ST. LOUIS – The Countdown to the Championship is only six races long so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room for anyone wishing to win the title at the end of the year. Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell rider Hector Arana Jr. relinquished any extra cushion he may have had Sunday with an unlikely first-round loss at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.

Arana lost to Karen Stoffer, against whom he was a perfect 8-0 in lifetime meetings — including a 4-0 mark this year — with Stoffer pulling off the big upset with a 6.840 at 194.13 mph ahead of Arana’s 6.848 at 195.45 mph.

“What a tough weekend,” Arana said. “Unfortunately, when you qualify No. 8, that’s what happens. You’re going to race someone who was very close to you in qualifying times and today Karen was able to run a tick faster and get me off the tree. It’s just one of those unfortunate things. I guess the only thing we can really do is take that as a lesson learned, go through all of the data and look back and see how we can prevent this moving forward. We will see what happens as far as the points go.

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ST. LOUIS – Back-to-back semifinal finishes to start this year’s Countdown to the Championship has kept Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell rider in the thick of the Pro Stock Motorcycle title chase. Now the young rider, who grew up in Indiana, wants to take things a step further and race into the money round of Sunday’s sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals.

“We haven’t had the best qualifying session this weekend but we hope to turn things up a notch overnight and run for the trophy tomorrow,” Arana said. “You almost feel like you have to get to the finals to make up ground. The two guys in front of us aren’t making any mistakes so you need to go further than them on race day.”

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ST. LOUIS – With four races left in the 2017 Countdown to the Championship, Lucas Oil Racing TV rider Hector Arana Jr. knows this weekend’s sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park could be a pivotal stepping stone in his quest for the Mello Yello championship.

Currently third in the points, Arana is less than one round (18 points) behind second-place rider LE Tonglet and 89 markers out of first place, a perch held by multi-time series champion Eddie Krawiec.

“This is another big race for us,” Arana said. “We need to maintain what we’ve been able to accomplish so far that’s put us in position to challenge for the championship, and at the same time we actually need to find a way to step it up a little bit and out-run the two riders ahead of us so we can make up some ground.

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READING, PA – Although fans and the media will likely talk about the starting line kerfuffle between Lucas Oil Racing TV pro rider Hector Arana Jr. and semifinal foe LE Tonglet, the composed 28-year-old will maintain his laser focus on what matters the most — winning the 2017 Mello Yello Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.

After comfortably dispatching Charlie Sullivan (6.889 to 7.044) and Karen Stoffer (6.922 to 6.993) in the first two rounds of elimination action at Sunday’s 33rd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals, Arana, and more specifically his father and crew, had to fend off some unsportsmanlike conduct from Tonglet’s team owner, reigning champ Jerry Savoie, and his team. But Arana shrugged it all off and remained on task.

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READING, PA – Hector Arana Jr. further solidified his place among the top riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class Saturday by locking down the No. 3 position in the elimination field of the 33rd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals.

After leading opening day action with a blistering pass of 6.834 at 196.76 mph on his Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell, Arana made runs of 6.868 at 195.79 mph and 6.880 at 194.97 mph during Saturday’s final two time trials. He was bumped down the ladder in the fourth and final session by reigning champ Jerry Savoie and upstart Scotty Pollacheck.

“The weather got worse today and most of the other teams seemed to kind of be missing the tune-up a little bit, just like us, so of course our fingers stayed crossed that we would stay No. 1,” Arana said. “But in the back of your mind you know there are a bunch of big hitters out there and more than a few of them can make a big run and knock you out of the top spot.

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READING, PA – There was no chance of running the first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle pass Friday at the 33rd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals, so Lucas Oil Racing TV pro Hector Arana Jr. did the next best thing by claiming the provisional pole on his red, white and blue Buell.

“Yeah, it was a little too warm, especially in Round 1, to go for anything close to 200 mph so that will have to wait,” Arana said. “But we are very happy to be on the pole, even if it’s just for one night. It’s one of the goals you have every weekend and to get the job done is a really good feeling.

“Plus, when you’re one of the three quickest qualifiers of any session you get bonus points so we earned three right there, which, who knows, could be the difference at the end of the season. We simply cannot overlook anything and if there are points on the table, we want them.”

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READING, PA – The leaves may be changing and the temperatures may soon be dropping, but Lucas Oil Racing TV rider Hector Arana Jr. hopes to remain red-hot in the NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

The seasoned pilot looks to continue building on his winning momentum this weekend when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ Countdown to the Championship playoffs continue with the 33rd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The event is the second of six in this year’s playoffs.

Arana, a 28-year-old resident of East Northport, N.Y., currently holds the No. 3 position in championship points. In the previous four events leading into this race, he’s posted semifinal finishes in Charlotte and Sonoma, Calif. and a runner-up finish at the biggest drag race in the world, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

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CONCORD, NC – A strong semifinal showing at the first of six playoff races in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship will keep title-contender Hector Arana Jr. smack in the middle of the fight for this year’s crown.

With designs on celebrating his father’s birthday in the winner’s circle, Arana resoundingly beat Kelly Clontz and Scott Pollacheck to reach the final four. But that was where he ran into five-time world champ Andrew Hines, who nipped him, 6.862 to 6.867. Hines went on to finish the day as runner-up to teammate, Eddie Krawiec, who beat reigning world champ Jerry Savoie in the other semifinal tilt.

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CONCORD, NC – Prior to this weekend’s 10th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals, Lucas Oil Racing TV pro Hector Arana Jr. named six riders he thought were capable of winning this year’s Pro Stock Motorcycle championship. Through qualifying for the 10th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals, Arana is looking pretty smart as his six selected teams, which includes his own group, fill out six of the top seven slots on the elimination ladder.

“It’s going to be a battle all the way and just like I said, the two Harleys, the two White Alligator bikes and me and Matt Smith are all running strong,” Arana said. “Of course, race day is a different deal altogether, especially during the Countdown, because the pressure goes way up, but so far things have gone about like I expected.

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CONCORD, NC – Lucas Oil Racing TV pro Hector Arana Jr. has piloted great motorcycles in the past, finishing second-through-fifth in the final world rankings in five of his six pro campaigns, but he says he’s never started the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in as good a position as he will this year.

Arana begins his seventh quest for ultimate Pro Stock Motorcycle glory this weekend at the 10th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals as the third-ranked rider in the class, meaning he’s just 30 points — or the equivalent of one and a half elimination rounds — out of first place. Considering he’s coming off his third runner-up result of the season, he has every reason to be excited.

“We’re peaking at the right time, which is something we’ve been working towards all year,” Arana said. “The most important thing is we have a consistent bike. We might not be quickest or the fastest every single round but over the course of most weekends we definitely are the most consistent.

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