PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Jerry Savoie (near lane) beat Andrew Hines in the PSM final.

Jerry Savoie rode his Savoie’s Alligator Farm Suzuki to a 6.915 at 194.13 to defeat Andrew Hines in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round for his second win of the season sixth of his career and first in Vegas.

“To do what we did here, we been working hard,” Savoie said. “Tim (Kulungian) went back to the shop and looked at a bunch of notes, and got on a dyno and an engine we had back home and did some work. It’s like football and anything else, the harder you work, the better you get. It all came together this weekend. No. 1 qualifier every round, and we got a fast motorcycle. It’s going to be very, very interesting when we get to Pomona.”

Savoie defeated Scott Pollacheck, LE Tonglet, and Matt Smith in the early rounds and is now three points behind Harley-Davidson teammates Hines and Eddie Krawiec who are tied for the points lead.

In the semifinals, teammates Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines went head to head. Krawiec was twenty points ahead of Hines in the points. If Krawiec won he would leave Las Vegas with the points lead. If Hines won they would be tied with Hines having the chance to take the lead by winning the final. Hines got a great light (.002 to .027) then outran Krawiec and takes the win, 6.968/193.13 to 7.014/192.32.

Angie Smith (near lane) defeated Hector Arana Sr. in the first round. (photo courtesy Victory Motorcycles)

Victory Motorcycles racer Angie Smith celebrated her first-round victory at the NHRA Toyota Nationals on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway like she had won the race. But no one could blame her, for that was her first round win of the season and her first since Norwalk last July.

"I've been thinking for like 18 months that the win light was burned out, that it didn't work anymore," Smith said with a smile. "I was really, really happy at the other end of the track. I just wanted to go out there and do my job, shift on time, have a good light and whatever happened, happened, and that's the mentality I went out there with.

"The motorcycle is performing way better now so I have way more confidence in the motorcycle than I've had all year, so when that win light came on, I was ecstatic. I was going nuts. You would have probably thought I was going to the finals."

Smith scored the round win on a holeshot, pulling off an .021-second reaction time that was way ahead of Hector Arana Sr.'s .116 light. Smith's pass of 7.052 seconds at 187.86 mph was slower than Arana's 6.968-second pass at 192.77 mph, but Smith turned on the win light.

She was good on the Tree again in the second round, .038, but Andrew Hines won with a 6.985-second pass at 190.38 mph, while Smith trailed with a run of 7.057 seconds at 189.28 mph.

Her husband, Matt Smith has had a powerful Gunner in 2016, but various issues and misfortunes have hampered him this season. This weekend, though, Smith had smooth sailing, qualifying No. 4 and racing to his second semifinal of the season.

"Got a little luck in Vegas," Smith said, "and hopefully we will transfer that luck on to Pomona."

After beating Chip Ellis and Cory Reed in the first two rounds, Smith had the tall order of racing No. 1 qualifier Jerry Savoie. Smith went for it on the Christmas Tree, but missed by .006 seconds and drew the red light, handing the win to Savoie.