Wed, 2 Sep 2009, 09:30 PM Matt Smith Picks L.E. Tonglet to Ride in U.S. Nationals

Courtesy of Joe Sherk

CLERMONT, Ind. -- Teenage rider L.E. Tonglet will be a member of Matt Smith's MSR Racing Pro Stock Motorcycle team for NHRA's premier event, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, Friday through Monday at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

Smith announced Tuesday his plan to add the 19-year-old Tonglet as a teammate of Angie McBride. Tonglet will be aboard the Frameworksmg.com Buell Smith rode to the 2007 NHRA Full Throttle championship.

Oona Elmore, owner of Frameworks Marketing Group, said she was pleased to help Tonglet - the youngest son of former rider Gary Tonglet and the brother of GT Tonglet - gets his first Pro Stock Motorcycle ride at the U.S. Nationals. "L.E. is a talented rider and we are looking forward to watching him race this weekend," said Elmore.

Frameworks Marketing Group is a vinyl company that creates vinyl wraps for race teams (including NHRA), transporters, trailers and motor coaches in addition to trucking fleets. It is located on South Pointe Boulevard (also known as Nitro Alley) in Brownsburg, Ind.

"Frameworks provided the opportunity for us to run a second bike for this prestigious race," said Smith, who rides the Don Schumacher Racing Nitro Fish Suzuki, "and I wanted to give L.E. a shot to see what he can do. He's young, small and he's already run a couple of races this year."

McBride, Smith's fiancee, will be aboard the Nitro Fish Pro Stock Buell that won four times in six final rounds last season. "We were going to be at Indy already, so it was just as easy to take two bikes," added Smith, the 2007 Pro Bike champion. "She will be running the Karl Klement motor that I built for him and L.E. will have one of my motors."

"I can't wait," said Tonglet. "I'm excited. I've never ridden a Buell before, but it should be an easy learning curve. I rode a Suzuki at Houston and Atlanta this year, but the motor blew up at Atlanta."

The elder Tonglet said L.E. won the 2007 and 2008 AHRA (All Harley Racing Association) championships with power from a V-Rod. "He ran in the low 6.90s (seconds), and he did run 7.04 and 7.09 at Atlanta" before the engine expired.

Because U.S. Nationals' tradition includes five qualifying runs - one more than usual - L.E. will go for his initial Buell ride Friday night. Two more sessions are slated Saturday and Sunday, followed by Monday's Labor Day eliminations.

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