Cycle News Staff | November 14, 2022
When it comes to husband-and-wife racing teams, they don’t come much more successful than Matt and Angie Smith, who each enjoyed one of the best days of their long careers at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, November 12-14.
Matt clinched his record-tying sixth Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship early on race day and a few hours later, he got to celebrate again when Angie won the third race of her career.
Angie has admittedly struggled at times this season, but she was at her best in Pomona with a solid performance from start to finish. Qualifying in the number-four spot with a 6.734 elapsed time, Smith rode her Denso Buell past Fred Camarena, White Alligator Suzuki’s Jerry Savoie and Steve Johnson to reach the final. Once she got there, she dug deep and downed Reed Motorsports Suzuki’s Joey Gladstone on a holeshot, winning with a 6.749 to Gladstone’s quicker 6.739.
“Coming in here I knew I needed to qualify well and then turn on some win lights on Sunday and we did just that,” Angie said. “We’ve been creeping up on it for a while I had a really good bike today. I had to race Jerry [Savoie], who has been a thorn in my side this year, and I finally got him. I knew I had to make a decent run. Then I got a single run when Steve Johnson broke, and the bike shook the tire a bit so [Matt] made a tune-up call. The last thing my guys told me before the final was ‘You got this’ and I did my job. To win on a holeshot is epic.”
Matt likely faced a bit less pressure than his wife since he had the championship all but locked up by the time he arrived in Pomona. Smith needed to win just the first round of eliminations to claim the title and he did that with an easy win against Michael Phillips, who is well known as one of the class’s most active trash talkers.
“I had to race Phillips in the first round, and he was all over me,” Matt Smith said. “It started in driver intros, and he followed me around most of the morning just blabbing away. It got to the point where it was annoying, but I didn’t let it bother me. I just ignored him and won the race.”
Matt went on to ride to defeat Marc Ingwerson’s Buell V-twin in the quarterfinals but a loss to Gladstone prevented what could have been a storybook ending where the Smiths raced in the final round.
Both Smith and Gladstone ran identical 6.75-second elapsed times, but Gladstone was slightly quicker off the starting line, to earn a spot in the final round. Out of competition, Matt simply focused on his job as a tuner to prepare Angie’s bike for the final.
“This Denso bike has been bad all year,” Matt Smith said. “Angie and I had a shot to finish 1-2 in the points and we missed that, but we made a lot of progress this season. I’m really proud of what we’ve done, and I think we can do more.”
The magnitude of his accomplishment was not lost on Smith, who understands the history of the class, especially the contribution made by the sport’s first six-time champion, Dave Schultz, who passed away from cancer in 2001. Smith also acknowledged long-time rival Andrew Hines, who also has six titles.
“I never got to race against him, but I knew Dave [Schultz] a little bit, and I always looked up to him because he was the best out here and the same goes for Drew [Hines]. To be associated with them is amazing,” Smith said. “It’s cool to think I’ve got six championships and I might not be finished yet. I’m 50 now, but I’m not done yet. Next year, we’re going to continue developing our Suzuki program and I expect us to be fast. We’ve got some new parts and we’ll be testing all winter just to get ready for next season.”
The 2023 season will begin in March at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
Kevin McKenna
FINAL RESULTS
- Angie Smith (Bue)
- Joey Gladstone (Suz)
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