A 'motivated' Hector Arana Jr. ready to bounce back in Atlanta

ATLANTA (May 10) -- A slow start to the 2016 season won't get Lucas Oil Racing TV Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Jr. down. If anything, he's more pumped to get to Atlanta Dragway for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals this weekend than anyone in the sport.

Arana failed to qualify for the second race of the season, in Charlotte, but he's ready to bounce back in Atlanta.

"I'm very motivated," Arana said. "My last DNQ was my first race, so I'm extremely motivated. I want to show everyone that it was a fluke and that's not what you can expect out of 2016."

Arana can take some solace in history. The last time he failed to qualify for a race was in 2012, his rookie season, when he ended up second in the points standings.

"The last time I had a DNQ, we had a good season," Arana said. "Hopefully, we're going through all our hiccups early in the year rather than when the Countdown (to the Championship) comes. We're getting that all out of the way, so we'll be ready for the Countdown.

"I have all the confidence in my dad and my team that we'll be ready to go for Atlanta. I'm really focused and ready to cut some good lights and go some rounds."

The Arana Racing team has spent the time since the Charlotte race diagnosing the issues with Arana's bike, putting the engine on the team's dynamometer to figure out what's wrong.

"First thing we did was pull the motor out of the bike and put it on the dyno to see whether it was the engine or something in the bike and eliminate that," Arana said. "If the engine was down on power, then we knew it was the engine. If it had power, then we knew we had an issue with something else. That's the route we took to diagnose the issue, and we found out it was some engine issues."

With Arana living in New York, his dad, team owner Hector Sr., has been working on the engine.

"We've been working hard, trying to figure out why the engine was down on power," Arana said. "We're currently dynoing the engine, and by the time Atlanta comes around, we should be ready to go.

"We have a great engine program. There might be a hiccup here or there, but overall we've proven that it's a solid engine program."

Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying sessions are scheduled for 4 and 6:30 p.m., Friday, and 1:30 and 4 p.m., Saturday. Eliminations start at noon, Sunday. FOX Sports 1 will air Friday qualifying from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., Saturday qualifying from 10 to 11 p.m., and Sunday's elimination action from 4:40 to 7:30 p.m.

 

 

 

 A slow start to the 2016 season has Lucas Oil Racing TV Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Jr.
pumped about this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta.

 

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