NHRA PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
MATT SMITH
The Pro Stock Motorcycle season
didn ’ t start until July in 2020 , a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic . Matt Smith , though , didn ’ t sulk or see the five-month delay as a chance to relax .
Instead , he worked just as hard as ever , making improvements that were immediately noticeable on the track .
He went to the final round at three of the first five races , grabbing two victories and also winning the Pro Bike Battle at Indy . Smith was head of the class en route to his fourth career world championship , entering distinguished company with the third most championships in class history . He has become the quickest , fastest and , after another world championship , the best rider in the class and there doesn ’ t seem to be many chinks in the armor .
“ We ’ ve learned a lot of stuff and to have the quality of bikes we have right now , I think we ’ re the team to beat ,” Smith says .
That learning came in the downtime and included all three bikes under the Matt Smith Racing umbrella , as both Scotty Pollacheck and Angie Smith enjoyed career years . Pollacheck picked up his first career victory in the class thanks to his U . S . Nationals triumph , while Angie won the final in Vegas and also made her first 200-mph run .
Matt was on a remarkable level from July through the end of October , qualifying No . 1 five times and no worse than third in the other three races . He put together a clutch performance in Vegas to clinch the title , too , knocking off Angelle Sampey and Andrew Hines – who have nine world titles between them – in the first two rounds to make it official .
“ Our entire team has so much to celebrate ,” Smith says . “ This is an awesome ending to a tough year and intense season . If you want to be the champ , you have to beat the champ , and I just beat the champ [ Hines ] to win this , so we are the champions . I can ’ t thank Denso and Mark Stockseth enough for what they do for me .”
– JOSH HACHAT DI
PHOTOS : JOE MCHUGH , NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER
BRIAN PRESZLER NHRA Super Gas | JODY LANG NHRA Stock
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