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.”

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.”

Hines says he hopes his fellow competitors are taking notice of what he’s done lately.

“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.”

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