Temperature drop paves the way for Lucas Oil’s Hector Arana Jr. to take provisional No. 1

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – As Lucas Oil Buell racer Hector Arana Jr. waited underneath the tower at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for the second qualifying session for Pro Stock Motorcycle, he could feel the temperature drop, and his mouth watered.

The cooler weather meant a faster bike, and Arana rode it to a 6.840-second pass at 196.53 mph that put him in the provisional No. 1 spot with two sessions remaining Saturday.

Arana watched his father improve with a pass of 6.870 seconds at 196.16 mph in Q2, so he knew the potential was there for a good run.

“Both of our bikes improved, and we just happened to get lucky and improve a little bit more than my father,” Arana said. “When we were waiting in the staging lanes, we could feel the temperature dropping pretty rapidly, so we knew it was going to get faster. We got lucky, and everything came to us.”

Arana’s pass in Q1 was 6.886 at 197.39 mph, so while his bike was a tick slower in Q2, it was a better run. And there could be more in it.

“Every racer will tell you there is a little bit left on the table,” Arana said. “It was a pretty good run, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Arana hopes to hang on to the No. 1 spot, and if he does, it would be his second of the season and 18th of his career.

“There are a lot of fast bikes out there,” Arana said. “There are two Suzukis — Karen (Stoffer) and Jimmy (Underdahl) — right behind me, and I’ve got my dad there, too. We’ll see what the weather shows for tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens.

“The track was better than what we expected. Hopefully we can get a hold of it tomorrow and maybe run a little bit faster.”

What he doesn’t expect is a 200-mph pass here. Arana is the national speed record holder with a 199.88-mph run in Charlotte earlier this season, but he doesn’t believe the barrier will be broken in Englishtown.

“For this track, I don’t think so,” Arana said. “We’re off about 4 mph, so I don’t think we’ll be able to pick up 4 mph unless something drastic changes in the weather.”