If the Pro Stock Bike gig doesn’t work out for Hector Arana, there’s a good chance being a meteorologist might make for suitable alternative work.

The defending world champion from Milltown, Ind., rode his way to the top of the qualifying list during first day qualifying at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex.

Arana credits his incessant study of this weekend’s weather reports as a key element for his Friday evening performance.

If the Pro Stock Bike gig doesn’t work out for Hector Arana, there’s a good chance being a meteorologist might make for suitable alternative work.

The defending world champion from Milltown, Ind., rode his way to the top of the qualifying list during first day qualifying at the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex.

Arana credits his incessant study of this weekend’s weather reports as a key element for his Friday evening performance.

“These conditions are awesome,” said Arana. “The humidity is low, the water grains are low and I’ve been paying close attention to these conditions.”

Arana had been tracking the Baytown conditions for the last four days.

“I was watching the trends,” Arana explained. “I was looking to see what the weather was going to do for the next few days. I knew what to expect by the time I got here. While I was traveling, I was making phone calls and getting on The Weather Channel to check the weather forecast.”

Friday’s weather sparked a sense of urgency for Arana.

“There’s a lot of times that I know the weather is what it is and I have no control over it,” Arana said. “I know the weather I get is the same as everyone else. I just like to be prepared and know what I need to do.

“Houston can be nice and sunny one minute and the next moment, you can get a strong wind,” Arana explained. “I have to pay attention to that and study it all.”

Arana opened qualifying earlier in the day with a 6.880 elapsed time and returned for the second session with a 6.856 at 193.49. If the run holds through Saturday qualifying, it will be his first pole of 2010 and tenth overall.

Arana is so encouraged by Friday’s success that he’s thinking about a record over the course of the weekend.

“There’s a great opportunity to reset the world record this weekend,” said Arana. “The track seems to be hooking up and we just freshened the motor up and it just has two runs on those pistons and rings. Plus, we are running some of the new break-in oil from Lucas.

“I’m impressed with the 6.85, now we’ll study the data and see where we can improve.”