Hector Arana Sr. aiming for round-win No. 200 and beyond

SONOMA, CA – Lucas Oil Buell Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. is looking for some magic numbers during the NHRA Sonoma Nationals on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

Arana, who qualified No. 7 for Sunday’s eliminations, is sitting on 199 round-wins in his long career. If he beats Jim Underdahl in the first round, he will top the 200-win mark.

“I hope we can get that one and then three more,” Arana said. “I didn’t know I had 199 round-wins until earlier this week, but that doesn’t change how hard we work and how we race on Sunday. Of course I’d like to have 200 round-wins, and I’d love to get it out of the way tomorrow.”

Arana started his career in 1990 and began racing full time in 1994. After some lean years at the turn of the century, he partnered with Lucas Oil and began to show marked improvement in his performance.

He scored his first race victory in 2008 and then won the 2009 Pro Stock Motorcycle championship. Of his 199 round-wins, 140 have come since the start of the 2009 season.

Arana, 57, has qualified for 129 races in a row, eighth-longest among active NHRA racers and 19th all time. He won in Atlanta to snap a five-year winless drought and nearly even his win-loss record, which stands at 199-200.

His best qualifying pass in Sonoma was 6.907 seconds at 191.48 mph, while No. 10 qualifier Underdahl had a top lap of 6.920 at 193.82 mph.

“Overall, it’s been a good weekend so far,” Arana said. “We were able to fix the motors that had some damage in Denver, and they’ve been good here in Sonoma. We just need to focus on the bike to get it running as good as it can, and I need to focus on one round at a time tomorrow.”