Lucas Oil pro Hector Arana Jr. races to second consecutive final round

DENVER – Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Jr. took his Lucas Oil Buell to his second consecutive final round, but he fell to Eddie Krawiec in the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway.

Arana won in Chicago two weeks ago for his first victory of the season, and he was looking to go back to back in Denver.

“I wanted to win badly, but it was still a good weekend,” Arana said. “The bike was running strong. We were the fastest bike all day today. The Harley bike was right there with me, and I knew it was going to come down to the wire.”

In the first head-to-head battle of the season between Arana and Krawiec, the two championship leaders, the difference came on the Christmas Tree. Both were good, but Krawiec was a touch better. His light of .025-second was enough to hold off Arana’s quicker elapsed time.

“Whoever left first was probably going to be the one to win,” Arana said. “I went for it but at the same time I didn’t want to go red. I had a .036 light, which is nothing to complain about, and he was just right there with the .025. I ended up losing by two-thousandths, so that’s how it goes. You can’t win them all, but overall it was still a great outing.”

Arana was quickest in two of the four elimination rounds Sunday and matched Krawiec’s e.t. in the first round and semifinals. Arana opened the day with a run of 7.208 seconds at 187.76 mph that took out Freddie Camarena’s pass of 7.355 seconds at 183.59 mph.

Arana then beat Steve Johnson with a 7.212-second pass at 198.29 mph as Johnson’s bike broke. In the semi’s against Krawiec’s teammate Andrew Hines, Arana got the win light with a 7.245-second pass at 185.08 mph, beating Hines’ run of 7.277 at 182.13 mph.

“We didn’t have to touch one thing on the bike today,” Arana said. “We were finally dialed in by Q4 with our 60-foot times: We ran a 1.08 in the first round, 1.08 in the second round, 1.07 in the third round, and 1.07 in the final, and you can’t get any more consistent than that. We definitely had the bike dialed in and ready to go.”

Arana did have a nice consolation prize in 500 Colorado Lottery scratch-off tickets, earned when he had the fastest e.t. Saturday.

“I was excited to get the lottery tickets,” Arana said. “I haven’t scratched them off yet, but maybe we can make up for not winning and get that extra money still.”