Andrew Hines was ready to break away from the pack the moment the Countdown started. Four races into the six-event Countdown to the Championship, the defending Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion hasn't wavered in his objective.

Hines came out of the trailer firing bullets and rode his way to the quickest run of both Friday sessions during the AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals at the Texas Motorplex. His 6.812 second pass at 195.42 miles per hour is almost a full second ahead of teammate Krawiec, who is second with a 6.821.

"We were hoping to improve [in the second session], and I thought I could see a .79 out there potentially in our lane," Krawiec admitted. "But, I think what ultimately happened was it cooled off and then the water grains came up with it. And it just took the performance out of the motorcycle. It makes it harder to go through the air because it’s a little bit thicker, and it makes the engine a little more unhappy."

Hines and Krawiec tested on Monday in Indianapolis before headed south to the all-concrete facility located outside of Dallas.

"Made six runs with each motorcycle," Hines explained. "I think it paid big dividends for us. We figured out, a couple of races ago, some consistency problems we were having with our bikes. We just don’t have enough laps on our new setup yet to figure out how to go and make them a little bit faster every time.

"Obviously we want to be better every single time. So, it’s just a learning curve. It’s a learning curve every race right now because we don’t have enough laps on our current setup."

With a weather forecast on Saturday expected to mimic Sunday's 90-degree forecast, Saturday's qualifying will be more of a preparation for final eliminations than trying to improve his position.  

"I’m going to go off what I learned in testing and just continue to move that direction," said Hines. "I think, hopefully, our consistency issues are behind us. I’d like to say, I don’t know until it reaches up and bites us."

Hines entered this weekend with a 38 point lead over Krawiec, and a 52 point lead over Angelle Sampey.

"We obviously want to break away and have some more points leaving here," Hines said. "Even more points where you’ll be closer to another championship for one of us. So, we’re moving that direction. I got a bunch of little points today. I got five of them. So, I’ll take every little bit I can right now."

Getting points means he can get the best of the intramural skirmish between he and Krawiec.

"It always makes us both better," admitted Hines. "The competition that Eddie and I have inside of the team, the competition that we have, the inner team rivalry we have. You know, we both want to have the faster bike in the pit area, the better E.T. ticket. And it’s good for us, but it makes a lot harder on everybody else. Because, if we’re both pushing each other to be better, finding little things in our riding, finding little things with each other’s tune-up to help each other go faster. You know, that’s what we pride ourselves on."