Arana Sr. nudges son off Pro Stock Motorcycle pole in Dallas

Hector Arana

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

But dad couldn't let his son stay there. Arana Sr. grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a pass of 6.898 seconds at 195.11 mph that edged his son by .001 seconds.

"My earlier run was pretty much almost perfect," Arana Sr. said. "When I saw Hector run an .89, I said, 'Wow. An .89? What does this kid have that I don't have?' Then I made my run, and I heard the .89 and I took No. 1 for now. I was pleased."

Most importantly, the Lucas Oil Buells remained 1-2 with nearly identical passes in Q2, as Arana Jr.'s run was 6.899 seconds at 193.63 mph. And though the two Buell XB9R's are similar, they aren't identical, including the tune-up.

"His style, my style, the bikes, everything is a little different," Arana Sr. said. "We try to get as close as we can but it never works out that way. Each motor is different and wants its own tune-up. The weight of my son and the way he rides is different from me, so the clutch is always different. We can't really share that much information."

But they still work together very closely.

"The advantage is I know his setup, he knows mine, so we can watch each other's and see what happens on the starting line," Arana Sr. said. "Hopefully, I'll be the last one to run so I can take advantage of that."

If he holds on to the No. 1 after two more sessions Saturday, the pole would be Arana Sr.'s fifth of 2012 and 22nd of his career. He also has an impressive streak of qualifying fourth or better in 17 consecutive races.

"I definitely feel happier," Arana Sr. said. "We have more momentum going, especially with the second run. We picked up the pace a little bit. I'm pleased. The track has been great. I think we can get even more aggressive tomorrow."

Arana Sr. is gunning for his first victory of the season and hopes to take advantage of a rules change that began this weekend for the Harley-Davidson team, which had 10 pounds added to their bikes.

"I believe we have to take the opportunity now and see if we can come up with a win and grab some points," Arana Sr. said. "(With) those extra 10 pounds, they might not have the perfect tune-up or the clutch combination yet. We need to take advantage of this situation.

"It could give us a chance of knocking them down, stopping the winning streak they're on. We need to take advantage of this opportunity this weekend. It's important for me to grab a win."

Source: Lucas Oil Racing