NHRA
Englishtown: Matt Smith final report
SMITH SETS LOW E.T., EXITS IN SEMIFINALS IN E-TOWN ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 14, 2009) - Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki rider Matt Smith came out strong for today's Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township ...
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:46 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
SMITH SETS LOW E.T., EXITS IN SEMIFINALS IN E-TOWN
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 14, 2009) - Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki rider Matt Smith came out strong for today's Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations at the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, setting low elapsed time of the weekend.
In the opening round, he defeated Michael Phillips with a round-quickest 6.907-second lap and top speed (at the time) of 192.55 mph. In the second round he dismissed Matt Guidera on a holeshot with a 6.952/188.46.
He then faced eventual event winner Craig Treble in the semifinal round. Smith rode the Suzuki to the quickest elapsed time of the event of 6.904 seconds at 191.87 mph, but Treble crossed the finish line ahead of Smith with a slower but winning 6.961/191.81. Reaction times: .104 for Smith (.000 is perfect), .033 for Treble.
Smith moved back into second place in the standings.
With the final qualifying session on Saturday rained out, Smith was unable to improve his qualifying time and ended up 10th when he experienced a tire problem in that final third round. "We had the new engine in for Saturday and we only got to make that one pass and that tire problem pushed us to the wall and I couldn't get it back.
"We just changed tires and we went out there and flew today. I had a good light first round, an .03; second round I had an .01. We saved it there because we got outrun. And third round we ran fast again and I didn't do my job.
"Can't blame anybody but myself. I'm pretty down about it, but, on a positive note, I think we have the Suzuki back running again like we did the first of the year.
"We moved back into second place, and that's great," said Smith. "But, we want to win. That's all there is to it. The points are the big picture. We know it doesn't matter what happens the rest of the year, because we'll be there for the Countdown. We're high in the points, so we'll be there.
"But, we have to get a win under our belts. I don't know if we're putting more pressure on ourselves than what we should be doing, but the simple fact is that I made a mistake today and it was my fault and I take full blame."
Next up is the NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, June 26-28.
-credit: dsr
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Englishtown: Cory McClenathan final report
Next article Englishtown: Final eliminations report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Craig Treble
Kalitta, Force, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec earn No. 1 qualifying positions at Midwest Nationals
NHRA
NHRA
Madison
Kalitta, Force, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec earn No. 1 qualifying positions at Midwest Nationals
Kalitta, Force, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec on top in St. Louis
NHRA
NHRA
Kalitta, Force, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec on top in St. Louis
Force, Crampton, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec lead Friday qualifying at Midwest Nationals
NHRA
NHRA
Madison
Force, Crampton, Enders-Stevens and Krawiec lead Friday qualifying at Midwest Nationals
Latest news
"Extremely difficult": Calendar clashes threaten Marco Wittmann's DTM future
DTM
DTM DTM 1 min
"Extremely difficult": Calendar clashes threaten Marco Wittmann's DTM future
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC WRC 1 h
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe