Hines Edges Seeling For Third Nhra Title
Hines edges Seeling for third NHRA title
RACE WATCH
It wasn’t the winner-take-all battle that many had hoped for, but it was darn close. Matt Hines and Angelle Seeling, two of the most popular young stars on the NHRA Winston Drag Racing circuit, headed into the season-ending event in Pomona, California, in a virtual deadlock for the Winston Pro Stock Bike championship.
After winning five of the season’s first 13 races, Seeling built an enormous lead in the standings, but watched it dwindle to just 14 pointsless than one round of competitionthanks to Hines’ late-season surge. The two bitter rivals, who have fought a number of intense battles in the last three seasons, had never before had to face such enormous pressure.
“Whoever makes the first mistake is going to lose this championship,” predicted Hines, who was never seriously challenged during his first two title runs in 1997 and 1998. “I just hope I’m not the first one to crack.”
Hines set the Pomona Raceway track record in qualifying with a 7.19-second run at more than 185 mph on his Suzuki GSX-R. Team Winston rider Seeling entered eliminations in the third spot, just .05-second behind her arch-rival with a 7.24-second run, thus placing the two young guns on opposite sides of the elimination ladder.
With the championships in NHRA’s other four professional categories already decided, the focus shifted to Hines and Seeling, who were admittedly shaken by the suddenly overwhelming media presence. Each rider emerged from the opening round of competition unscathed, but in the second, Seeling blinked. She lost to underdog Greg Underdahl, who left the starting line first by more than a tenth of a second and held on for an upset victory. Hines, needing only to win the round over Tony Mullen, did so, and clinched his third-straight title.
“I guess I’m not ready to be a champion yet,” said an emotional Seeling, who missed her opportunity to join Top Fuel legend Shirley Muldowney as the second woman to win an NHRA professional title. “I’m just glad it’s finally over. Right now, I’d like to just forget this year even happened. I don’t feel sorry for myself, I feel sorry for my team. They worked so hard this year, and I let them down.”
Hines, meanwhile, was matter-offact about his and his team’s efforts over the course of the season. “We made some mistakes this year, but we stayed focused,” said Hines, who won the title by just eight points. “At midseason, we were 144 points behind Angelle, but we worked hard and gained ground on her at five of the last six races.”
Championship won.
—.Kevin McKenna
