Matt Smith, rider of the Nitro Fish Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle for Don Schumacher Racing, advanced
to the second round of eliminations today at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.
Smith first defeated Junior Pippin in the opening round, with a solid 7.384-second elapsed time
(fourth quickest of the round) at 175.89 mph, then faced Andrew Hines in the quarterfinal. Smith
recorded another excellent pass of 7.382 seconds at 176.03 mph, but it was disqualified when he
red-lighted by -.013-of a second. Hines took off with a perfect (.000) reaction time, winning with
a slower 7.388/178.59.
"We made a good pass first round," said Smith. "I was .03 on the light, the bike ran good, but we
broke something. We don't know what. So, we had to come back and change motors again, and it ran
good. I can't blame anybody but myself. We were low of the round.
"As a rider I don't know what I'm doing different than what I've ever done in the past. I never red
light like this. Against Hines I knew I needed to do exactly what I did first round and go up there
and go .02 or .03 on the light and that's all I wanted to do. I didn't know what the new motor was
going to do, and I give Andrew and his team credit.
"Hopefully I'll get that turned around and I get back riding like I should."
Next up for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class is the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals July 24-26 in Kent,
Wash.
