Andrew Hines knows how to win NHRA world championships. He has three world Pro Stock Motorcycle titles on his resume – 2004-2006.

Hines took a huge step toward capturing his fourth crown by winning the Toyota Nationals Sunday at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Andrew Hines knows how to win NHRA world championships. He has three world Pro Stock Motorcycle titles on his resume – 2004-2006.

Hines took a huge step toward capturing his fourth crown by winning the Toyota Nationals Sunday at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hines edged reigning world champ Matt Smith with a 6.955-second lap at 191.02 mph. Smith came across the line at 6.971 seconds at 192.11 mph.

Hines has a 92-point lead over his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec. There’s only one race left in the season – the Auto Club NHRA Finals Nov. 13-16 in Pomona, Calif. Krawiec won world championships in 2008, 2011 and 2012.

Hines qualified No. 1 and proceeded to beat John Hall, Chaz Kennedy, and Jerry Savoie before disposing of Smith in the finals.

“We were fair at best through most of the year with my bike,” Hines said. “Eddie’s bike was just on a mission all year long in qualifying and I’ve really just been picking away at the tune-up with the help of my brother (Matt Hines, Andrew and Krawiec’s crew chief). I’ve been trying to get every ounce of performance out of my V-Rod. We are starting to see some stuff in the tune-up that we were overlooking in the past and that was ultimately costing me quite a bit of performance. Going back looking at what we were doing and looking at the data, sometimes you can’t believe what the data is telling you and you have to go with your gut instincts and what the motor looks like it is telling you.”

Andrew acknowledged he likes how his motorcycle has been running.

“We have the horsepower coming out of the bike now and it is consistent and that’s a big deal,” Andrew said. “When it is consistent every run Matt (Hines) can tune it off the starting line and make it 60-foot better. It’s finally putting the whole package together. That last run (Saturday night) when it went 85, it is one of those runs. You have very few of those in your career and that was one of them.”

Krawiec was upset in the second round by Savoie and Hines knew he would have his hands full with Savoie in the semifinals.

Hines responded with a 6.955-second run to muscle past Savoie’s 7.007-second lap.

“He (Savioe) looked like he was going to be the Harley slayer there for a second,” Hines said. “Luckily I was able to cut the tree down with a chainsaw with a .004 there in the semis. I wanted to be really good on the tree and .004 was further than I wanted to push it. I must have rolled it in a little far, but you can’t take him lightly. He has been a bad, bad man lately, and that thing has been going fast. When I saw him take out Eddie it is a bittersweet deal. It’s bad for the team and good for me personally for points. That was a big moment in the second round and to get by him and get in the final was huge. Then racing that final round with one of my biggest rivals in the other lane it came down to getting after it and I was able to squeak by.”

Hines, who has finished second in the points in 2007, 2010 and 2012, is devising a game plan for Pomona.

“I don’t want to play defense,” Hines said. “I’m going to go on the offense. I don’t want to give up any bonus points through qualifying, 92 points whatever it is now, I want to keep it over 80 that way we can roll into Sunday and basically have it mathematically locked up. The national record is pretty much out of the equation for Pomona and I’m just going to go out there and do the same thing I did this weekend and try and make sure my V-Rod has the most horsepower every single run when I go up there.”

The act of cutting and pasting articles from this publication to a message board is a clear copyright violation as is pulling photos to post on social media sites. All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.