The real challenge for Matt Smith was to determine which was hotter – him or his Al-Anabi Pro Stock Bike Buell. Both were of elevated temperature as they crossed the finish line during the finals of the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Smith defeated defending series champion Hector Arana to score a career twelfth victory. The past world champion relied on his crew to keep both of their thermometers in check throughout a breakneck pace race day schedule.

The real challenge for Matt Smith was to determine which was hotter – him or his Al-Anabi Pro Stock Bike Buell. Both were of elevated temperature as they crossed the finish line during the finals of the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Smith defeated defending series champion Hector Arana to score a career twelfth victory. The past world champion relied on his crew to keep both of their thermometers in check throughout a breakneck pace race day schedule.

“They kept the bike tuned up for me today; it was tough to get the thing cooled off,” Smith explained. “We had a staging battle first round and I thought we were going to have a staging battle second round. Besides getting the motor cool and the rush, we had a consistent bike we went .04, .04, .04, then we went .07 in the finals. It just got cooler and I think we were probably too lean but we held on for the win to beat Hector. He’s got a really fast bike this year, all in all, Al Anabi V-Twin motorcycle is pretty hateful out there. We came here to run with the best and we ran with them.”

Just hoping to run with the best was a goal, but his objective for the race weekend was to leave second place in the point standings, since Arana has all but clinched the top seed headed into the Countdown to 1 championship phase.

“Our goal was to try to be in the top five come Indy. This just helped our progress to be in that top five. The other thing I’m working on is trying to get my wife in the top 10. She’s eleventh now or maybe 12th, I don’t know. She’s gaining, she won a round today, and we’ve got three more races to try to get her in.”
 
Smith laughs at the irony of it all, headed into the championship phase of the season. Last year he rode a Suzuki and for the entire season exhausted his effort just trying to keep pace with the leaders. This weekend he spent much of the weekend just trying to keep pace. The No. 1 qualifier Steve Johnson was atop the list aboard a Suzuki.

“The Suzuki’s definitely have an advantage right now, they’ve got I think a 100 cc’s over the winner and a big stroker crank for it and it really paid off, I wish I would have had that last year when I was on the DSR bike,” explained Smith. “I complained all year last year, I said they need help, they need help, about the time I get off they get help. All in all, we’ve been working really hard, we’ve got some people working back, I don’t want to say their names but they know who they are. They’ve been helping with a lot of stuff in the research and development department. We found a little something and we’re making strides and I think we’re going to be good the rest of the year.”

When this happens, Smith understands the competition will be begging for someone to cool him down.