As the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing season winds down, Denso Buell’s Matt Smith still has his eyes on a record-setting seventh Pro Stock Motorcycle World title.
Smith kept his championship hopes alive this weekend in Dallas, defeating points leader Richard Gadson on a holeshot in the final round to win his fourth event of the season. Smith had a nearly perfect reaction time off the starting line and rode to a 6.660 elapsed time to defeat Gadson’s quicker 6.654. It was the quickest and fastest side-by-side race in the history of the class, as both riders topped 203 mph.
Story by Kevin McKenna
This is Smith’s 46th career victory and his second at Texas Motorplex, and it’s also one he desperately needed if a seventh world championship is in his future.
“When you’re running against that other camp [Vance & Hines] like that, you’ve got to get up on the wheel and go,” Smith said. “I knew in Q4 I went 0.008 [reaction time] against Richard, so I set my clutch and my switch right back to that, and it went up there and went 0.006, so I knew where I needed to be. I just didn’t know if I had the bike to beat them. I made one little tune-up change from the semifinals, and she was trucking and went 6.66, so it all paid off.
“I really want that seventh championship because no one else has done that,” Smith said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re in it. We just need to stay focused and be prepared for the final two races of the season. We might not be the favorites, but we’re in a good spot.”
On his way to the 93rd final of his career, Smith knocked off Malcolm Phillips Jr, Chase Van Sant and Ryan Oehler to reach the final round and made a big jump in performance in the final round to hold off Gadson and stay in the title conversation. Smith is now third in points with two races remaining and trails leader Gadson by 85 points, which is approximately four rounds.
Gadson reached the final round for the eighth time in 2026 thanks to round wins against Marc Ingwersen, Angie Smith and Steve Johnson. He leads teammate Gaige Herrera by 58 points heading to Las Vegas for the penultimate round of the season.
The Dallas event will long be remembered as one of the greatest events in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Cool fall weather and a well-prepared racetrack made for near record-setting performances. In qualifying, Herrera led the field with a 6.651 run on his RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki. The top five bikes were in the 6.6-second zone and the bump spot for the 16-bike field was a very respectable 6.888. The top eight bikes in the field also topped 201 mph, with Matt Smith leading the way at 204.61 mph.
The event’s other notable performance came from Steve Johnson, who is celebrating his fourth decade in the class. Johnson made a pair of 6.67-second runs, the quickest of his long career, on his way to a semifinal finish.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action October 29-November 1 with the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.CN
- Matt Smith (Bue) (0.006) 6.660 at 203.08 mph
- Richard Gadson (Suz) (0.033) 6.654 at 203.79 mph
