Gainesville, Florida (March 19, 2016) - Hector Arana Jr. had his prayers answered in the final qualifying session for the NHRA Gatornationals on Saturday at Gainesville Raceway. With a run he called the "Hail Mary of Hail Marys," Arana put his Lucas Oil Racing TV Buell in the No. 14 qualifying spot.
Arana had struggled in qualifying for the season-opening Pro Stock Motorcycle race, and he was outside the top 16 heading into Q4, but he tried not to feel the pressure and instead embraced it.
"You know what? I said, 'This is no different than a final round,' " Arana said. "Hopefully, this is practice for the pressure of the finals."
Arana clipped off a solid pass of 6.917 seconds at 194.13 mph to jump into the field. He avoided missing a race since the first time he tried to make a field, here in 2011, a streak of 81 consecutive races.
"All I could do is do my job and ride the bike as best I can," Arana said. "I went up there, took an extra breath to stay relaxed, and popped the clutch. I knew once the bike left and it didn't bog or spin the tire that we had a really good shot. I tucked as tight as a good, paid attention to my shift line, and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
"They said it ran a .91, so I said, 'Whew.' I've never been so happy to run a .91."
Arana, too, knows there is more speed in his bike, so he's confident heading into Sunday's final eliminations. He'll have to race No. 3 qualifier Chip Ellis in the first round; Ellis had a top lap of 6.829 seconds at 195.34 mph.
"Now we've got to go over everything and hopefully get something figured out for tomorrow," Arana said. "I feel great. My lights have been pretty good this weekend, and I feel relaxed and comfortable on the bike. The way I'm looking at it is I'm on the bottom of the page, but if I knock that guy out, now I'm back on top. We'll go from there."
Race day eliminations will air live from 1 to 4 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX Sports 1.
