Lucas Oil’s Arana Racing team sees red in Denver’s first round

DENVER – The Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcycle team may want to repaint its Buells after a tough performance in the first round of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway.

Both the Lucas Oil Buell of Hector Arana Sr. and the Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell of Hector Arana Jr. carry a predominantly red paint scheme, but both racers saw red in the first round.

Moments after Arana Jr. left too soon against Chip Ellis, Arana Sr. drew a red-light against Angelle Sampey.

“It’s so frustrating,” Arana Jr. said. “We made a pretty good run, too, but I went red. I went up there and did my normal routine and everything felt good. When I let the clutch go, I felt like I hit it pretty good, but it was red. I wasn’t doing anything different than I normally do, but it was a little early. That happens sometimes.”

What frustrated Arana Jr. more was that Ellis, the No. 7 qualifier, was late with a .109-second reaction time. Ellis then slowed to a pass of 15.210 seconds at 93.84 mph, but the win light was already on. Arana Jr. left .033-second too soon, and his pass of 7.231 seconds at 184.77 mph went for naught.

Arana Sr. had a taller order, facing No. 3 qualifier Sampey. He left .006-second too soon but would have had a hard time overcoming Sampey’s stellar 7.204-second pass at 183.49 mph.

“I gave it my best,” Arana Sr. said. “I came up with .006 red and I lost my focus point. I go, ‘Did I just see red?’ and I turn my head, and sure enough it was red. I thought, ‘I can’t believe this.’ I notice the bike is drifting to the right, to the wall, and I say, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. I better get back on it.’ And then I go, ‘You know what? It’s not worth it.’ I was so mad, so I pulled in the clutch and that was it.”

But Arana Sr. believes the weekend was not lost, learning some tune-up data to help in the future.

“It was a hell of a weekend,” Arana Sr. said. “We worked our tail off. At the end we did learn something. We’re going to make good notes for next year. Hopefully we’ll do better.”