PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Arana ran a 7.004 at 189.31 on his Lucas Oil Buell, but it was a moot point because Karen Stoffer red-lighted aboard her GEICO Powersports Suzuki in the final. It was the second straight win for Arana, who moved into first place for the first time since his season-opening win.

“I’m still going to keep working hard,” said Arana. “I’d like to make three in a row now. I need to stay focused so I can have a shot at the title. I think have the motorcycle to win this championship."

Four-time Nationals event winner and North Carolina native Shawn Gann rode his Buell deep into eliminations Sunday before finally being topped by Karen Stoffer in the semi-final round. Stoffer lost in the finals to Hector “The Hammer” Arana.

Even more impressive than Gann’s move up in the points to the eighth position was his perfect reaction time of .000 in the quarterfinal round against Michael Phillips.

“You talk about cool!” Gann said Sunday evening. “How cool is that? It’s a little scary, though, because you think of how close you are to hitting the red light, but how many people can say they were perfect off the line? Not many. Our lights have been good all year and that was a perfect time to be perfect.”

The XTremeRebellion.com/RumBum Buell was very fast off the hauler this weekend and earned Gann six bonus points under the NHRA’s new points program for having the low ET in two rounds of qualifying. He knows earning bonus points and winning rounds are crucial to his chances of winning the PSM title due to the high level of competition in the class.

“You can’t count anyone out,” he said. “Look at Phillips and Karen, look what they’ve done in the last couple weeks. Heck, look what we’ve done in the last couple weeks. I think everyone in the Countdown has a shot at the championship, but I think our XTremeRebellion.com/RumBum team is hungry and I think we’re gonna go down fighting!”