CONCORD, N.C.: Thanks to the 6.871 second pass he made in Q1 on Friday here, former NHRA Full Throttle Series Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith qualified second for tomorrow’s O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals eliminations. Smith, the winner of the inaugural 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway last year, will face defending class champion LE Tonglet. The North Carolina native said he is planning a fishing expedition in E1 Sunday, a reference to Tonglet’s sponsor, Nitro Fish.
“Our weekend’s been pretty good,” said Smith, who is also tuning the Matt Smith Racing Buells of his wife, Angie, and Texan PSM rider Michael Ray. “We hurt our motor first round, our good motor, so we put a back up in. It’s running pretty good. We’re fighting the tuneup a little bit, so we’re gonna check out some stuff and try to go fishin’ tomorrow and snag us a fish. We’ll see what happens.”
Both Angie and Ray will race Sunday with Angie facing U.S. Nationals class winner Hector Arana III and Ray looking to advance against Hector Arana. Eddie Krawiec maintained his No. 1 status with his 6.833 second pass at 196.70 mph.
Matt is riding a special fan-sponsored bike this weekend. MSR supporters paid $20 to have their names written on the Buell and were invited to a special pit party Thursday at the track. Click HERE to see pics of the festivities.
“Our weekend’s been pretty good,” said Smith, who is also tuning the Matt Smith Racing Buells of his wife, Angie, and Texan PSM rider Michael Ray. “We hurt our motor first round, our good motor, so we put a back up in. It’s running pretty good. We’re fighting the tuneup a little bit, so we’re gonna check out some stuff and try to go fishin’ tomorrow and snag us a fish. We’ll see what happens.”
Both Angie and Ray will race Sunday with Angie facing U.S. Nationals class winner Hector Arana III and Ray looking to advance against Hector Arana. Eddie Krawiec maintained his No. 1 status with his 6.833 second pass at 196.70 mph.
Matt is riding a special fan-sponsored bike this weekend. MSR supporters paid $20 to have their names written on the Buell and were invited to a special pit party Thursday at the track. Click HERE to see pics of the festivities.
