BIKER POLLACHECK NOT FASTEST BUT QUICKEST FOR SECOND STRAIGHT NO. 1 START

by Susan Wade, Photo by Roger Richards    Sun, 2021-05-16 08:00

 

Scotty Pollacheck proved Saturday at the NHRA’s NGK NTK Four-Wide Nationals that a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer doesn’t have to clock a 203-mph or even a 202-mph speed to secure the No. 1 qualifying position.

The Central Point, Ore., winner of the most recently completed event (at Atlanta) used his track-record 6.736-second elapsed time at 201.16 mph in Saturday’s opening session to climb from 19th place and seize the top spot. By two-thousandths of a second, he edged Steve Johnson, who wasn’t even flirty with the 200-mph mark.

Eddie Krawiec registered the fastest pass in class history at 203.37 mph, but his 6.785-second elapsed time made him only the seventh-quickest in the overflow field after that session. He repeated the feat – this time at 203.49 mph and wound up sixth on the grid.

He erased the excitement from the previous quad, which had produced speeds from Matt Smith and Andrew Hines that at that moment were the two fastest ever in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Racing in the same quartet, Smith and Hines had identical E.T.s – 6.773 seconds – but neither rose higher in the tentative lineup than fourth. Smith was fourth because of his 202.18-mph speed, while Hines was relegated to fifth place with a 202.15.

Later in the day, Smith, of King, N.C., improved to No. 3 with a 6.740-second effort. Hines will start eliminations Sunday from the No. 7 position.

Hector Arana Jr. had a 201.79-mph clocking to make it five runs at 200 or better in that session – and reeled off a 202.70-mph exclamation point to his qualifying later Saturday.

Las Vegas winner Ryan Oehler was off the grid after the first two overall sessions by .06 of a second. But he bumped in at No. 13 for a chance to say he has won half of the season’s events.

For Pollacheck, his second straight top-qualifying act on the Denso EBR was a tribute to his team.

“It actually takes a whole lot of work. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to get on top of that thing and ride it. Matt and Angie [Smith, his husband-wife teammates] do the big heavy-lifting stuff, and Michael Ray does all the work on the bike when we’re at the track. So a lot of credit to them,” Pollacheck said.

“They had a late night last night,” he said, “because I kind of broke it a little bit yesterday. They did a heck of a job, because it came out and ran like a bandit today.”

He said, “It’s amazing how much confidence it gives you and how good it makes you feel when you know you have a fast motorcycle like that. It makes my job so easy. I’ve just got to keep from screwing it up – that’s all.”

Pollacheck traveled about 2,500 miles to compete this weekend. But for the Smiths, the team owners, it’s a quick skip from their home and shop. And Pollacheck said it made him proud to deliver for the team in front of their family and friends: “It makes it really nice when we can all perform good in front of fans here and do a good job at their home track.”

Angie Smith was eighth to give the team three bikes in the top half of the ladder.

Pollacheck said having more fans permitted in the beautiful Bruton Smith-owned track that’s the newest on the Camping World Drag Racing Series tour made his feat that much more gratifying.

“We had a lot of friends trying to get tickets to the race, and they couldn’t get tickets to the race until yesterday, when it opened up,” he said, referring to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order that lifted restrictions and no longer required fans to wear masks or socially distance at outdoor venues, starting with Saturday’s activities. Under previous restrictions, the zMAX crowd had reached the permitted capacity.

“So everybody that wanted to come was able to come out today,” Pollacheck said. So that just makes it phenomenal.”

What will be even more phenomenal is if he can score back-to-back victories Sunday. His starting quad will include Angie Smith, Karen Stoffer, and Jim Underdahl. 

 

 
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