Smith Scores Fourth of the Season
A
s the 2026 NHRA Mission
Foods Drag Racing season
winds down, Denso Buell's Matt
Smith still has his eyes on a
record-setting seventh Pro Stock
Motorcycle World title.
Smith kept his championship
hopes alive this weekend in
Dallas, defeating points leader
Richard Gadson on a holeshot in
the final round to win his fourth
event of the season. Smith had
a nearly perfect reaction time
off the starting line and rode to
a 6.660 elapsed time to defeat
Gadson's quicker 6.654. It was
the quickest and fastest side-
by-side race in the history of the
class, as both riders topped 203
mph.
This is Smith's 46th career
victory and his second at Texas
Motorplex, and it's also one he
desperately needed if a seventh
world championship is in his
future.
"When you're running against
that other camp [Vance & Hines]
like that, you've got to get up on
the wheel and go," Smith said. "I
knew in Q4 I went 0.008 [reac-
tion time] against Richard, so
I set my clutch and my switch
right back to that, and it went
up there and went 0.006, so I
knew where I needed to be. I
just didn't know if I had the bike
to beat them. I made one little
tune-up change from the semifi-
nals, and she was trucking and
went 6.66, so it all paid off.
"I really want that seventh
championship because no one
else has done that," Smith said.
"We still have a lot of work to do,
but we're in it. We just need to
stay focused and be prepared
for the final two races of the
season. We might not be the
favorites, but we're in a good
spot."
VOLUME 63 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 20, 2026 P53
Denso Buell's Matt Smith had a near-perfect reaction time off the starting line and
rode to a 6.660 elapsed time for the win at the Texas NHRA FallNationals.
