Metric Thunder News

Hines Leads the way with Top Qualifying

HINES LEADS THE WAY WITH TOP QUALIFYING AWARD AND FULL THROTTLE HONORS
INDIANAPOLIS

(September 6, 2005) - Andrew Hines and GT Tonglet each rode their Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidsons to career-best and worst performances this weekend at the 51st annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Hines earned his eighth top qualifying award of the season and 16th of his career as well as his eighth Full Throttle Award of the season. The Full Throttle honor is given to the team with the most consistent performance during qualifying. With three races left on the schedule, Hines has equaled his eight top qualifiers from 2004.

Tonglet earned his first Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle victory – the special bonus race for the top eight riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category – earning a $15,000 bonus.

Monday, however, the results were less than satisfactory. Both Hines and Tonglet suffered first round losses, the first time in the team's history that both riders have lost in the opening round at the same race.

"This team is so consistent and the fact that, until now, we've never had two bikes lose in the opening round at the same time is truly impressive," Screamin' Eagle Racing Manager Anne Paluso said. "We've earned the win at the last three NHRA events and this will certainly motivate this Vance & Hines team to be even more diligent in the shop before we go out for the last few races of the season."

Tonglet's V-Rod broke during his first round matchup against Matt Guidera’s Buell, slowing to a 7.532-second pass at 140.17 mph to Guidera's 7.337 at 177.56.

The loss was especially disappointing to Tonglet following his first bonus event victory on Saturday when he beat Chip Ellis (Buell) in the final with a 7.288 at 176.60 Ellis' 7.345 at 177.04. It is just the second time Tonglet has lost in the first round this season.

"I was so confident coming into this race and the bike has been running real well over the last few races," Tonglet said. "The bike left great and as soon as it dropped a cylinder, I immediately thought about the points chase. Fortunately, the top three riders all lost, so I didn't lose ground. But it's real unfortunate that Andrew lost too."

Hines, the defending NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle champion, lost in the first round for just the third time this season. Hines fell to Joe DeSantis (Suzuki) after he fouled at the starting line.

"I just don't like the color red right now at all," Hines said. "We still saw some real good things throughout the weekend. We earned another qualifying award as well as the Full Throttle. To be the top qualifier at the biggest race of the year with the biggest field of racers is just awesome. Everyone is bringing their best to the starting line for this event and we did a great job every day except Monday.

"We're still in the hunt for a championship and that's what matters this far into the season. We're going to go out to Reading (Pa.) and come back strong."

Hines qualified first with a 7.081 at 193.85. Tonglet was third with a 7.090 at 187.81. With just three events left on the NHRA schedule, Hines has the point lead. He has 878 points while Tonglet is in second place with 861 points. Antron Brown is in third with 771 points.

Team owner Byron Hines said the team will focus on the positive results as they head to the last stretch of races.

"Obviously we are disappointed but we can't kill ourselves over it because we did well during qualifying and we’re leaving with the points lead," Hines said. "We had some reliability issues this weekend, but just like in the past, we'll attack the bikes and make sure we solve the problems before the next race.

"To be able to come away with the bonus event win, top qualifying position and the Full Throttle Award from a race that demands so much from every team says something about the way this team responds to pressure. This is a long race with a lot of extra hype because of the history it has, and it takes a lot of energy to focus on your job for so long. We came up short in eliminations, but we still learned from each pass."

Matt Smith (Buell) won the event, beating Steve Johnson (Suzuki) in the final for his first career victory.

September 11, 2005 11:33 AM