Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec defeated series points leader Matt Smith in the third round of the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and lies just 19 points out of first place with one event left on the Pro Stock Motorcycle schedule.

Krawiec started the weekend in the second place, 42 points behind Smith in Countdown to One championship points. He gained back three points by out-qualifying Smith with a 7.035-second run, good for second place to the track-record 6.993 pass of top qualifier Angelle Sampey. Smith qualified sixth at 7.059.

Krawiec opened Sunday eliminations by defeating Shawn Gann and Mike Berry in the first two rounds to set up a show-down with Smith, the defending Pro Stock Motorcycle champion, in the semi-finals. Aboard the Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod, Krawiec cut a 0.005-second reaction time and a 7.078 ET to defeat Smith’s pass of 0.022/7.039. It was the second close light of the day for Krawiec, who had a 0.003-second reaction time against Berry in round two.

Facing Chris Rivas in the final round with the chance to take the points lead, Krawiec got a very late start with a 0.181-second reaction time, and shut his bike down mid-run after realizing he had no chance to win. Rivas made a 0.012/7.052 run to win the final.

“I made a stupid mistake in the final,” said Krawiec. “I let go of the clutch and the bike hesitated just a bit, and I think the lever caught on my glove. That could have been a win. But we gained 23 points on Smith, so it’s got to be a good weekend for us. We did not have the fastest bikes at this event, but this just shows that the fastest bikes don’t always win. We went rounds with slower bikes.”

Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified eighth at 7.071 seconds and advanced to the semi-final round, defeating Craig Treble and Sampey (red light) before losing to Rivas on a red light.

With each round of eliminations worth 20 points, Krawiec can take his first NHRA championship by winning one more round than Smith at the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-16 at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

“My strategy is to go to Pomona and win all four rounds,” said Krawiec. “Just win the event and we win the championship. It’s that simple. It will be important to out-qualify Smith again to keep the margin to less than 20 points.”

Rivas, who is now 39 points out of first place, still has a shot at the title should Krawiec and Smith falter in the early rounds.

After four rounds of the five-round NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown to One series for the championship, Smith leads with 2393 points. Krawiec has 2374 points, and Rivas is third with 2354 points. Sampey, in fourth with 2275 points, and Hines, fifth with 2260 points, have been eliminated from the championship.