PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE


Matt Smith (far lane) gets the PSM win over LE Tonglet.(Jeff Burk photo)

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith rode to his second victory of the season and moved into the series lead by outrunning LE Tonglet in the final round. Smith scored his 15th win of his career and second at this track with a performance of 6.887 at 194.52 on his Viper Motorcycle Company Buell, while Tonglet trailed with a 6.950 at 192.14 on his Nitro Fish Suzuki.

Smith, who finally grabbed another Wally after posting three consecutive runner-up finishes in his last three final round appearances, defeated 71-year-old Joe DeSantis, defending world champ Eddie Krawiec and Countdown rival Michael Ray on his way to the final.

“This was important because I’ve messed up so much here lately in final rounds,” Smith said. “I’ve had the best bike and gave it up. It has been one thing after another. I could have won five or six races this year. This time, I tried not to mess up. When we got to the final, I knew we had a better bike, and I took the win and the points lead. Now we just need to see what happens the rest of the year.”

Smith now holds a 75-point lead over both Lucas Oil Buell riders Hector Arana Sr. and Hector Arana Jr., who are tied for second place. Smith says he is lucky to be in this position, considering he nearly didn’t get to race after falling ill last night.

“I got sick last night with food poisoning, and I had an IV in me,” Smith said. “I have to say thanks to the doctors here or I wouldn’t be here today. I was hurting pretty bad. My blood pressure was really low, and they told me that if it didn’t improve, I wasn’t going to race today. I drank water all night, and at 9 a.m., they checked me again, and I felt a lot better. I was lucky I even got to race, and now I made it to the winner’s circle.”

Despite setting a pair of records for Gateway Motorsports Park, Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Sr. left town disappointed after a second-round exit.

Arana looked strong in qualifying when he raced his Pro Stock Motorcycle to a double-track record pass of 6.796 seconds at 198.58 mph, grabbing his third No. 1 qualifier in the last four races and his second in a row.

But in Sunday's quarterfinal round in a race against LE Tonglet, Arana slowed to a pass of 6.916 seconds at 194.58 mph. It was a wild ride for Arana as his bike made a big move towards the center of the track, nipping into his time.

"We had a good light and the bike just spun," said Arana, who left ahead of Tonglet with a .005-second reaction time. "It started drifting and I was trying to bring it back over, but it didn't respond. It was so close at the end that I didn't know who won until I turned off the track."

Tonglet's margin of victory was .008 seconds, or less than two feet.