Some folks suggested that Gaige Herrera lock himself in the trailer until time to leave for the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round at the Flav-R-Pack NHRA Northwest Nationals. Others said he should keep a keen eye on his back... uh, bike. 

But as Herrera saw it, a trophy was coming back to Vance & Hines, whether by him or teammate Eddie Krawiec. 

It's been that kind of season for Herrera, an NHRA second-year rider, where sabotage or a kidnapping seemed the best logical choice to stop his rampant run of success in 2024.

For the fifth time this season, Herrera was unstoppable as he ran a 
6.764 at 198 miles per hour to beat Krawiec and pick up the first-ever Pro Stock Motorcycle title at Pacific Raceways. 

"Just the amount of fans that came up so excited to have motorcycles here and to be able to be a part of it and to put on a show for them means a lot to me," Herrera said. "I hope we come back. It's a very nice facility. It's a nice track. And yeah, like I said, I hope we come back for sure."

The beauty of the facility and the quality of the race track was clearly on Herrera's mind, but it paled in comparison to running Krawiec. Krawiec was seriously taking up space in Herrera's mind. 

"That was probably one of my toughest finals," Herrera admitted. "I've raced Eddie in the semis, but when it's the finals, totally different. Getting to race against your boss or one of the guys that has helped me so much this season, be as good as I am, had so much success it's really overwhelming. 

"I know he's shooting for his 50th, and it sucks that I basically put a stop to that. But overall, it was awesome racing. I thought we were going to play a little game on the starting line, but surprisingly he didn't. So I'm sure next time will be a little something if there is."

While there were those who jokingly hinted that Herrera needed to watch his back in the pits between rounds, he admitted the demeanor in the pits ahead of the final round was surprisingly uneventful. 

"It was business as usual," Herrera said. "That was the one thing they told me. It's a fair game. No matter who we're racing, we're racing each other. Both bikes we wanted them both to be a hundred percent. So that right there leaves it all down to the rider, and there's nothing better than that. They don't like to play games, which it's awesome. So yeah, I wish it was a little closer.

The victory leaves Herrera as the only competitor in the NHRA's Camping World Series with the opportunity to pull off the sweep of the legendary Western Swing. This season marks the first time the Pro Stock Motorcycle division has run the full part of the tour.

For Herrera, he has the rare opportunity to pull off three victories in one weekend with the Mission 2Fast2Tasty challenge, the Call-Out, and Sunday's final eliminations.

"It'd be amazing to pull this off," Herrera said. "Motorcycles never really had a chance to do it before, so to be able to be the first, basically in my rookie season, it would just top everything that's been happening this season. So I'm definitely excited. And not only that, we have the call-out too, so it's going to be a busy weekend at Sonoma for sure."