Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Eddie Krawiec raced a Harley-Davidson V-Rod to the final round of NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at the O’Reilly Midsouth Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park. Krawiec retained his second-place position in the Countdown to One championship points standings, and gained 17 points on the series leader, NitroFish Buell rider Matt Smith. Krawiec is now 42 points behind Smith with two events left on the schedule.

Krawiec defeated Smith in the third round at Memphis when Smith fouled by just 0.005 seconds. In the final round, Krawiec beat Schumacher Electric Suzuki rider Craig Treble off the line but lost when his motorcycle shut down just after the start.

“We had an electrical gremlin that popped up in the final qualifying round on Saturday, and we thought we had it fixed,” said Krawiec, who made the fourth final-round appearance of his career at Memphis. “My Harley-Davidson was flawless in the first two rounds on Sunday, but the problem reappeared in round three and the bike shut off at the top of first gear. Luckily Smith fouled so we won that round. We thought we had it solved for the final, but the bike just shut off a half-second after I launched. I had him by .040 on the tree, and I think the race is over if we can get down the track.”

Krawiec qualified in seventh position for the event with a run of 7.002 seconds, and made two runs under seven seconds to defeat Hector Arana and Chris Rivas in the first two rounds at Memphis.

“We made up some ground on the leader this weekend,” said Krawiec. “With two races left we’ve just got to stay consistent. We’ve got a month off to go to the shop and get the bike sorted out and ready for Las Vegas.”

Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified fourth at Memphis with a 6.992 ET. Hines defeated Joe DeSantis in the first round, but fouled by 0.010 seconds to hand a second-round win to Indicom Electric Buell rider Angie McBride.

After three rounds of the five-round NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown to One series for the championship, Smith leads with 2319 points. Krawiec holds down second place with 2277 points. Rivas is third with 2240 points, followed by Angelle Sampey 2217, Steve Johnson with 2200, and Hines in sixth with 2187 points.

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles will race next Oct. 30-Nov. 2 at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nev.