Gatornationals provides valuable information for Lucas Oil rider Arana Sr.

GAINESVILLE, FL – Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Sr. may not have opened his 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season the way he had hoped, but he definitely can be proud of the effort put in by his entire team at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville.

The first round of the NHRA Gatornationals found the Lucas Oil rider matched up against Scotty Pollacheck, but an issue with Arana’s bike caused him to shut it down early. With a final run of 9.750 seconds at 86.95 mph, Arana lost to the eventual finalist.

“I felt good, comfortable, and confident when I pulled up to the line today,” Arana said. “When I dropped the clutch I heard it: The bike just died. Not only did it die, but it did not respond for what seemed like an eternity to me. When it finally took off I was like, ‘OK, I still have a chance to catch him.’ I shifted and went for the next gear change and it wouldn’t change. At that point I just had to shut it off; the run was over for me.”

Mechanical issues have the Pro Stock Motorcycle veteran scratching his beard on what to try next. However, Arana is a called a veteran for a reason, and he knows he will figure out a solution soon with the help of his team.

“It’s just really frustrating,” Arana said. “The bike has been having this same issue since we left Pomona last year. I’ve gone over the transmission and replaced a bunch of parts to see if I can figure out what the problem is. Apparently, I haven’t gotten it figured out yet, but I’ll go home and go over everything again until I get it.”

With less than a month until the next Pro Stock Motorcycle race, he and the entire Lucas Oil team will work long hours to get themselves ready to go four-wide racing April 11-13 in Charlotte, N.C.