036. Turning up the heat in second round, Underdahl lit the scoreboard with a 6.990 to Arana's 6.997.
Underdahl also had a stout .012 reaction time against Arana.
“It would be a lot of fun to win at the U.S. Nationals,” Underdahl said. “They were trying a new clutch this weekend and we struggled a little in qualifying and I think we got a hold of it in the first round. We will see what happens (in the semifinals).”
Underdahl’s improbable run ended with a loss to Andrew Hines in the semifinals. Hines ran a 6.891 at 193.43 mph as Underdahl struggled with engine woes.
WORTH THE TRIP – LE Tonglet was on the verge of not even making a trip to the U.S. Nationals after he hurt his motor at the Brainerd national event Aug. 15.
Tonglet is a rookie of the year candidate, but his team is running on a limited budget. Tonglet barely made it to Indy, thanks to Vance & Hines putting Tonglet’s engine back together, and Tonglet’s team coming up with just enough funding.
Tonglet qualified second and proceeded to beat Joe DeSantis, Chip Ellis and Eddie Krawiec to reach the semifinals. Tonglet beat Krawiec with a 6.901 at 193.46 mph. Krawiec came in at 6.931 at 192.77 mph.
“We’re really excited about how we have done and this has just been a great day so far,” Tonglet said.
HARLEY POWER – All week, Andrew Hines has been setting the pace in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class at the U.S. Nationals. Hines won the pole with a blistering national record time of 6.815-second at 197.17 mph Saturday at O’Reilly Raceway Park. The speed he clocked on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson was also a track record.
Hines’ momentum continued Monday. Hines beat Wells, Johnson, and Underdahl. Hines, who won Pro Stock world titles in 2004-2006, is searching for his first U.S. Nationals title.
ROUGH DAY - At the U.S. Nationals and for the remainder of the NHRA season, Pro Stock Motorcycle racers Michael Phillips and Craig Treble are both running for the ‘Pistonator’ team run by the Attitude Apparel team of Rodger Brogdon and Steve Kent.
Unfortunately, Phillips and Treble both got off to a rough start at Indy. Both were upset in the first round. Jim Underdahl upended Phillips and Treble gave his victory away when he red-lighted against Chip Ellis.
Phillips, who was on a tear right before the Countdown regular season ended, has lost in the first round at the last events – Brainerd, Minn., and Indy - and so has Treble.
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - ELATION, DEJECTION AND REGROUPING
CONFIDENT HINES CLINCHES TOP SPOT - Not surprisingly, Andrew Hines was not knocked off the Pro Stock Motorcycle pole at the U.S. Nationals Sunday.
Hines won the pole, thanks to his blistering national record pass of 6.815-second at 197.17 mph Saturday at O’Reilly Raceway Park. The speed he clocked on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson also was a track record.
This is Hines’ second pole of the season and second in as many events and the 28th of his career. Hines, still looking for his first Indy Wally was runner-up at the 2008 U.S. Nationals to Steve Johnson.
“I think it is going to be a little warmer Monday, that’s what the forecasters are saying,” Hines said. “Our team, we have done a really job of experimenting with tune-ups of what works in what air and we have it pretty narrowed down. I feel very confident about Monday. I think I have the best chance I have ever had in my career of bringing home the U.S. Nationals Wally.”
“I had a little bit of mess up Sunday in the first qualifier and went red,” said Hines, a three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ from 2004-2006. “I do not know what happened and I went out there again and had a good light and I was nice and focused for Monday. It has been a lot of hard work over the last few weeks and there is a lot of stuff that happens in the trailer that doesn’t get outside of our trailer. That’s probably the reason we have been so competitive in the past, we do not share our secrets even with our other Vance & Hines customers.”
Hines arrived at Indy in first place in the point chase, leading second place Hector Arana by 30 points after the points were re-distributed for the Countdown to 1 playoffs which starts with this event. Heading into race day, Hines has picked up 15 qualifying bonus points and 20 additional points for setting the national record.
“I do not even know if I got 15 points in the Countdown all last year,” said Hines, who finished third in the final Pro Stock Motorcycle points a year ago. “Taking every point on the table is a big deal, especially to start the Countdown. The V-Rod is such a joy to ride. This is fun. I love this track. We live just two miles down the street here (in Clermont) and we’ve tested a lot out here in the past. I’ve probably made more runs than any Pro Stock Motorcycle rider in the left lane out here. I probably made 60 to 70 runs out here the last couple of years out here. It is a lane I know how to get down and I love it.”
Hines isn’t changing his approach Monday.
“You just have to sit back and let the bike do the work, it has been running really strong lately,” Hines said.
Hines faces Wesley Wells in the opening round Monday. Hines has advanced to the finals at three consecutive races at Sonoma, Denver and Brainerd; winning in Denver and Brainerd.
HAPPY TO BE AT INDY- Racing at the U.S. Nationals was a given for the top-tier Pro Stock Motorcycle teams.
However, rookie of the year candidate LE Tonglet’s team, running on a limited budget barely made it to Indy; namely because Tonglet hurt the motor during the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 12-15.
“It broke the cam chain in Brainerd like everybody knows,” said the 20-year-old Tonglet, who is seventh in the point chase. “We pulled the motor out and we gave it to Vance & Hines and we told them to call us with an estimate. They called us and they made us an offer and it only broke a few things and it could’ve been a lot worse. In this case, it was the best case scenario that could have ever worked out for us. We found enough money to put it back together and Vance & Hines and other people really helped out. That’s the only reason we’re out here.”
Tonglet had a 6.847-second run at 195.05 mph Sunday morning, putting him second in the qualifying ladder. Andrew Hines has the top qualifying spot with a national record 6.815-second time.
“We’re extremely happy with the way we qualified,” said Tonglet, whose family lives in Metairie, La. “If we could win this, I do not even know how to describe it. It would be so big. Being a rookie, and we were thinking about not even showing up at this race, so to win would just be huge. It seems like we have enough power to do that and we’re going to give it our all.”
ARANA REGROUPS - From Charlotte to Sonoma, Hector Arana was setting the pace in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Arana, the defending class champion, was holding down the top spot in the point chase.
Arana, who pilots the Lucas Oil Buell, stumbled as the regular season came to a close, losing in the first round at Denver and the second round at Brainerd. As a result, Arana came to the U.S. Nationals, the first race in the Countdown to 1 playoffs, in second place behind Andrew Hines.
“We went ahead and went over the whole engine program and tore everything down,” said Arana, who has yet to win a race this season. “We went over the chassis and worked hard on the computer and studied what the bike was doing and there was some glitch happening and we got that fixed. I feel confident that we will back on pace.”
Arana qualified fourth in the field at 6.874 seconds at 192.91 mph.
If things going according to plan, Arana says his son, 21-year-old son Hector, will be his teammate at the NHRA North Carolina Nationals in Charlotte Sept. 16-19, the next event on the circuit.
“Hopefully he can start in Charlotte, and I just want him to run around three races maybe and I definitely will have him ready to start full-time next season,” the older Arana said.
Arana said his son will definitely compete at Charlotte if his team can finish a second bike. The younger Hector will run a Lucas Oil Buell just like his father.
The older Arana said he and his son Hector tested last Saturday at Ohio Valley Dragway in Louisville, Ky. Ohio Valley is an eighth-mile dragstrip.
“We finished the motor on Saturday and we called the track and they were testing and tuning, and they had an Outlaw event going on,” Arana said. “I asked them if I could show up and they welcomed me. I made two hits and we’re running quicker than we did in Brainerd and my son made the third pass and everything looked good. He did great.”
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN - At the U.S. Nationals, there were 21 Pro Stock Motorcycles entered to compete to get into a 16-bike field.
On Sunday afternoon, after five qualifying runs David Hope, Junior Pippin, Angie Smith, Mike Berry and Katie Sullivan failed to make the field. Wesley Wells held the 16th spot with a 7.054-second time at 191.24 mph.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - QUICKER FIELD, HINES GETS RECORD, SAYING GOODBYE TO ANGELLE
HINES SETS RECORD; HOLDS ONTO TOP SPOT - It was hard to imagine things could get better for Andrew Hines at the U.S. Nationals, but they did Saturday.
A day after taking the provisional pole, Hines rode his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a national record time of a 6.815-seconds at 195.17 mph. The speed was a new track record at Indy.
“I didn’t know what to expect,“ Hines said. “I saw Eddie (Krawiec) (his teammate) go an 86 out there and I saw his speed 194.94 and I thought we had made the right tune up call on that one. My bike went 195 mph on that run and it was just a tick better at 60 feet and that’s how we got that time. We got it to the eighth-mile at 162 mph and you do not usually see that here at Indy because the altitude of this track. But, the air just got really dry and that’s what the motorcycles love.”
For setting the national record, Hines received 20 bonus points. Krawiec’s 6.867 effort left him second on the qualifying ladder.
“Twenty points is huge when you only have a 30-point lead coming in with the way this Countdown works,” said Hines, who finished the regular season atop the point chase. “We’re hitting our stride at the right time. We had a little bit of good luck in Sonoma even though we didn’t have a decent motorcycle. Then, in Denver we probably didn’t have the motorcycle to win that day, but we were consistent enough to get by everybody and we have been on a roll ever since.”
Hines, a three-time world champion Pro Stock Motorcycle rider from 2004-2006, overtook Hector Arana for the points lead with his hot streak.
“When we went to Brainerd and we figured we had nothing to lose, so we were just going to try a bunch of stuff,” Hines said. “We put together six engines with three different combinations, so each of us ( he and Krawiec) had a spare. Then, we figured out which one worked the best, and left that motor in my bike all weekend long. That’s the same motor I ran in testing last week and the same motor I’m running here. It is just happy right now and hopefully nothing will go wrong with it.”
Although Hines has captured world titles, the U.S. Nationals crown has eluded him. Hines was runner-up at the 2008 U.S. Nationals to Steve Johnson.
“There’s always a chance that you get a motor failure on Monday, and if it happens, it happens,” Hines said. “Our V-Rods have been very reliable lately and I do not want to say it, but I can’t remember the last time I hurt a motor. I have not had a bike this good in a long time.”
SAMPEY SAYS GOODBYE TO DRAG RACING - From 2000-2002, Angelle Sampey had no peers in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Sampey, who is from 
Louisiana, won three world titles in that time span.
On Saturday, Sampey, who raced on the NHRA circuit from 1996-2008, officially retired from the sport.
The NHRA had a presentation for Sampey Saturday afternoon at the starting line to wish her goodbye.
“Everybody keeps saying are you really not coming back and I’m really not coming back,” the 40-year-old Sampey said. “One of the main reasons is because I’m three months pregnant. I’m finally going to be a mom and that’s what I wanted. When I decided not to come back it was to pursue motherhood and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would be blessed enough to have a child because I waited so long. Now, I’m having one and that’s definitely more important to me than anything else.”
Sampey said she is due March 19.
A year ago, Sampey was going through a different set of emotions at the U.S. Nationals.
“Last year, I came to this race when we were still pursuing sponsorship and I cried my eyes out the second I drove through the gates because it was so hard to be here and not be racing,” said Sampey, who won 41 national events. “This year, I’m just excited and happy because I have what I want. I wanted to be a mom for the past 10 years of my life, but racing was more important at the time. Now, my priorities have shifted. The itch to race is not there. I do miss riding the motorcycle, the motorcycle was fun. The seven seconds down the race track was two percent of what we did.
"The travel was the worst, especially being a female traveling alone most of the time, that was horrible. Guys can deal with that so much easier, for some reason they do not care about being alone. Women, we can’t be alone, we have to have someone to talk to.”
Sampey is married to Seth Drago. Her husband, a combat medic, is in the Louisiana National Guard.
Sampey says she is a registered nurse and she has gone back to nursing. Sampey and Drago also own an aquarium business together called Coral Fever. “It has anything and everything to do with saltwater aquariums,” Sampey said.
Treble qualified with a 7.044-second pass at 189.60 mph, that left him 11th in the ladder.
We’re sneaking up on it. That was only the second pass on the motor and she’s starting to seal up a little bit and the crank is starting to loosen up a little bit. The mph picked up 3 mph. I’m very pleased with it and we’re heading in the right direction. It did about the same thing as it did the last pass. I put a bunch of clutch in it and I still knocked the clutch out of it, so the power is there.
I also think it is about time to start leaning on it a little bit. I’m going to start taking a little fuel out of it and see where it goes. The chassis is doing its job, it’s going nice and straight, even though it is shaking the crap out of the tire in low gear. What happens is the engine gets away from the clutch, and it starts shaking the tire.
As for the second qualifying pass Saturday night, I’m a little bit worried about the right lane. There’s a dip at about 30 to 40 feet and it upsets the bike where it really wants to shake the tires. I will calm the bike down to keep the tires stuck and I’m hoping for a mid 90 on that pass. I guarantee it is in there.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -HINES IS THE MAN FOR FIRST DAY QUALIFYING
HINES FASTEST OF THE TWO WHEELERS - Timing has been Andrew Hines’ best friend lately.
Hines, a three-time world champion Pro Stock Motorcycle rider, ended the NHRA regular season on a hot streak and he didn’t cool off Friday at the U.S. Nationals in O’Reilly Raceway Park.
Hines rode his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to the provisional pole with a 6.974-second pass at 185.69 mph.
“This is a different weekend with a four-day event and getting an extra qualifying run on Friday, which could be huge for our team,” said Hines who begins the Countdown to 1 playoffs from the No. 1 spot. “We need all the runs we can get and we still have a two-bike team, so we get a lot more data than a lot of other teams and that makes a big difference for us. It looks like the weather is going to be fairly consistent through qualifying, but it may throw us a curve ball on Monday, so you can throw all of your information out the window for that day.”
According to Hines, there were no changes to his bike since he made a 6.89-second run in testing last week at Indy.
“The head wind really kills the motorcycles and that just took all the et (elapsed time) out of the back half,” Hines explained. “We ran almost an identical number to the eighth-mile as we did in testing, but it went six hundredths slower in the back. The wind just kills us. We do not have the aerodynamics of the cars.”
Hines, who won the Pro Stock Motorcycle season crown from 2004-2006, still finds it hard to believe that he’s competing at a storied race like the U.S. Nationals.
“I dreamed of coming to the race when I was a little kid,” Hines said. “I would hear my dad (Byron) tell stories about what happened at the event and I would see who won. So, to actually be out here racing is a darn cool accomplishment. It is very fun and luckily I have a great V-Rod underneath me and it has been running strong the last three races.”
Prior to Indy, Hines was runner-up at Sonoma, Calif., and he won at Denver and Brainerd, Minn., to take the points lead from Hector Arana.
“I do not think I have ever had a motorcycle this good in my entire career, even in 2005 and 2006 when we qualified No. 1 a lot,” said Hines, who made his Pro Stock Motorcycle debut in 2002. “It is just really fun to ride right now. It is really consistent off of the starting line and that makes all the difference. I can focus on getting tucked in and hitting my shift points where I need to do that. I’m also probably the best racer I’ve ever been in my career. My lights are consistent and they’re green which is a big deal. I struggled last year at this time with a lot of red lights and I fixed that problem earlier this year in Charlotte. It was my positioning on the motorcycle. I was looking at the tree wrong and ever since then, I’ve been way better.”
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Craig Treble, who is riding one of the ‘Pistonator’ Pro Stock Motorcycles is doing a blog at the U.S. Nationals. Here’s his thoughts after the first round of qualifying Friday.Treble qualified ninth at 7.125 seconds at 184.17 mph.
We definitely could have gone a lot faster than that, but that is the very first pass on a brand new crank, pistons and valves. I didn’t want to put the screws to it just yet. We get five qualifiers out here so we will start leaning on it a little bit more and more with each pass. The good thing, and it is not a good thing, it ran through the clutch, which tells me it is making a little bit more power than my last motor. That being said, I’m going to have to tighten up the clutch more than what we had in Brainerd.
We will tighten the clutch up a little bit tomorrow. I have to download it and take a look at the computer and see what it said as far as the jetting and what not. It was kind of surging a little bit out there, but I knew it was dead rich because I had a huge jet in the thing and I didn’t have any timing in the thing. I didn’t want to go out there and beat on a brand new piece.
I’m looking at the data and I’m looking at the exhaust pipe right now and it is dead rich. I will look the bike completely over and go from there.
This (the U.S. Nationals) is our Daytona 500. This is our biggest race of the year and in 2007 I was fortunate enough to win here. I know what it feels like to be there and win and I’m still hungry (to win again).
“Getting the No. 1 spot coming in here and winning the last two races, I’m sure it turns the other competitors heads,” Hines said. “They’re probably looking at us saying this team is back where it used to be and hopefully that scares them a little bit.”
Eddie Krawiec, Hines’ teammate, qualified No. 4 at 7.011 seconds.
His successes aside, Hines also is aware of his struggles at Indy.
“I have been racing here since 2002, and I have had bad luck and bad timing, and bad fortune on my part,” Hines said. “I think right now I have what I need to get it done (to win). This is probably my best shot that I have had in years.”
HINES PRO STOCK TEST ON HOLD - Andrew Hines is still going to attempt to gain a license in a Pro Stock car, but it will not happen until the off-season at the earliest.
Hines, who won Pro Stock Motorcycle world championships from 2004-2006, was going to make some runs in the John Gaydosh Jr. Performance Pontiac GTO at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan., May 25, but that didn’t take place because Gaydosh hurt the motor in the car in his last qualifying run at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., May 15.
“We are not doing anything with that Pro Stock (car) thing right now,” explained Hines. “We have to see what happens during the off-season. We’re trying to focus on our program right now, and I do not want to be a detriment to his deal. He has that new Hot Rods for Heroes car he’s running this weekend. John (Gaydosh) and I are really good friends and if I test a Pro Stock car in the off-season it will be his. We just have to get something figured out in the off-season. It will be tough because he lives in the Northeast in Baltimore and we have to deal with snow and stuff. The Pro Stock thing is a fun deal and something I want to try.”
Hines is presently first in the Pro Stock Motorcycle point chase, and says he is dialed in for Indy.
“There’s a little less pressure this weekend compared to every year I’ve been here (at the U.S. Nationals) because there is no Ringers battle,” said Hines, who made his Pro Stock Motorcycle debut in 2002. “I won the Ringers battle the last two years and our team won it the last six years. Now, the focus will just be on the U.S. Nationals.”
The Ringers Glove Pro Bike Battle, a lucrative bonus event for the category’s top performers, was held for 19 years, but Ringers’ contract for the event expired last year and was not continued.
ATTITUDE APPAREL TO GRACE BOTH PHILLIPS AND TREBLE BIKES - Starting at the U.S. Nationals this weekend, and for the remainder of the NHRA season, Pro Stock Motorcycle racers Michael Phillips and Craig Treble are both running for the ‘Pistonator’ team run by the Attitude Apparel team of Rodger 
Brogdon and Steve Kent.
“Roger (Brogdon) just figured since he had whole lot more invested in the Attitude Apparel deal it would be best to have both the bikes in the Attitude Apparel (colors),” said Phillips, who was running the Racers Edge colors prior to Indy. “Treble and I have a good relationship and between the two of us, we both should do real well.”
Treble concurred with Phillips.
“This is a good fit to be a teammate with Michael,” Treble admitted. “We’re really good friends on the side as well and we communicate well with each other. We will continue sharing information, that goes without a doubt, but now that we have backing from Rodger Brogdon and Steve Kent things are looking really good for us.”
Brogdon and Kent signed Treble to the ‘Pistonator’ team on July 24 during the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.
Phillips is presently third in the points and Treble is 10th. With the Countdown to 1 playoffs beginning at Indy, Phillips is 40 points back of leader Andrew Hines while Treble is 110 points behind.
“It is good having a teammate, but I do not focus on that, I’m focusing on me,” Phillips said. “If I’m not up to par, and I do not do well, then that’s on me. Having a teammate will help, but I’m not worried about my teammate knocking somebody out just so I can I win. I’m just out there to race and hopefully I will be the better man.”
Phillips said neither driver tested following the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 12-15, but believes both bikes are ready for Indy.
“I didn’t really want to go out there (and test) and hurt anything,” Phillips said. “I figured we had a good setup and all the engines should be fast. We just have to get the setup right.”
Treble also is excited about this weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
“I have a good fresh motor in my chassis right now and I’m running the Pistonator colors and we just got Michael’s bike wrapped and everything is looking good,” Treble explained.
Phillips says he’s not going to change his approach if he and Treble happen to meet up in eliminations.
“Once we get up there and the helmets are on, we have no friends, it is business,” Phillips said. “When we go up there, we go up there to race. I’m not going to lay down for him and I do not want him to lay down for me. Let the best man win.”
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - STORYLINES SHAPING UP IN TWO-WHEEL PITS
ARANA FOCUSES ON UPCOMING PLAYOFFS - Since missing out on the No. 1 spot for the NHRA's Countdown to the Championship in Pro Stock Motorcycle by just a few points, defending class champion Hector Arana has been a man of singular focus - getting his Lucas Oil Buell ready for the postseason.
Like a mad scientist, Arana had locked himself away from the distractions of the outside world, while he has worked day and night on his motorcycle engine. He emerged last weekend with a bike that he is confident can defend his title and maybe even win this weekend's 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at O'Reilly Raceway Park.
“We've got new rings, new pistons, and a fresh bore,” Arana said. “We tested it in Ohio and we're happy with the results. That's all I'm gonna say.”
After the points reset following Brainerd, Arana starts the playoffs in second place, 30 points behind leader Andrew Hines. The rest of the Pro Stock Motorcycle field is lined up behind Arana with each rider that fills out the top 10 separated by just 10 points each.
With the points being so close and the margin for error so narrow, Arana said that getting off to good start at the U.S. Nationals is going to be important.
“It's going to be huge,” Arana said. “The Countdown is starting and we'll see what happens and who comes out of that race with the points lead.”
The U.S. Nationals is the longest event of the season for the pros, but Arana doesn't mind. He's thankful to have more time over the handlebars of the Lucas Oil Buell.
“I'm looking forward to the extra day of racing,” Arana said. “It gives me an extra run.”
Against the backdrop of preparing for the Countdown, Arana is also helping his son, Hector Jr. prepare for his NHRA debut later this fall in Charlotte.
“During our test, I made two runs and Hector made one,” Arana said. “He did excellent as well, so everything went well there.”
MATT SMITH UPBEAT ABOUT INDY - As Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Matt Smith prepares for the U.S. Nationals, he knows this event is just step one on his charge to capturing the season title.
Smith, who won the 2007 world championship, is competing on his Al-Anabi Racing V-Twin motorcycle this weekend. Smith is starting the Countdown to 1 playoffs in fourth place in the season point chase, 50 behind the leader Andrew Hines.
“I’m looking forward to this race,” said Smith. “I’d like to get off to a good start. “I’ve enjoyed some success at Indy. I’ve been to three final rounds in a row there (2005-07), and I won the U.S. Nationals in 2006. I think we will be in contention, but I don’t think we have as much power as the Harleys and Suzukis.”
This season, Smith has won twice - at the Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte, N.C. and at Norwalk, Ohio - during the 11-race regular season.
He spent August at his shop working on competitive motors for himself and his wife, Angie, as he geared-up for the Countdown. “We’ve had a lot of stuff built and we’re still waiting on some more things to get to our shop.
“I know we will do the best we can,” Smith said. “We’ll see what happens over the next six races.”
ANGIE SMITH EYES 2011 - While her husband Matt Smith is contending for the Full Throttle Drag Racing series Pro Stock Motorcycle championship during the final six races of the season, Angie Smith unofficially begins her quest for a berth in the 2011 top 10 Friday when NHRA’s 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals gets underway at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
“We are starting fresh again ... just like it’s the first race of the season,” she said after finishing 13th in her first full season on the circuit. “We got in quite a bit of testing recently at Rockingham (N.C.) and we learned a lot. We went through all our motors and now we have a good baseline. I’m going to ride my new Coffman Tank Trucks bike. It has a new paint scheme and I’m really excited about racing it at Indy. The next six races will be like test sessions for us, but we’d really like to win a race. I want to do that and help Matthew win another championship.”
The test results and a semifinal finish at Brainerd, Minn. (Aug. 15) fortified her belief that she is capable of driving into the winner’s circle.
Angie also already has some experience running interference for Matt.
“I took out some of the contenders for him in 2008 and I guess I can do it again,” she said laughing. “My team is taking a positive approach to each race. We have a different fuel injection system and we need to put laps on it. It is something new to us. I’m really looking forward to racing at Indy. I know it will be a lot of fun. Racing is all I’ve ever wanted to do and I’m thankful that I have wonderful sponsors. The Klements and the Coffmans have given me a wonderful opportunity.”
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