"Setting the national record is huge for us," said Smith. "This Nitro Fish Suzuki was awesome today. We were on another 6.86-6.87 pass that time (against Treble). It looks like we lost two cylinders. The motor is fine but it looks like an electrical problem caused it. The motor just cut off out there.

"We're happy to be the points leader, but we want to win. I know Don (Schumacher) wants to win and I want to win. We're still looking at the big picture, though. We'll be there for the championship, I think, because of the Countdown, but we just want to get a win under our belt and go on."

Shawn Gann’s red bulb gave the first round win to Eddie Krawiec. Matt Smith beat Krawiec the next round, 6.865/193.16 to 6.932/191.00  (Joe McHugh photo)

Craig Treble  (Joe McHugh photo)

Craig Treble steered his Team Scream Suzuki to a 6.915 at 193.46 that was more than enough to beat the 7.260/155.60 from first-year rider Douglas Horne from Aberdeen, Md., who was making just his second career start.

“Running out of my own pocket, I originally had planned on cutting it off after Atlanta, but this buys us some time to try to find some financial backing, probably through Madison,” Treble said.