Thu, 18 Oct 2007, 11:02 AM Countdown to 1 Pro Stock Motorcycle Teleconference

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2007 NHRA

ANDREW HINES      3,030 points
MATT SMITH        3,020
CHIP ELLIS        3,010
PEGGY LLEWELLYN   3,000 

Today's teleconference which will include the finalists who have advanced to the Countdown to 1, the two-race championship that will determine the 2007 POWERade Series World Championships.

The championship races will be held on back-to-back weekends beginning with the AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals October 26th through the 28th at the strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The teams will then make the short trip to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona where the championship will be decided November 1st through the 4th at the 43rd annual Auto Club Finals.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

MODERATOR: I'd like to bring in the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders. I'm going to begin with introducing each of the riders and ask them for a short brief statement on the Countdown to 1.

First off is Andrew Hines, who is in first place. Andrew has a category best four wins this season and he'll begin the Countdown to 1 with 3,030 points. Andrew, three-time defending champion. Thoughts on these last two races and trying to defend the championship?

Andrew Hines

ANDREW HINES: Well, I can't wait to get back to Vegas. We won that race last year. It was really our turning point in the season. We were quite a few points back heading into that race. Luckily got past Antron Brown in the second round, who was the points leader, ended up leaving that event with the points lead heading into Pomona.

This year's a little different with the Countdown to 1. Right now I have a 10-point lead which I feel I'm sitting better than I was last year. It's all different now with the Countdown, the way the points were last year. But our team's real hungry for the fourth championship.

No Pro Stock Motorcycle rider has ever won four in a row. Our team wants it more than just myself. They've done so much research over the last five years trying to get this bike to where it's at now. They're really striving for it. They're actually working on the dyno right now. I'm sitting in my dad's office trying to get away from the noise.

Hopefully they'll be able to find something and hopefully we can have a quick bike, because the qualifying points are going to matter in this field more so than ever in the past. I won the championship last year by 23 points. That was just by qualifying.

If we can get a couple over Chip or Matt and Peggy, it's just going to be better for us. So we're just going to go out there and get that V-Rod down the track as quick as possible.

THE MODERATOR: Second place is Matt Smith. Matt arguably had the most consistent motorcycle all season: Three wins, five runner-ups, 31 round wins, which leads the category. He'll begin the Countdown to 1 with 3,020 points. Matt, an opening statement from you on these last two races, trying to catch Andrew and hold off the two riders behind you.

Matt Smith

MATT SMITH: It's going to be a good deal. I mean, we've had a good bike all year. We've battled Andrew, Chip and Peggy all year long. Andrew has beat us every race so far this year that we've ran them in elimination. Chip has had the best bike the last two or three races of the year.

I think we just got to get our performance up a little bit more and run with Chip and Andrew and Peggy. I think we'll be in good shape.

Like you say, we've had the most consistent bike. If we can do it, we can win four, five, six rounds, I think we'll have a good shot at winning this championship.

THE MODERATOR: Chip Ellis is next. Chip begins the Countdown to 1 in third place in Pro Stock Motorcycle with 3,010 points. He's made five semifinals. Chip, talk about the importance of going rounds on Sunday. You've had five semifinal finishes this year.

Chip Ellis

You're the one rider in the Countdown to 1 of the 16 drivers who has yet to win a race. Talk about how important it would be to get that first win in Vegas or Pomona.

CHIP ELLIS: As Matt said, I had a great bike for the last few races, and as a rider I just haven't been doing my job. I'm really looking forward to Vegas. We went and raced the All-Harley Drags over the weekend in Rockingham. The bike ran flawless. I had good lights. That was a good confidence builder for me.

You know, with this new points deal, I was kidding Matt at Dallas and I told him, 'Dude, I ain't won a race, ain't even made it to the finals, but I'm only 10 points behind you.' Now would be the time for me to take that great S & S Power Buell and do what I've been supposed to do all year: Just go out and have fun.

Vegas has been real good to me the last couple years. I won two out of the last three races. I got my first NHRA win there. I wish we were leaving today to go there, but unfortunately it will be next Monday before we leave.

THE MODERATOR: Chip has five career wins, two in Las Vegas.

Peggy Llewellyn

Fourth place in Pro Stock Motorcycle is Peggy Llewellyn. Peggy will enter with 3,000 points. She has one win this year and four semifinals. Of course the one win came at the final race for the Pro Stock Motorcycle in the Countdown to 4 in Dallas. She needed every round that day to get into the Countdown to 1. Peggy, do you want to talk about that emotional Sunday in Dallas, getting into the Countdown to 1.

PEGGY LLEWELLYN: Yeah, because all this is new to me and new to our team. It's something that George and I had been working on from the first race of the year when we were in 29th place. It's just taking each round at a time. I know I'm still a work in progress. That kind of doubt had crept into my mind each of those rounds. I took them one round at a time and just focused on my process. That has helped me throughout the whole year and that's what I'll just continue to do these last two races.

It's going to be exciting for the fans. It's exciting for me. I'm just humbled to be in the company of Andrew, Matt and Chip.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the riders.

Q. Peggy, do champions, NHRA champions, all motorsports champions, do you think champions have common traits and abilities? If so, could you identify a few?

PEGGY LLEWELLYN: I think they do. It would be that we're competitive, just to be able to focus on getting the job done. So I would say competitiveness and focus.

Andrew Hines

Q. Andrew, the difficulty of winning a second championship, can you identify what it takes to win back to back or even a second championship and why?

ANDREW HINES: It's all a blur now (laughter). The second championship was definitely tougher than the first. Like Greg Anderson said a little while ago, the first one you can kind of sneak up on the people. When you're going out for your second one or your third one, like he said, you have a big bullseye on your back. You can't go out there and expect to win every round.

It's tough because everybody's gunning for you. You've got so many great bikes out there this year you don't know who's going to win one round to the next. A lot of rounds have been won on whole shots, a lot of rounds have been given away on red lights. There are so many different (inaudible) that have played into different people's hands.

I mean, we had a good bike in the middle of the season, but we had a horrible bike at the beginning. Hopefully we have a good bike at the end here. That's what we're shooting for. But we know got three Buells behind us that are that are going to be tough.

THE MODERATOR: As a matter of statistics, Andrew won here in 2006 in Las Vegas, and Chip won here twice, as I said, two of his five wins have been at Las Vegas in 2004, 2005. So you have the last three winners of this race among the four finalists.

Chip Ellis

Chip, what is it about Las Vegas that's been so good to you?

CHIP ELLIS: I really don't know. I like the racetrack. When I rode for Kawasaki on their funny bike, that was actually the first place I held the bike wide open. I won lot of races there on that funny bike. I've been 229 miles an hour there.

Like I said, I got my first NHRA win there. I heard a rumor that they're going to change the name of the track from The Strip to The Chip, so I'm going to go down there and just focus on getting good lights. As Andrew said, there's been a lot of races that have been won on holeshots. The class is so competitive now. It's right up there with Pro Stock cars where you got a few hundredths of a second separating 1 from 16.

I'm just ready, man. I feel more ready right this minute than I have all this season. The guys at the shop, they've been doing a great job with our horsepower. It's up to me, and I'm up to the task.

Q. Why have there been so many red lights in this class this year?

ANDREW HINES: I think the level of competitiveness by all the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders, it's really evolved over the past few years. It's so tight now that everybody is trying to do everything they can to get the advantage on the starting line.

When you're pushing it that close the motorcycles react so quick compared to the other cars. We don't have any stagger in the front wheels because we only have one. It's so tough now. We have to find a way to slow them down. You still want to try and get every advantage you can. So you have to find that little happy window where you're not red and you're not too late.

Matt Smith

MATT SMITH: Real quick, I just think it deals with the horsepower-to-weight ratio on the motorcycle. You look at the difference in the tire size that we run and the horsepower and the weight of the bike. The bikes just react quicker than any of the other three professional categories out there.

CHIP ELLIS: Matt summed it up, as well did Andrew. The Pro Stock Motorcycles are the fastest reacting vehicles at the racetrack for the first foot. I know when I go test I can go red every time and see yellow plain. Touching again on what Andrew said, it's all about finding that happy medium.

I think Matt has done that the best this year. He's been consistent on the tree. Although he hasn't had the fastest bike at every race, he's been consistent when it counts. That's what it's going to take to win this championship.

PEGGY LLEWELLYN: No, I'm going with Chip, Matt and Andrew, with the bike. They react quicker and I'm usually a sleeper (laughter).

Peggy Llewellyn

Q. Since it's such a problem in the Pro Stock Motorcycles, is this going to affect your strategy? Chip, are you going to try to be a little more conservative because all the marbles are on the line?

CHIP ELLIS: Yeah, what I'm going to do is just do what I did over the weekend. I just kind of changed my train of thought, my thought process around a little bit to try not to think about the lights so much, because that's been my struggle.

I ride the bike really good once I leave the starting line. I hit my shift points on time, I can go straight, I can tell my crew exactly what happened. But that fear of red lighting, man, it's a bad thing. For me it's either been I red light it or I'm late and I haven't found that happy medium. I did find something this weekend that worked for me to find the happy medium and I'm just ready to go apply that.

THE MODERATOR: To all the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders and to the rest of the drivers who joined us on today's call in the media. Thank you.