Cycle News

COUNTDOWN: ROUND 3/SEPTEMBER 29, 2013 ST. LOUIS RACEWAY/MADISON, ILLINOIS DRAG RACING P96 NHRA PRO STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP Briefly... career during qualifying with a 6.920 aboard his Vance & Hinespowered Suzuki. Before switching to a motorcycle, DeSantis won an NHRA national event driving a car in the Modified Eliminator class at the 1974 race in Columbus, Ohio. The prime weather conditions helped to make the St. Louis round one of the quickest fields of the year. All 16 bikes were in the six-second zone in with LAT Oil Buell's Mike Berry the slowest of the 16 with a competitive 6.970 run. min' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Eddie Krawiec, and Sovereign/Star Buell's Michael Ray en route to the final round. With three rounds remaining, Smith now holds a sizable 75-point lead over Hector Arana Sr. and Hector Jr., who are tied for second. "This win was important because I've messed up so much here in final rounds," Smith said. "I've had the best bike and gave it up. It has been one thing after another or else I could have won five or six races this year. This time, I just tried not to mess it up. When we got to the final I knew we had a better bike and I tried to be smart and race safe. Now, we just need to see what happens the rest of the year." Tonglet was looking to become the first Suzuki rider to win an NHRA title in two years, but he had to settle for becoming the first Suzuki rider to make a final this season by riding his Vance & Hines-powered bike to wins over Lucas Oil Buell teammates Adam Arana and Hector Arana Sr., and Smith's team had plenty to celebrate as his victory also put him into the lead in the championship. Scotty Pollacheck. Despite the final-round loss, Tonglet remains a contender for the championship. "We've said all along that our goal was to win at least two rounds at every race in the Countdown and we won three today so that was a pretty good day," Tonglet said. "I haven't been to a final this year and we haven't seen any Suzuki's in the final this year so this was good for all of us. I felt pretty confident but we just didn't have enough in the final for Matt. We made a lot of great runs this weekend and I'm happy with everything. Matt was just quicker. That's really all of it." CN Final 1. Matt Smith (Buell) 6.887/194.52 mph 2. LE Tonglet (Suzuki) 6.950/192.14 mph Taking advantage of a stiff headwind, Lucas Oil Buell's Hector Arana Sr. made the quickest run of the season during qualifying when he rode to a 6.796. Arana also topped the speed charts with a 198.58-mph run which is the seventh-fastest speed recorded in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class and the best of the 2013 season. " Eddie Krawiec's chances of defending his 2012 championship likely went up in smoke when he red-lighted against Matt Smith in the semi final round. Krawiec is now 116 points behind Smith in the standings with just three races remaining. "This was the weekend that got away from us," Krawiec said. "I knew our bikes were close but I thought he might be about two-hundredths better than I was. I pushed it a little and came up on the other side of green. I mean we're not totally out of the championship now, but we're in a big hole. We'd almost certainly need to go to Reading or Vegas and win in order to have a chance."

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