ANDREW HINES MATCHES BROTHER, TEAMMATE WITH 44TH NO. 1 QUALIFIER

Written by Lee Montgomery, photo by Roger Richards    Sun, 2019-05-19 04:00

 


The battle for No. 1 qualifier supremacy in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class has been joined. And it's an intramural battle, too.

Andrew Hines earned his 44th career No. 1 Saturday at the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. That matches his brother Matt Hines and Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec for second all-time.

Who are they chasing? New Harley teammate Angelle Sampey, who has 49.

"It's pretty phenomenal," Hines said. "When I was a young kid, I was watching my brother go out there and clobber No. 1 qualifiers. It just seemed like he could do no wrong. He was a really good rider and great at tuning his motorcycles. It's really cool to be in that same classification.

"Eddie having 44, also with our team, he got that the last race. I knew he was picking away and catching us and was able to leap-frog, but now we're all tied. And the leader of all-time is on our team as well. Angelle's got 49, and hopefully we can get her one on our Harley-Davidson real soon."

Hines made a run of 6.82 at 196.42 mph, edging Krawiec's 6.822 at 197.51 mph run. Hector Arana Jr. was third on an EBR, with Matt Smith fourth on an EBR and Sampey fifth.

Hines, too, was happy with his Street Rod's performance in the final qualifying session Saturday, when he made a pass of 6.822 seconds at 196.62 mph to earn three bonus points for being tops of the round.

"That last run, I kind of took a chance with the 60-foot to see what this kind of track would hold for the temperature," Hines said. "I was really happy with the 1.05 60-foot that it laid down in that session. The track wasn't as good as it was in Q3 when we had a 1.04, but it was a good race-day setup."

And it came in the heat of the day, something Hines and his Harley usually don't care for.

Hines was also happy with the PSM class running behind Pro Stock on Saturday, the first time that's happened.

"That was a change of pace and nice to see some pro cars going down the track instead of listening to them in the trailer," Hines said.

 

 

 
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