Smith Strikes At Las Vegas NHRA
B
arring a near-miracle at the fi-
nal event of the season in Po-
mona, Denso EBR's Matt Smith
will not be able to defend his
2018 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcy-
cle championship, but he'll gladly
take a victory at the Dodge NHRA
Nationals in Las Vegas, October
1-3, as a nice consolation prize.
Smith won for the 24th time in his
career when he defeated Slick
50 Suzuki's Steve Johnson in the
final round. Smith, who was the
top qualifier in the quick 16-bike
field, rode to a 6.85 in the final to
narrowly edge Smith's competi-
tive 6.86.
"This is awesome to come
in here to Las Vegas and get
the job done," Smith said. "We
didn't have the kind of season we
wanted to have, but this helps a
lot. My whole race day was kind
of hectic. I messed up in the first
round, didn't let the clutch go
when I was supposed to but got
lucky and won the round. The
real drama happened before the
semi-finals. I went in the trailer
to look at our data on the com-
puter, and my guys said, 'Hey,
your bike is on fire.'" A piece of
carbon fiber grounded against
a wire. Before that round, I had
to cut eight pieces of wire and
strip them. We didn't even have
a chance to warm the bike in the
pits. I'm lucky that it started when
we got to the starting line."
Smith has had one of the
quickest bikes in the class for
most of the season, but his
results on race day have been
inconsistent. It was not at all
surprising to see him lead the
field after qualifying with a 6.840
elapsed time, but on Sunday, he
was faced with the challenge of
putting up four solid runs in elimi-
nations. Smith was able to do that
in Las Vegas, starting with a 6.89
IN
THE
WIND
P28
Matt Smith won the penultimate round
of the NHRA in Las Vegas, keeping his
slim title hopes alive in the 2019 Pro
Stock Motorcycle Championship.
