| September 6, 2023
While Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Gaige Herrera has dominated the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class this season, it was six-time World Champ Matt Smith who walked away with the sport’s biggest prize, the U.S. Nationals win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
By Kevin McKenna
Smith, who had been winless so far this season, rode his Denso Suzuki to a 6.86 elapsed time in the final round to defeat GETTRX Buell’s Hector Arana Jr., who ended the final on the starting line with a narrow red-light start.
While Herrera dominated the early part of the event, Smith never once believed that he was out of the running.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Smith said. “I’ve got good power. This is our second year with the Suzuki program, and we’ve got great power. The problem is that I can’t figure out how to make the clutch work. I need the parts to test because we’re not getting our 60-foot times where we need them. I think a 1.09 was my best this weekend and when Gaige is going 1.03 and 1.04, that’s not good enough. We need to figure out our clutch and get the right rear tire and we can run with him.”
Smith, who previously won Indy in 2006 and 2022, made his way through Monday’s final eliminations with wins against John Hall, his former teammate, as well as Chase Van Sant, and Herrera, who lost for just the third time this season after his Vance & Hines Suzuki suffered a spark plug malfunction during the run.
“Gaige had a great bike this weekend, but we can run with him,” Smith said. “A few weeks ago in Sonoma, we were just a thousandth of a second behind. We got a little bit of a break today, but we honestly don’t need much.”
With the win, his third at Indy and 37th in his career, Smith also moved into second place in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings as the field is set for the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s six-race playoff.
“I’ve always said you only need to be good at the last six races to win a championship, so now it’s time to turn it up,” Smith said. “I will say that if I go on and win my seventh championship, I will take next season off. I’m not saying I’m going to retire, but I will take a year off and focus on [teammates] Jianna [Evaristo] and Angie [Smith].
“The way I see it, this championship is Gaige’s to lose. No matter if he won this race or lost in the first round, he was going to come out of here as the biggest loser because he’s going to lose the most points [with the Countdown reset]. The whole class gained on him. Now, we just need to get him out early at the next race. Earlier this season, I wasn’t sure if a seventh [championship] was possible this year, but now I know I can do it.”
Arana Jr. couldn’t match Herrera’s elapsed times, but his GETTRX Buell was the fastest bike in Indy with multiple 200-mph runs. The former Indy champ scored wins against Chris Bostick, Kelly Clontz and Angie Smith to reach his 32nd career final.
The next six events in the season will now determine the championship. While Herrera is the top seed, his lead is now just 20 points over Smith, while the entire top 10 is separated by just 110 points. The next event will be the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania, September 14-17 at Maple Grove Raceway.
Final:
1. Matt Smith (Suz)
2. Hector Arana Jr. (Bue)