IN
THE
WIND
P46
SMITH WINS ZMAX DRAGWAY NHRA
R
acing at his home track,
zMax Dragway, Matt Smith
used the NHRA Carolina Nation-
als as a chance to make up for
past mistakes and put himself
back in a position to win the
NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle
championship. Smith took over
the lead with his win in the St.
Louis round last month and then
quickly surrendered it with an
early loss at the next round in
Dallas. He quickly righted the
ship with his third win of the
season and is, once again, atop
the standings heading into the
penultimate round in Las Vegas.
Smith rode his EBR-bodied
V-twin to a 6.830 elapsed time in
the final round to win the race af-
ter Vance & Hines Harley-David-
son's Chip Ellis let the clutch out
too soon and red-lighted. Smith
also rode to wins against Karen
Stoffer, Scotty Pollacheck, and
Liberty Buell's Angelle Sampey
en route to his 21st career vic-
tory.
"We did exactly what we
needed to do," Smith said. "It's
pretty big when you look at the
Pro Stock Motorcycle points and
see that in the last three races
there has been an upset where
the [incoming] leader has lost
first round. It happened to me
in Dallas. I lost because I raced
scared. I didn't do my job, but I
did it here. I left the starting line
first against everyone I raced,
and you can't ask for more than
that. I didn't have the best bike
today, but I was happy with the
way I rode."
Smith appeared to have a
smooth path to the final but back
in his pit area, it was anything
but. He was forced to change
engines after his first-round win,
and barely made it to the starting
line in time to face Pollacheck.
"For the most part, the bike
worked great but we hurt that
engine," Smith said. "It lost oil
pressure and we got it done just
in time to get up there. We didn't
even crank it up to check the tim-
ing or anything. I went up there
blind but it ran well and that's a
testament to my crew, and their
Matt Smith (near lane) and Chip
Ellis went at it in the NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle Final at zMax
Dragway in North Carolina.
