Arana Jr. looking to go one round at a time in New England

EPPING, NH – Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Jr. will be seeded second heading into eliminations at the Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals, Sunday, at New England Dragway.

After four rounds of qualifying, Arana and his Lucas Oil Buell held the top speed and the track record at 198.50 mph, but he was knocked out of the top spot by Eddie Krawiec in Q3. Arana’s 6.796 was quicker than either run on Friday but was not fast enough to beat Krawiec’s 6.794 pass.

“This bike, she’s running really good, the Lucas Oil Buell, very consistent, very fast,” Arana said. “This morning we missed it just a little bit. Riding the bike I made one little mistake and then the clutch call we made, we probably could have had the No. 1 spot, but it’s OK because we had a very consistent bike and that’s what matters on Sunday.”

As conditions heated up in the fourth round of qualifying, Arana recorded a 6.797 pass at 196.90 mph. He will face Jerry Savoie in round one of eliminations on Sunday.

“When I started doing well in the beginning last year, my motto was one round at a time, so that’s what I’m going to go back to,” Arana said. “I’m just going to do one round at a time and go from there.”

Heading into eliminations, Arana will look to continue his consistency and pick up his first win of the 2014 season.

Eliminations will start at noon, with tape-delay action of the first two rounds broadcast at 1 p.m. on Sunday and live coverage of the semifinals and finals at around 4 p.m. on ESPN.