OFF THE WIRE
BY: Alex Baca
Source: go2geiger.com
Three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion Andrew Hines set a national record and could increase his lead nearly two-fold in the Countdown to the Championship with his performance during Saturday's qualifying of the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.
During the first qualifying session of the day Hines smashed the Pro Stock Motorcycle national ET record of 6.847 seconds held by Karen Stoffer with his run of 6.815 at 195.17 mph. Hines knew his best chance to back up the record and would come in Saturday's last qualifier.
Hines managed to do just that during the final qualifying session of the day when he rode his Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod to a 6.860 at 192.80 mph. Setting a national record at an event not only comes with prestige and bragging rights, it also comes with a 20-point bonus at the end of the race.
"Twenty points is huge when you only have a 30 point lead coming into the Countdown," Hines said. "Luckily we're hitting our stride at the right time."
Earning all the points you can is especially important now that we are in the Countdown. Hines has also been busy accumulating those all-important bonus points every qualifying session. So far this weekend he's been quickest down the track with each pass he's made.
"We've figured we needed every point we could get," Hines said. "We wanted to be quickest in every session, and we knew that the qualifying bonus points bit us last year. Eddie lost by the championship by two points last year, we saw how many points Hector Arana got over Eddie last year, and it made all the difference."
Hines is looking to extend his lead in the championship hunt, but isn’t looking to do anything extreme to make that happen. For the Vance and Hines team, consistency is the key to winning the championship.
"We're aiming to be consistent," Hines said. "We're not going to go outside the park and do a bunch of weird stuff like we did last year."
The conditions were near perfection by the time Funny Car qualifying rolled around, so it was just a matter of time to see who was going to take that provisional No. 1 spot from Robert Hight. Matt Hagan was the one to drive his DieHard Dodge Charger around the Force field at the top of the pack with a track record setting run of 4.039 at 277.89 mph.
"Wow what a run you know Tommy DeLago really knows how to tune those racecars up," Hagan said. "He said if it makes it past 60 foot it's going to haul the mail."
Hagan had his Charger hauling down the track on pace to flirt with a new national record but felt the car drifting and shut it off before the 1,000-foot mark.
"I could see the groove pretty good, but it felt like it was getting pretty close to the wall towards the end and I just as soon shut it off a little early," Hagan said. "We took a look at the numbers and DeLago thinks it would have been a 4.00."
Points leader Larry Dixon stole the provisional pole in Top Fuel from Cory McClenathan in the final pair of Saturday night qualifying in a great side by side matchup.
Making a good run in this final night session of qualifying was especially important to the Al-Anabi team because they failed to make it down the track during the Friday night session.
"It was a great run from everyone on the Al-Anabi teams," Dixon said. "Especially since we missed it last night obviously, getting another shot at it tonight is almost like a get out of jail free card.
"That run was important, I think we were eighth or ninth going up there so we needed to run better to get lane choice. That was clutch performance by the team."
Pro Stocker Jeg Coughlin Jr. drove his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to the top of the heap with a strong pass of 6.580 at 209.39 mph in the final session of Saturday qualifying.
"It feels fantastic," Coughlin said. "We've always has a great car and a good performing car, but to challenge for the No. 1 spot is pretty exciting – especially here at the U.S. Nationals. With this being the first race of the Countdown, every point counts, and our confidence is continuing to build."
The continually changing conditions at O'Reilly Raceway Park played a large part in Coughlin's improved performance on the track.
"The biggest change in the conditions is that the barometer went up and the vapor pressure went down," Coughlin said. "These Pro Stock cars love the cool, dry air. It felt good to make two good runs today. We're looking to hold on to the provisional pole at this point, tomorrow is going to be a tough day as well."
Qualifying at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals concludes Sunday and eliminations begin Monday at 11 a.m. EDT at O'Reilly Raceway Park.
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Top Fuel -- 1. Larry Dixon, 3.776 seconds, 324.36 mph; 2. Cory McClenathan, 3.784, 323.66; 3. Tony Schumacher, 3.790, 324.83; 4. Brandon Bernstein, 3.802, 317.87; 5. Antron Brown, 3.808, 319.22; 6. David Grubnic, 3.823, 315.78; 7. Doug Kalitta, 3.824, 319.52; 8. Steve Torrence, 3.830, 313.22; 9. Rod Fuller, 3.840, 318.17; 10. T.J. Zizzo, 3.851, 311.56; 11. Morgan Lucas, 3.888, 311.92; 12. Shawn Langdon, 3.914, 292.96. Not Qualified: 13. Chris Karamesines, 3.927, 310.63; 14. Bob Vandergriff, 3.933, 309.42; 15. Terry McMillen, 3.935, 293.41; 16. Bruce Litton, 3.953, 304.25; 17. Pat Dakin, 3.976, 284.93; 18. Troy Buff, 4.049, 233.08; 19. Terry Haddock, 4.092, 285.29.
Funny Car -- 1. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 4.039, 299.86; 2. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.049, 309.77; 3. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.055, 310.98; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Toyota Solara, 4.057, 311.34; 5. John Force, Mustang, 4.058, 312.86; 6. Ashley Force Hood, Mustang, 4.059, 310.98; 7. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.086, 306.33; 8. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.104, 299.26; 9. Bob Bode, Chevy Impala SS, 4.109, 298.21; 10. Jeff Arend, Solara, 4.110, 307.02; 11. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.136, 303.16; 12. Melanie Troxel, Charger, 4.146, 303.64. Not Qualified: 13. John Smith, 4.174, 299.20; 14. Jim Head, 4.185, 271.62; 15. Tony Pedregon, 4.191, 261.52; 16. Brian Thiel, 4.262, 289.07; 17. Justin Schriefer, 4.624, 203.09; 18. Paul Lee, 4.920, 162.70; 19. Del Worsham, 6.467, 97.55.
Pro Stock -- 1. Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Cobalt, 6.580, 209.39; 2. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.585, 209.26; 3. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.586, 209.56; 4. Allen Johnson, Dodge Avenger, 6.587, 209.75; 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.587, 208.81; 6. Johnny Gray, GXP, 6.593, 209.01; 7. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.594, 208.91; 8. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.602, 209.20; 9. V. Gaines, Avenger, 6.606, 209.10; 10. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.609, 208.55; 11. Ronnie Humphrey, GXP, 6.622, 208.75; 12. Shane Gray, GXP, 6.623, 208.30. Not Qualified: 13. Kurt Johnson, 6.630, 207.88; 14. Steve Spiess, 6.633, 208.14; 15. Justin Humphreys, 6.636, 207.34; 16. Bob Yonke, 6.638, 207.62; 17. Rickie Jones, 6.642, 207.75; 18. Rodger Brogdon, 6.644, 207.98; 19. Bob Benza, 6.648, 206.64; 20. Larry Morgan, 6.653, 208.17; 21. Erica Enders, 6.662, 207.62; 22. Richie Stevens, 6.671, 207.82; 23. Vinnie Deceglie, 6.673, 207.56; 24. Steve Schmidt, 6.680, 206.29; 25. Vincent Nobile, 6.685, 206.01; 26. Bob Glidden, 6.698, 206.10; 27. Mark Hogan, 6.705, 203.19; 28. Mark Martino, 6.732, 205.69; 29. Kevin Lawrence, 6.785, 203.06; 30. John Gaydosh Jr, 6.838, 200.41; 31. Dave River, 6.859, 201.55.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.815, 195.17; 2. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.867, 194.94; 3. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.900, 192.66; 4. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.907, 192.08; 5. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.938, 192.03; 6. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.946, 192.44; 7. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 6.956, 194.52; 8. Chip Ellis, Suzuki, 6.982, 191.65; 9. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.996, 191.29; 10. Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.999, 188.52; 11. Douglas Horne, Buell, 7.016, 187.76; 12. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.022, 189.63. Not Qualified: 13. Craig Treble, 7.024, 189.60; 14. Junior Pippin, 7.034, 188.44; 15. Angie Smith, 7.057, 188.04; 16. Mike Berry, 7.139, 185.92; 17. Wesley Wells, 7.166, 185.28; 18. Joe DeSantis, 7.171, 187.91; 19. Redell Harris, 7.257, 179.90; 20. Katie Sullivan, 7.260, 182.95; 21. David Hope, 7.533, 158.78.
