Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 54 ISSUE 25 JUNE 27, 2017 P37 torcycle class. Tonglet also took over the points lead in the class after five of 16 rounds. "We've won the last four races as a team; three for me and one for Jerry and I'm leading the points right now," Tonglet said. "That's fantastic. It's what we wanted to do when we started this two-bike team. It sounds easy but it wasn't. We put a lot of work into this pro- gram. This weekend, the condi- tions worked in our favor. This is the summer and we do our best then. I hope it's hot for the rest of the season. "I don't really think about win- ning the championship; it's too early for that but I am glad to see us leading the points and having such a good year. We just need to focus on doing that every week and the points will take care of themselves." Smith was undoubtedly frustrated after losing the final round, but he was able to take comfort from the performance of his new Polaris entry, which has shown a dramatic improvement in recent weeks. Smith struggled and did not qualify for the most recent race in Englishtown, but tested extensively before arriv- ing in Norwalk. He became the first rider in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class to DNQ at one event, and qualify first at the next when he rode to a 6.824 for the top spot. Smith, who was the quickest rider in all four qualifying rounds, carried that momentum into elimina- tions and rode to the final with wins against Joe DeSantis, Mike Berry, and Suzuki Extended Pro- tection rider Scotty Pollacheck. "We tested the wheels off this bike last week and we made a lot of progress," Smith said. "There is no reason that we shouldn't be able to qualify well at every race. We shouldn't be fighting just to get in the field. When this bike is right, it's just fine. When I came into this race, I knew we'd be bet- ter. I figured we'd be maybe in the top two or three." The Norwalk field was miss- ing reigning champion Savoie, and class icon Hector Arana Sr. was also sidelined after recent surgery to repair a rotator cuff. Arana Sr., the 2009 NHRA champion, is scheduled to be sidelined for three months. The Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley team also struggled in Norwalk, the second race since the debut of their new Street Rod bikes. Harley's Andrew Hines qualified sixth but lost to Hector Arana Jr in the second round of eliminations. Hines' teammate, Eddie Krawiec, was not as fortunate. The three-time champion qualified 13th, his low- est starting spot in three years, and lost in the first round against rookie Joey Gladstone. Kevin McKenna JANOWSKI TOPS DANISH SPEEDWAY GP P olish racer Maciej Janowski was elated with "an amazing night" in Horsens as he won the Kjærgaard Danish FIM Speed- way Grand Prix for the second straight season. "Magic" topped the podium at the CASA Arena alongside runner-up Emil Sayfutdinov and third-placed Patryk Dudek. Aussie icon Jason Doyle rode through the pain barrier to an ex- traordinary fourth place to edge ahead of Dudek at the top of the World Championship—just five days after he underwent surgery on a broken foot. But it was Janowski who got the victory and the Wroclaw- born racer was delighted to push his way into the podium positions, as he went third in the standings with 58 points. "This was a really tough night," said Janowski. "It's a very small track and there's not enough room for everyone. You need to be smart, and lucky, also. Everything worked well for me today—my team, everything. I am happy. "Points are the most impor- tant thing. That was a good kick going into the next half of the season." Janowski admits his years