AMERICUS, Ga. - The 33rd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals proved to be one of the most difficult races yet for the Sovereign-Star Racing Team and their drivers John Hall and Scotty Pollacheck this past weekend in Denver, Colo.

After tuning mishaps, a broken crankshaft, a missing wheelie bar bolt and clutch issues, the team's two Pro Stock Motorcycles only ended up getting a total of six good runs throughout the weekend. Luckily, one of those runs was enough to get Pollacheck in the show on Sunday, where he went on to win in Round 1 Eliminations.  

"For the first qualifying run, we didn't realize that the new software on the bikes had a 100 percent barometer correction program enabled in it, so it ended up tuning all the fuel out of the bikes. It was a double correction, so it cost John and Scotty the first round," Star Racing owner George Bryce said.

"John was also having trouble getting the tire to spin in the burnout box because the concrete was very aggressive. Because of that, his clutch would creep at the line and cost him a couple of rounds, which kept him from qualifying. During the second round, Scotty broke a crankshaft, so we had to put a new engine in his bike for the third round," he said.

"During the last qualifying round, I was just getting ready to stage when George shut the bike off because he noticed that one of the wheelie bar bolts was missing. Thank goodness he did because that would've been disastrous," Pollacheck said.

After qualifying at No.11 with only one run, Pollacheck and the team worked hard to turn these challenges around in time for Sunday Eliminations.

"Qualifying gave us some good information for what we needed to go to as far as the tuneup," Pollacheck said. "Everything we had learned from those rounds we put into that Sunday pass and went 7.30 which was .05 faster than that 7.35 qualifying pass. We beat Steve Johnson again in Round 1 Eliminations."

After claiming his fifth round win of the season in Round 1 Eliminations, Pollacheck faced Andrew Hines on his Screamin' Eagle/Vance and Hines Harley-Davidson in Round 2 on Sunday.

"During the second round against Andrew Hines, we went a little left and kind of spun the tire again, and you definitely can't let stuff like that happen when you're racing one of the Harleys," Pollacheck said of his loss to Hines.

The Sovereign-Star Racing crew remains positive and patient with their overall progress during their first season as a Pro Stock Motorcycle team.