Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1125433
win. We're still working on our new clutch and we've got a lot to learn, but we'll be ready for the Countdown later this year. In the meantime, it was great just to get our first win of the season." On a day when many of the early favorites went out early, Smith managed to avoid any bad luck. In fact, he got a break early in the race when round-one op- ponent Steve Johnson broke his only engine in qualifying and was unable to re- turn for final eliminations. Smith got to make a free run in the first round, and used the data from that run to refine his S&S V-twin engine combination for the rest of the day. Ironically, Smith's next three opponents were all female riders, including Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Angelle Sampey, his wife and teammate Angie Smith, and Stoffer. Smith naturally has mixed emotions about racing against his wife, but his bike was so dominant that her competitive 6.855-second run was no match for his 6.833. "She doesn't like to lose to anyone, especially me," Smith said. "As long as I go on and win the race, it makes things a lot better. We're still working on her bike, but it's coming around. I want nothing more than for her and [teammate] Scotty Pol- lacheck to both get a win this year." Although Stoffer lost in the final round, her performance in Chicago will long be remem- bered because of her uncanny starting line reaction times. In all four elimination rounds, Stoffer left the starting line less than a hundredth of a second after the green light resulting in hole- shot wins over Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Eddie Krawiec and Lucas Oil EBR's Hector Arana Junior. Stoffer also de- feated Ryan Oehler and reached the final round for the 20th time in her career. The performance by Smith and Stoffer was nearly over- shadowed by the scary accident involving promising rookie Jianna Salinas. On-track accidents in the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class are rare, so it was shocking to see Salinas lose control of her Suzuki during her round-two race against Arana Jr. On the same weekend where she recorded a career-best 6.98-second run, Salinas crashed after her bike made a hard move towards the retaining wall. She tumbled down the track but quickly got back on her feet. She was evaluated by NHRA's medical team and returned to the starting line to watch the final round. "I'm doing great," Salinas said. "You fall down and you get right back up. You just learn from it and move on." Salinas was one of a record six women to qualify for the Chi- cago Pro Stock Motorcycle field. Kevin McKenna 1. Matt Smith (EBR) 2. Karen Stoffer (Suz) IN THE WIND P52 Smith went up against Karen Stoffer in the final.