Matt Smith earned his second victory of 2018 and 20th of his career with a holeshot win of 6.877 at 198.44 to LE Tonglet’s 6.876 at 196.10 Sunday at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals from Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis, Mo. M. Smith took the points lead after his third win at the track on his Elite Motorsports DENSO Auto Parts EBR. He picked up wins against Scotty Pollacheck, Joey Gladstone ,and No. 1 qualifier Chip Ellis en route to the finals.
“We hurt our motor on Friday night,” M. Smith stated. “Angie (Smith, wife) and I stayed up all night last night rebuilding it. The Harley’s got three bikes out here trying to whoop up on us but we’re going to try and do our best to stay focused and do our job. As long as we don’t have any part failures we will be fine.”
Tonglet’s path to his 27th career final round included victories against Jim Underdahl, Angie Smith and Jerry Savoie as he is currently fifth in the points standings.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues Oct. 4-7 with the third race in the Countdown to the Championship, the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:
ROUND ONE — Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 7.138, 163.28 def. Hector Arana, Foul – Red Light; Angelle Sampey, Buell, 6.925, 192.52 def. Hector Arana Jr, Broke; Chip Ellis, Harley-Davidson, 6.885,
194.77 def. Mark Paquette, Buell, 6.938, 190.86; LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.838, 195.90 def. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.953, 193.82; Joey Gladstone, Buell, 6.893, 194.58 def. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, Foul – Red Light; Matt Smith, 6.889, 197.31 def. Scotty Pollacheck, Suzuki, 6.955, 193.07; Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.889, 194.86 def. Ryan Oehler, Buell, 6.915, 194.66; Angie Smith, Buell, 6.879, 193.21 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.849, 194.80; QUARTERFINALS — Ellis, 6.863, 190.27 def. Sampey, 6.941, 190.83; Savoie, 6.897, 195.62 def. Hines, 6.968, 192.82; Tonglet, 6.864, 195.34 def. A. Smith, 13.648, 57.27; M. Smith, 6.869, 197.45 def. Gladstone, 6.940, 192.80;
SEMIFINALS — Tonglet, 6.890, 195.65 def. Savoie, 6.924, 194.86; M. Smith, 6.879, 198.03 def.
Ellis, 6.901, 194.63;
FINAL — M. Smith, 6.877, 198.44 def. Tonglet, 6.867, 196.10.
Pro Stock Motorcycle Points
1. Matt Smith, 2,263; 2. LE Tonglet, 2,242; 3. Eddie Krawiec, 2,222; 4. Hector Arana Jr, 2,214; 5. Andrew Hines, 2,201; 6. Jerry Savoie, 2,154; 7. Angie Smith, 2,115; 8. Steve Johnson, 2,108; 9. Scotty Pollacheck, 2,094; 10. Angelle Sampey, 2,085.
