Hector Arana Jr. shakes off second-round red-light in Sonoma

SONOMA, CA – A philosophical Hector Arana Jr. shook off a second-round red-light at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. He left .006-second too soon against Scotty Pollacheck to end his race.

“If you don’t ever go red, it means you’re not trying, not going for the light,” the Lucas Oil Buell rider said. “Unfortunately, today was the day I went red. It wasn’t horribly red, it was .006 on the red side. I definitely saw the light, and it wasn’t a really bad red-light.”

Arana, who maintained second place in the Pro Stock Motorcycle points standings, was looking for his third consecutive final round after winning in Chicago and racing to the final in Denver.

He had survived a first-round battle with Fred Camarena on Sunday despite a .122-second reaction time. Camarena was only slightly better on the Christmas Tree (.092), but Arana was much better on the racetrack, making a pass of 6.901 seconds at 196.47 mph to overcome Camarena’s pass of 7.010 seconds at 193.16 mph.

That set up the race against Pollacheck, but Arana said he didn’t have the first-round light on his mind.

“I never worry about the first one,” Arana said. “I knew what happened on the first one, and I came up to the next one ready to go. I did some jumping jacks before the round and had the blood flowing. I was feeling better and just reacted a little too quick.”

As Pollacheck sped to the win with a pass of 7.002 seconds at 187.94 mph, Arana slowed when he saw the win light on Pollacheck’s side of the track.

“As soon as I saw red, I pulled in the clutch to save the motor,” Arana said. “Not every day is your day. I’m glad I got this one over with and it’s behind me. Now we can regroup, take a breath, and get ready for Brainerd (Minn.).”

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class gets a couple of weekends off before returning for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on Aug. 21-23 at Brainerd International Raceway.