The 2012 PSM rivalry picture

Absolutely love this picture...the Hectors against the Harleys. The latter's incredible win streak this season is reflected in their confidence. The Hectors intensity to wrestle them back to earth is shown here as well. Too funny....let's see what happens tomorrow.

Matt Hines sits in a PSM photo session, Hector Arana (in red) has fun with Mark

For more on the Hectors, please click here. For the Harley's story, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Mark Rebilas

At Denver, Harley's extend win streak

NHRA's Mile-High Nationals update was delayed for I only saw the race last night. And boy was it a good. Besides, something special is happening in NHRA racing, and concerns an Eagle and a Harley.

Did you realize that the Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines team with riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawic had won all the races up to Denver. That is six straight wins and one helluva streak!

On Saturday, the Harley's appeared to be at a disadvantage due to the high altitude.
However, that night, crew chief Matt Hines (ex-Champion '97-'99) dug deep into his bag of tricks and rolled the dice on Sunday. Needless to say, he found the winning combination and the two Harley's met each other in the finals. With a red light, Andrew gave the win to Eddie Krawic, who in the post race interview called his Harley the "Achilles" that defeated the Hector(s). Nuff said.

The Harley's winning streak now extends to seven.

This Denver race marks the start of the NHRA's Western Swing, a period in which for three consecutive weekends the teams race too far away from their shops to return for rest and repairs. As Greg Anderson said: "You basically load everything you own in the trailer [just in case]."

In Top Fuel, the defending champion Antron Brown drove his DSR car to the final and proceeded to defeat Brandon Bernstein with a 3.957 seconds at 308.21 mph.

In Funny Car, the finals featured Jack Beckman and Courtney Force. This is the rookie's second final appearance, a remarkable feat. And she left on Jack and was ahead at the half way mark but suddenly her Ford started to move out of the grove, just enough for her to loose some traction to give the win to Beckman. All in all, a very strong performance by Courtney and it won't be long before she raises a "Wally".

Allen Johnson's winning Mopar

In Pro Stock, the Mopar's reigned supreme with Allen Johnson edging out V. Gaines at the line. A nice win for Mopar Nation who's celebrating their 75th anniversary.

To watch a short video about the Mopar Mile High race, please click here.

The next race is Sonoma, this Sunday. For more info, please click here. A great track and Wally Park's Museum is a must see, and do not miss out on eating at an In-N-Out Burger, like I did!

Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA
Photo credit: NHRA, Dragbike.com, Mark Rebilas

The racing weekend that was-UPDATED

NHRA, at Route 66, Chicago:
The heat proved to be a very hot challenge for the crew chiefs on Friday. And then come Sunday, the race had to be delayed due to rain. All in all, a difficult race for both tuners and racers.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown beat steve Torrence when he red lighted at the start. This is the second victory for Brown in his Matco Tools sponsored dragster.

In Funny Car, Jeff Arend defeated the 24-year-old Courtney Force (rookie), who made it all the way to the final. She did a great job, even though her 4.454 could not best the 4.131 of Arend. To get to the final, Arend defeated Tony Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman, all very good drivers.

In Pro Stock, Erica Enders became the first woman ever to win, and it came on the back of the man who didn't want to go down in history as "that guy", four-time world champion Greg Anderson. She drove a marvelous race and was sure not to let history repeat itself. Her GK Motorsports Chevy Cobalt muscled her way into the lead and won off Anderson with a 6.627 at 207.4 mph. A shout out to her crew chief, Dave Connolly, who is a great pro stock driver as well.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Three-time world champ Matt Hines claimed his second win of the season when he defeated L.E. Tonglet, who red lighted. Hines' Screaming Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson won over Scotty Pollacheck, Chip Ellis and Hector Arana Jr. to reach the finals.

Check again soon for an extensive piece of Erica winning in Pro Stock.

The next race will be on July 8, at the Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at Assen:
Last weekend the fastest riders met up at the TT Circuit Assen, in Holland. The track was built in 1955 and is considered "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans.

Lorenzo (R) was furious after the incident

Heading into the first corner Alvaro Bautista (P8) attacked hard and way too early into the race. Bautista lunged for the inside at turn one, fell when he lost the front of his Gresini Honda and then wiped out the unsuspecting third on the grid Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha factory) ahead of him. Both out of the race, Lorenzo was left with a "big bruise" on his leg and lost the lead of the championship.

At the restart of the race, the first and second on the grid machines of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa seemed to be in a class of their own. Both Yamaha riders pulled away from the pack and the still sore Stoner (from a crash in Friday's practice) calmly put a move on Pedrosa with ten laps to go.

At the checkered flag it was Casey Stoner (Australia), trailed by Dani Pedrosa (Spain) and Andrea Dovizioso riding for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who passed Ben Spies on the last lap.

Now, the championship is heating up with Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo in a tie. For more info about this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Eni Motorad GP in Germany, on July 8 next. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at the Kentucky Speedway:
The Quaker State 400 would prove to be a highly contested race. The heat was on from the practice sessions on Friday, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski getting into clash that saw Keselowski end up in the wall with his primary car. They were supposed to be practicing, not racing. Pole position went to Jimmie Johnson, his first since 2010.

Keselowski's Penske team battled 100 degrees heat to prepare his back-up car for the race on Saturday night. And the fact that their driver was a bit ticked off, meant that he'd be pushing even harder, which he did. There were the usual wrecks and periods of trying to save fuel.

The video below shows the finish and some close racing:

In the end, Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, his third this year, followed by Kasey Kahne (2), Denny Hamlin (3), Dale Earnhardt Jr (4), and Jeff Gordon (5). For the entire race recap, please click here.

The next race is at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400, on July 7. For more info, please click here.


Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Crash.net, MotoGP, Wikipedia, NARCAR/Youtube
Photo credit: Courtney Enders/Facebook, Crash.net