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.

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.

{source}
<div style="float:left; padding:5px;">
<script type="text/javascript">
sr_adspace_id = 2000000613807;
sr_adspace_width = 300;
sr_adspace_height = 250;
sr_ad_new_window = true;
sr_adspace_type = "graphic";
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.afy11.net/srad.js?azId=2000000613807">
</script></div>

<div style="padding:5px;"><script type="text/javascript">
google_ad_client = "pub-8044869477733334";
/* 300x250, created 4/3/09 */
google_ad_slot = "2028912167";
google_ad_width = 300;
google_ad_height = 250;
</script>
<script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</div>{/source}