No. 12 qualifier Hector Arana Sr. looks for quicker start with Lucas Oil Buell

SONOMA, Calif. (July 30) -- Past Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Hector Arana Sr. knows there is plenty of horsepower in his Lucas Oil Buell.

One look at the speeds of the top-16 qualifiers for the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals this weekend at Sonoma Raceway proves that. In the quickest field in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, Arana posted the sixth-best speed, 197.25 mph.

Yet, he is qualified in the No. 12 spot after a pass of 6.859 seconds. That means the Lucas Oil bike is fast, but it simply is taking too long to get to that speed, an issue Arana pledges to fix.

"Yeah, we need to get the bike to accelerate," Arana said. "That seems to be the problem right now. Something is off. We are just going to have to sit down and look at everything carefully and figure out why, what changed? What's happening and where are we losing it?"

Arana and his team, including talented son Hector Jr., will look over the data and the tune-up for his bike, hoping to find a better way to get the bike off the starting line. That will be his focus -- not points, not a race win, not the Sonoma wine country.

"I think right now we just have to sit and look at everything carefully," Arana said. "It could be something simple or it could be more than one thing that we are missing. Right now, we have to not worry about points, nothing else, just getting this bike to be fast like it was."

Arana will have face No. 5 qualifier Chip Ellis in the first round of eliminations. Ellis' best pass of the weekend was 6.796 seconds at 198.47 mph.

"All I can do is my best right now," Arana said. "That's all I can control: My bike, my tune-up, and my riding skills. That's all I'm going to do tomorrow, just focus and do the best that I can."

Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations start around noon, Sunday. FOX will carry the action live from 1 to 4 p.m. PT, Sunday.

In the quickest field in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Sr. posted the sixth-best speed, 197.25 mph, during qualifying at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

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