Fast Lucas Oil Buell has Hector Arana Jr. excited about Denver eliminations
DENVER – Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Jr. didn’t qualify No. 1 for the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals this 
weekend at Bandimere Speedway, but he had the fastest Pro Stock Motorcycle on the property Saturday.
Because Arana was the quickest in both qualifying sessions Saturday, he kept the Arana Racing team’s streak of winning Colorado Lottery tickets intact. His brother, Adam, won them in 2013, and Arana won them last season.
The track awarded the tickets this weekend to the quickest PSM rider Saturday. That was Arana, who paced both sessions and moved up to the No. 2 qualifying spot with his Q4 pass of 7.182 seconds at 187.55 mph. That run came when the track was still hot, which bodes well for Sunday’s eliminations.
“The weather, if anything, got a little worse from our earlier session, according to the data, and we were able to improve still,” Arana said. “Also by doing that we were able to move to the second position, putting me and my father on opposite sides of the ladder, which has us really excited. And we secured the spot to get the lotto tickets for this weekend.”
Arana entered that session in the No. 3 spot, on the same side of the ladder as his dad, Hector Sr., but gaining that one spot now means they could meet in the final round.
“I knew we had the bike to do well over here,” Arana said. “We have been running strong all season and we always have a good tune-up for here. Just for whatever reason on Friday, I don’t know if we were too aggressive trying to run even faster or I’m not really sure what but we spun the tire.
“We came back in and made some changes. We were a little too soft, so then we bogged off the line, but we got it figured out for today, and that’s all that matters that we have a good tune-up for Sunday.”
Arana lines up against Freddie Camarena in the first round Sunday after Camarena qualified No. 15 with a top pass of 7.332 seconds at 184.17 mph.
Arana is the most recent winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle, having won in Chicago two weeks ago. He also raced to the final round in Denver in 2013.
