Eddie Krawiec and Karen Stoffer  (Debbie Gastelu photo)

Matt Smith finally corrected the engine issues he's been struggling with in recent weeks, made the finals at the Auto Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, and made the quickest pass of his NHRA Full Throttle Series Pro Stock Motorcycle career (6.795 seconds). The bad news is that Hector Arana Jr. was just a little quicker with a 6.781-second ET. Together, they both made history running the fastest PSM side-by-side pass in NHRA history.

The finals appearance puts Smith, the 2007 class champion, in third place in the Countdown to 1 behind Arana Jr., and Eddie Krawiec with three races left on the schedule. The native of King, N.C., has renewed confidence in his Haltech/Red Line Synthetic Oil/Affliction Buell with the engine woes finally behind him.

"We thought the issue was with the crank," he said after the event. "Turned out, it was a problem with the gear. We fixed that and ran our quickest lap ever. I'm ecstatic.

"I think we have a shot of winning the Countdown to 1. I don't know what else I could've done today to beat (Arana Jr.). I could've been better on the tree (.064 to .038), but the bike did what it needed to do. Now we have to get some rounds back and earn some points. We need to start running better in qualifying to get bonus points to really have a shot at another title."

In his march to the finals, Smith defeated Jim Underdahl, Matt Guidera, and Jerry Savoie, respectively. In the semi-finals against Savoie, Smith also ran a 6.795-second lap.

Point standings (top 10) following the 19th of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series

Top Fuel

1.  Spencer Massey, 2,390; 2.  Antron Brown, 2,325; 3.  Del Worsham, 2,316; 4.  Larry Dixon, 2,282; 5.  Tony Schumacher, 2,250; 6.  Brandon Bernstein, 2,193; 7.  Doug Kalitta, 2,165; 8.  David Grubnic, 2,136; 9.  Shawn Langdon, 2,114; 10.  Morgan Lucas, 2,074.

Funny Car

1.  Matt Hagan, 2,303; 2.  Mike Neff, 2,301; 3.  Cruz Pedregon, 2,271; 4.  Robert Hight, 2,251; 5. Jack Beckman, 2,248; 6.  Ron Capps, 2,213; 7.  Bob Tasca III, 2,169; 8.  Jeff Arend, 2,168; 9. John Force, 2,136; 10.  Tim Wilkerson, 2,122.

Pro Stock

1.  Jason Line, 2,459; 2.  Greg Anderson, 2,278; 3.  Mike Edwards, 2,233; 4.  Erica Enders, 2,229; 5.  Vincent Nobile, 2,198; 6.  Greg Stanfield, 2,175; 7.  Rodger Brogdon, 2,168; 8.  Allen Johnson, 2,145; 9.  Shane Gray, 2,103; 10.  Ron Krisher, 2,076.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1.  Eddie Krawiec, 2,362; 2.  Hector Arana Jr, 2,327; 3.  Matt Smith, 2,292; 4.  Karen Stoffer, 2,265; 5.  Andrew Hines, 2,253; 6.  Michael Phillips, 2,205; 7.  Jerry Savoie, 2,196; 8.  LE Tonglet, 2,195; 9.  Hector Arana, 2,150; 10.  Jim Underdahl, 2,118.