Four wins and a last-minute championship surge proved fruitful

Sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and Matt Smith proved that last Sunday in Pomona, Ca. Smith, who turned 35 on Sunday, and is the son of seven-time world champion Rickie Smith, captured his first career championship in grand style by winning the final round of the 2007 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle season.

For Smith, what seemed like a mission impossible was very much possible.

“It was a wild day for us,” Smith said. “I went in knowing that probably the best we could do was second place in the points. Then I saw Andrew [Hines] red-light in the second round and all I could say was ‘Wow.’”

The point leader Hines’ foul opened the door for Smith, who didn’t think twice about barging his way onto the championship stage. Smith had no reservations about laying it on the line.

“I realized then that we had a chance to win this thing,” Smith said. “I started going after the low elapsed time of every round. I knew that we had a good and competitive bike, I just wanted to throw everything I could into making the most of this opportunity.”

Running fast consistently has been nothing new for Smith, who won the St. Louis event with such domination that he established a new record and managed to get his particular combination’s weight minimum adjusted for the next event. That triumph was one of four in his maiden season after breaking away from the G2 team of George Smith and George Bryce. Ironically, it was their flagship bike ridden by Chip Ellis that Smith beat in the final round.

I wasn’t a fan of the new system a few races before Pomona because I was getting beat up pretty good. But, we came back.

“We had a tremendous bike that would have won the championship regardless of what format you followed,” Smith said. “I wasn’t a fan of the new system a few races before Pomona because I was getting beat up pretty good. But, we came back.

“I have to thank Evan Knoll, POWERade, and Coca-Cola for giving me this opportunity. I owe it to them. I couldn’t have won it without them.”

For Smith, winning the championship was all or nothing. That was the game plan from the start.

“We didn’t change our game plan at all,” Smith said. “We came into Pomona to win the race and never left that game plan. Win, lose or draw, I knew we could at least get second, and if things worked out well that first place was attainable. I knew if we could at least win the race, we had a chance to win it all. That was our plan before the race began.”

Smith has understandably experienced easier weekends. On Saturday, teammate Chris Rivas was dismissed for what the team described as a conflict of interest. Angie McBride was named as the replacement and went on to qualify with just one run.

That was the kind of weekend that faced Smith. Regardless of the distraction, he confronted it and moved forward. He declined to discuss the issue in detail during his post-race press conference citing simply this was his “happy time.”

“We had some pretty bad stuff go on during the weekend, but God watched out for us all weekend long,” Smith said. “I must have been doing something right because we wouldn’t have ended up here otherwise.”

For the first time in the Smith household, there is a championship outside of those won by the patriarch. Rickie won five in IHRA Pro Stock competition and two in sportsman competition.

“My dad is a seven-time IHRA champion and I may never be able to win that many, but I can at least say that I’m an NHRA champion,” Smith said.