Two
Race Season for Krawiec
By: Jack Korpela
Photos: DragBikePhotos.com
Team Orient Express/Yamaha's 600 Super Sport pilot "Steady"
Eddie Krawiec will head to the final two AMA/Prostar races
deadlocked in a tie for first in the championship points series.
Krawiec was able
to close the points gap from first to second, after going
a round further in eliminations than his points leading, Kawasaki-backed,
arch-rival Chip Hunter at the Schnitz Fall Nationals from
Montgomery, AL. Sixth-qualifier Hunter was upset in round-one
by eleventh-qualifier John Hall. Krawiec capitalized on Hunter's
misfortune by pulling off an upset of his own, defeating veteran
Keith Thompson.
"This class
is killer. Every single first round match-up could have been
a final round," Krawiec said. "The racing is very
intense."
Krawiec was defeated
in round-two by number-one qualifier Chad Millholland with
an impressive 9.89 to Krawiec's 10.04.
"I would have
loved to get some more points on Hunter, but Chad was just
having an awesome weekend," Krawiec said. "Chad
is one of the many up-and-comers in this class."
Krawiec will head
to the tour's final stop in Gainesville, FL, tied for first
with Hunter at 653 points each. Due to the postponement of
the season-opener, the Gainesville weekend (November 13th-16th)
will be a doubleheader and contest both the MRE Sunshine Nationals
and the World Finals. Krawiec understands the importance of
this double event finale.
"It's all
about who can survive the longest," Krawiec said. "I
think it's going to come down to the final race of the weekend."
Krawiec will attempt
to give Yamaha it's first ever 600 Super Sport championship
in a class that has long been dominated by Kawasaki.
"Everybody
considered me the underdog this year after I switched to Yamaha,"
Krawiec said. "It would mean a great deal to me to prove
everybody wrong and become the first guy to prove that you
can win this class on something besides a Kawasaki."
Ed
Krawiec and all of Team Orient Express Yamaha thanked all
of its sponsors for their support; Yamaha, Arai Helmets,
Vance & Hines Exhaust, Dynojet, Vanson Leathers, Orient
Express, World Wide Bearings, Yamalube, Zero Gravity, TI Force,
NuTech Racing Fuels, Brock Davidson Engineering, Joe Morosco
of MSP, Sharkskinz body work, and Dragbike.com.
