Arana Sr. (Steve Gruenwald photo)

"We've been blessed to start the season by going to the finals," Arana said. "It's past my expectations because when we left the shop last week, we weren't ready. We assembled the motors at the last minute because we were waiting for parts, so to come here and go this far, it's great."

"Over the off-season, I didn't even have one chance to sit on the bike and practice or look at the Tree," Arana said. "The main thing is to stay calm and hit the Tree, and that was my main focus. I didn't have the opportunity to do it once in the off-season, but I'm happy with the overall performance.

"We've got to go and work hard because I need the same thing for (son) Hector (Arana Jr.) and his bike."

While Hector Jr. struggled this weekend, his dad made progress. Arana qualified No. 2 with a stellar pass in the final qualifying session and then continued that speed throughout Sunday.

He made a run of 6.820 at 196.39 mph in the first round to beat Mike Berry (6.958 at 192.58) and then took out Michael Ray with a pass of 6.879 at 196.56 mph to Ray's 6.931 at 195.79 mph.

 


Caption UnderBoth Arana and L.E. Tonglet were good on the Tree in the semi's, as Tonglet (near lane) had a .017 light, but Arana's bike was a tick quicker, 6.869 at 196.44 mph to Tonglet's 6.888 at 195.00 mph. (Steve Gruenwald photo)


Two-time world champion Matt Smith failed to qualify his Victory Gunner for the 47th annual Gatornationals, ending a streak of 186 consecutive NHRA starts that dates back to 2004. Fortunately for the factory-backed team, his wife, Angie, managed to post a competitive 6.914-second pass at 192.85 mph on her identical Gunner to claim the No. 13 spot overall.

"It's unbelievable to me that we had so many problems in four rounds of qualifying," said Matt, the 2007 and 2013 series champion. "We tested so well this off-season, running 6.82s at 195-plus mph all day long, and we get here and have nothing but problems.

"I'm extremely frustrated right now, to say the least. We had one of the longest qualifying streaks in the class and now that's gone. All we can do is regroup, test some more, and be ready to start fresh at the next race."

Unfortunately, Angie lost in the first round to Andrew Hines.