Arana Sr. proves hard work pays off at New England Nationals

EPPING, NH – After a great turnaround in qualifying, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. was optimistic about his chances at the Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.

The Lucas Oil Buell rider looked stout in the first round of eliminations, taking out Shawn Gann by running his fastest time of the weekend, a 6.826 at 193.85 mph. However, Arana wasn’t able to complete his pass in the second round when his bike wouldn’t re-fire after the burnout, allowing Andrew Hines to make a solo run to the semifinals.

“We had a good run earlier in the first round and I was so pumped up,” Arana said. “When I did the burnout before the next round though, I felt something different. The motor wasn’t acting right. Something in the clutch let go and was locking the motor up. I couldn’t release the clutch, so there was nothing else I could do but just turn the motor off.”

While Arana fought to overcome issues all throughout qualifying, he couldn’t have prepared for a broken part before the run started. The Lucas Oil team was unable to fix the bike on the starting line but will make sure it won’t happen again at the next race.

“This was a totally different issue than what happened in qualifying,” Arana said. “I don’t know if it was a broken cable or a broken pin in eliminations, but it was definitely a different problem. We will pull the bike apart and try to fix the issue before we get ready to head to Chicago.”

Arana will look to turn his luck around when the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season continues next weekend at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago.