Tonglet rode his Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to two round victories, giving him a 47-point lead over second place rider Karen Stoffer in the NHRA POWERade standings. Stoffer placed second at the Englishtown race, losing to Antron Brown.

Even though he didn’t make it to the final race, the 22-year-old Tonglet said it was still a good weekend for the team.

"I came into this race and changed the way I staged the bike," Tonglet said. "During qualifying I treated each session like I was staging for a final round matchup, and I tried to cut the best light I could. That's something both Andrew and I work on all the time.

"We didn't get either bike into the winner's circle, but we gained some ground in the point standings and we did well in qualifying."

Tonglet scored the Screamin' Eagle team's first victory of the season in Commerce, Ga., in May, taking over the points lead for the first time in his career. Tonglet has not relinquished the lead for four consecutive events.

"This has been a big learning experience for me because I have never been in a POWERade championship points chase," Tonglet said. "Going a couple of rounds on Sunday was the confidence booster I needed. (Crew chief) Byron and Matt (Hines, team tuner) have taught me so much about the importance of every round and it's exciting. It just makes me more anxious to go to St. Louis because I don't think we did as well as we could have this weekend."

Tonglet qualified in the number two position with a 7.094-second pass at 188.78 mph – his fourth top three qualifying effort of the season.

On Sunday he scored the first two round victories at the starting line. In the first round, Tonglet turned in a 7.121-second pass at 186.28, beating Michael Phillips' red-light foul (and 7.205 pass at 186.23). Tonglet went 7.168 at 184.30 in the second round against Ryan Schnitz, who also fouled at the starting line (with a 7.058 at 188.78 pass).

Teammate and defending POWERade champion Andrew Hines qualified in the number three spot with a 7.104 at 189.63. In his first round matchup, his motorcycle’s belt came off, causing him to lose to Stoffer's 7.138 run at 183.44. Hines’ consistent times during four rounds of pro qualifying earned him the Full Throttle Pit Crew Award for the second consecutive event. He’s also tied for fifth place in the points race, so he’s still in the thick of it with nine races left in the 15-race series.

"It’s tough to have a mechanical hitch early in the race – you just can't recover from that," Hines said. "It's just one of those things that happens in racing and the best thing we can do is take what we learned in qualifying and look ahead to the next event. We didn't have the results we wanted, but there’s plenty of time left in the season, and this team is very capable of defending our championship down the line."

Harley-Davidson Racing Manager Anne Paluso said the team is anxious about earning a return trip to the winner's circle.

"The team did a great job during qualifying and that shows by the numbers and the Full Throttle honors," Paluso said. "But this Screamin' Eagle group just can't wait to go more rounds on Sunday. The best thing is that GT increased his lead from 28 to 47 points over the second place rider. He's doing a great job handling the pressure that comes with leading such a competitive series. We have just a few days before we race again in St. Louis and I know the team is determined to be ready."

Byron Hines said the team has work to do before the next event, but nothing they can't handle.

"This weekend is another great example of how tough it is to win rounds," Hines said. "We saw some great performance numbers from a handful of teams on Sunday, and we're not even to the halfway point of the season.

"GT's bike slowed way down during the second pass of the day, so we're going back to the shop to change all of the electronics on the bike and start fresh with St. Louis. He's in a points chase and Andrew is ready to get back after it, so it should be a great race."

The next NHRA POWERade event that features the Pro Stock Motorcycle category is the Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., Jun 24-26.