After Gateway loss to son, Arana Sr. wants more out of Lucas Oil Buell

ST. LOUIS – Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Sr. ran into the wrong rider in the second round of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals on Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park: His son Hector Jr.

After the father and son both won their first-round races, they faced each other for the fourth time this season, but unlike the Denver race, where father beat son, Hector Jr. advanced to the semifinals in St. Louis.

The elder Arana got off the line first with a .028-second reaction time, but his pass of 7.033 seconds at 194.27 mph wasn’t enough to hold off his son.

“First round wasn’t so bad,” Hector Sr. said of his win over Angelle Sampey. “Still, the clutch did not respond to what I wanted it to do the first run, but we survived that one.

“Going to the second run, of course there was some chaos over here. Hector (Jr.) had a small problem and we had to swap an engine.”

The entire three-Buell team worked to get a new engine in Hector Jr.’s motorcycle, but Hector Sr. still had time to work on his tune-up.

“We worked on my clutch and I made a tune-up call, but it didn’t work,” Hector Sr. said. “A .111 60-foot (time) isn’t going to cut it.”

Hector Sr. has had plenty of top-end speed in his Buell, as he had top speed of the event at 197.68 mph, but his bike isn’t launching the way he wants it.

“Something is happening but we’re not sure what it is,” Hector Sr. said. “I help the kids and the kids help me. We go through all the notes but something is different. Maybe it’s the clutch, maybe it’s something else, but we need to find it.”

Hector Sr.’s first-round pass was 6.923 seconds at 195.62 mph, though he already had the win light when Sampey turned on the red-light.

Still, Hector Sr. wants more out of his Lucas Oil Buell.

“I’m frustrated,” Hector Sr. said. “If there’s testing here tomorrow, maybe we need to stay and iron this thing out.”