Lucas Oil's Arana Racing team sees red in Denver's first round

DENVER (July 24) -- The Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcycle team may want to repaint its Buells after a tough performance in the first round of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway.

Both the Lucas Oil Buell of Hector Arana Sr. and the Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell of Hector Arana Jr. carry a predominantly red paint scheme, but both racers saw red in the first round.

Moments after Arana Jr. left too soon against Chip Ellis, Arana Sr. drew a red-light against Angelle Sampey.

"It's so frustrating," Arana Jr. said. "We made a pretty good run, too, but I went red. I went up there and did my normal routine and everything felt good. When I let the clutch go, I felt like I hit it pretty good, but it was red. I wasn't doing anything different than I normally do, but it was a little early. That happens sometimes."

What frustrated Arana Jr. more was that Ellis, the No. 7 qualifier, was late with a .109-second reaction time. Ellis then slowed to a pass of 15.210 seconds at 93.84 mph, but the win light was already on. Arana Jr. left .033-second too soon, and his pass of 7.231 seconds at 184.77 mph went for naught.

Arana Sr. had a taller order, facing No. 3 qualifier Sampey. He left .006-second too soon but would have had a hard time overcoming Sampey's stellar 7.204-second pass at 183.49 mph.

"I gave it my best," Arana Sr. said. "I came up with .006 red and I lost my focus point. I go, 'Did I just see red?' and I turn my head, and sure enough it was red. I thought, 'I can't believe this.' I notice the bike is drifting to the right, to the wall, and I say, 'Whoa, wait a minute. I better get back on it.' And then I go, 'You know what? It's not worth it.' I was so mad, so I pulled in the clutch and that was it."

But Arana Sr. believes the weekend was not lost, learning some tune-up data to help in the future.

"It was a hell of a weekend," Arana Sr. said. "We worked our tail off. At the end we did learn something. We're going to make good notes for next year. Hopefully we'll do better."

Though Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Hector Arana Sr. (above) and Hector Arana Jr. (below) both cut red-lights in the first round of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, they gained valuable tune-up data for the future.

 

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