AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals
Texas Motorplex – Ennis, TX
Oct 17-20, 2019

Pro Stock Motorcycle

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Savoie went 6.881 at 195.90 in the final round on his White Alligator Racing Suzuki to knock off Eddie Krawiec and claim his third win in 2019. It is his 12th career win. Savoie also earned his second win in the Countdown to the Championship, closing to within 94 points of leader Andrew Hines heading into the final two events. Savoie reached his fifth straight final in Dallas with wins against Jianna Salinas, Karen Stoffer and Hines, picking up a key victory against the points leader before knocking off Krawiec in a pivotal final round.

“It was a great day and we knew we had a good bike coming in,” Savoie said. “We said if we held our composure we could win this thing. For the most part, tracks favor certain riders and we’ve been blessed here. It’s a great place and today was great. Bottom line, I want a championship just as bad as anybody else, so whoever is in my way I’m going to do everything I can to try and beat them. I felt good and we’ve got a great team. To me, this win gives you more hope and means a lot. This gives you that window of opportunity where you could win a championship again.”

Krawiec reached his 47th final round thanks to wins against Ryan Oehler, No. 1 qualifier Matt Smith and Angelle Sampey. The three-time world champ remains winless in his last 10 final-round appearances dating back to last season. Hines’ points lead also grew to 81 over Stoffer.

The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues Oct. 31-Nov. 3 with the fifth of six races in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs, the Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

FINAL ELIMINATIONS

SATURDAY QUALIFYING

Defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ Matt Smith stayed in the top spot after his impressive run of 6.776 at 200.26 on his Denso Auto Parts/Stockseth/MSR EBR on Friday. Smith, who also set the track speed record, earned fifth No. 1 qualifier of 2019 and 36th in his career. Jerry Savoie will begin eliminations from the second position after his 6.790 at 196.13 on Friday, while Steve Johnson moved into the third spot on Saturday with a 6.830 at 194.44. Points leader Andrew Hines qualified sixth with a 6.851 at 196.96.

“It’s just a lot of hard work after the struggles we had at Charlotte,” Smith said. “We had two tough days of non-stop work, and I can’t say enough about my crew guys and the people who help me. Not only are we No. 1 qualifier, we get some bonus points and we get a bye in the first round. All in all, we’ve got a good bike for tomorrow.”

FINAL QUALIFYING ORDER

Three days that may have saved Matt Smith’s season and his bid for a repeat title

by  Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor

Matt Smith made Texas Motorplex history Friday night when he powered his Denso EBR to the track’s first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle pass but it was the result of a lot of behind-the-scenes work in the three days between events.
19 Oct 2019 Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor

Matt Smith knew something was wrong, he just didn’t know what. His normally potent Denso EBR struggled in qualifying at the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals, ranking just 13th, followed by a first-round exit.

He had already watched his name plummet down the standings, from third entering the Countdown to the Championship to sixth, and couldn’t understand why the bike that had carried him to the No. 1 spot at the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals in St. Louis had become possessed.

With a rain delay forcing a Monday conclusion to the Charlotte event and the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationls in Dallas just days away, Smith knew that he had to act quickly if he had any chance to defending his 2018 world championship.

“We left Charlotte Monday night and I had two of my crew guys, Michael Ray and Nate Kendrick, come home with me instead of flying home,” he said. “We stripped the bike down, pulled the motor out, pulled all of the wiring off and saw that the chassis was broken. I called ‘Dog’ [chassis builder Mike Furick] and told him we needed to get the bike on his chassis jig. Tuesday morning, we made the two-hour drive to his shop in Mooresville [N.C.], and he had it fixed by 1:30 that afternoon. We left there, drove home, and I rewired the bike, put the motor in it, and got everything else ready.

“Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. we left King, N.C., and drove straight through to Texas, and got here at 1 a.m. then went to a little eighth-mile track just up the road [from Texas Motorplex]. At 7 a.m. we were testing and, problem solved. Kudos to my crew; I couldn’t have done it without them.

Smith’s hard work paid off Friday night when he made Texas Motorplex history by powering to the track’s first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle pass and the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot. He now hopes to parlay that into a victory at the event and the chance to cut into Andrew Hines’ points lead if he wants to have any real kind of chance of holding onto the No. 1 plate,

“I’ve come here my whole life and never won this race,” he said. “We’ve had a customer –- Michael Ray –- win this race, but I’ve never done it and this race is not on the 2020 bike schedule so I’d like to have this off my bucket list.”

FRIDAY QUALIFYING

Matt Smith’s 200-mph blast carries his Denso EBR to No. 1 in Pro Stock Motorcycle

Reigning world champ Matt Smith flexed the muscles of his Denso-backed EBR, cracking off the first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle pass at Texas Motorplex en route to grabbing the No. 1 qualifying spot.

Reigning world champ Matt Smith flexed the muscles of his Denso-backed EBR, cracking off the first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle pass at Texas Motorplex en route to grabbing the No. 1 qualifying spot. Smith improved by a tenth on his opening pass of 6.87 with a 6.777 at 200.26 mph to take over the No. 1 spot. the previous best speed in track history was 198.99, set four years ago by Jerry Savoie.

“The run was pretty awesome,” said smith. “We struggled last week in Charlotte and went home and did a lot of work and found that the frame was broken. We got that fixed and tested at a little eighth-mile track down the road [from Texas Motorplex] and made four runs and the problem was fixed. I was too conservative the first run because the track was really good and I bogged the motor and slipped the clutch, so we decided to shoot for the moon on the next run. We got after it and she held.”

Indy champ Savoie, still reeling from back-to-back first-round losses at the last two events, crushed it on his second pass aboard the White Alligator Racing Suzuki, improving from a 6.87 to a 6.790 to take the No. 2 spot as both bumped first-session leader Angelle Sampey’s 6/847 from the top spot; Sampey’s Harley could only manage a 6.854 on its evening pass.

Scotty Pollacheck picked up four-hundredths off his opening pass, rocketing his Strutmasters.com EBR to a 6.850 that momentarily had him in the lofty No. 2 spot before sliding down two spots to fourth, just ahead of Andrew Hines’ Q1 pass of 6.851.

Recent St. Louis winner Karen Stoffer recovered from an aborted nine-second pass in Q1 with a 6.853 in the second session to grab the No. 6 spot, a number matched by Eddie Krawiec, who also struggled in Q1 with a 6.90, more than a half-tenth off the quick early pace then ran 6.857 for No. 7.

The top half of the field is rounded out by Ryan Oehler, who improved two-hundredths from his opening lap with a 6.866.

ROUND 2 QUALIFYING ORDER

Defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ Matt Smith put together the lone 200-mph pass to set the track speed record in the category on Friday, blasting to the top spot with an impressive run of 6.776 at 200.26 on his Denso Auto Parts/Stockseth/MSR EBR. Smith is after his fifth No. 1 qualifier of 2019 and 36th in his career. Jerry Savoie sits second with a 6.790 at 196.13, while Angelle Sampey is a spot behind after going 6.847 at 194.74.

Stars (Re)Born: Erica Enders and Karen Stoffer back in Championship Form

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