REIGNING PSM WORLD CHAMP MATT SMITH SNARES NO. 1 QUALIFYING SPOT AT LAS VEGAS

Written by Tracy Renck, photo by Burghardt Photos    Sun, 2021-04-18 13:55

 

In 2020, Matt Smith had the baddest bike in the NHRA Camping World Series.

Smith with his Erik Buell Racing Denso-sponsored motorcycle smoked the competition to claim the world title.

So far in 2021, Smith is better than ever.

The North Carolina native qualified No. 2 and won the season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 14.

Smith qualified No. 1 for the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with his 6.890-second time at 196.59 mph.

“The Four-Wide is still about performance,” Smith said. “You’re not expecting the tree to come down and sometimes it does because someone is staging. There’s a sequence you have to get on in two-step that you have to know in your head if you count to five and no one has staged yet, you just have to go in and floor it. We won the very first Four-Wide and I have been very successful in Four-Wide racing and I enjoy it. It is like I tell everybody it is like the road race in NASCAR. It is something different.”

Smith said going from low sea level in Gainesville to the higher altitude of Las Vegas isn’t easy.

“It is hard,” Smith said. “At the end of the year last year we went 82 here and the headwind really killed us today. We didn’t make a good run (Friday), but we were No. 1. We come in here with four good bikes to try and win this Denso race for Denso. They are sponsoring the race and you want to try and win the race for our sponsor.

“The first step is when I set a goal for the year, I want to win a race. I want to get a No. 1 qualifier and then I try and get everybody a race win on our team. If you do all that then normally, we are all running for a championship and hopefully somebody wins it. I have already accomplished two goals this year in two races and we will see what we can keep doing and keep this ball rolling.”

There is one difference this year with Smith with his hair and facial hair.

“I’m growing my hair out a little bit because I’m losing all my hair,” Smith said. “This racing is making me pull my hair out sometimes, but Mama Lisa, the Denso sponsor, really likes the long hair and she said 'Smitty, don’t cut the hair' so I’m not cutting it.”

 

 

 
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