Smith is Looking to Seal the Deal at Gateway
Smith will try and continue his dominance at the NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals this weekend at Gateway International Raceway. Trailing Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader, Karen Stoffer by a mere 32 points, Smith is determined to gain more ground on her this weekend.
Advancing to the finals at two races already this year including last week’s race in Atlanta, Smith is still looking to capture his first Wally of the 2007 season. Breaking the crank at the release of the clutch lever last week, Smith failed to move off the starting line in the finals, resulting in the runner-up position for the second time this year.
“We were happy last week with the rounds we won, but we wanted that Wally really bad,” said Smith. “We knew the motor was hurt, but we were hoping it would hang on for one more round and it didn’t. We have however worked our tails off the last two days at the shop tearing the motor apart and putting it back together for this weekend. Sonny Leonard helped us fix the heads, where the piston hit the head. Charlie Buck honed the jug and S&S out of Wisconsin put the bottom end together for me. There would have been no way to rebuild it if these people hadn’t of helped out, so needless to say I am more than grateful to them.”
With Smith not having much luck in the past at Gateway, he is on a mission to change that this weekend. Running in much cooler conditions this season in St. Louis than in years past, Smith is looking forward the challenge.
“We normally run at Gateway in the middle of the summer and conditions are ridiculously hot, so this will be a change for the better, I hope.” said Smith. “We are going to go in there and try to qualify well, especially in Friday night’s session, and go some rounds on raceday. Staying in the top-eight is critical at this point in the season and that is our goal right now.”
Qualifying starts Friday at 4 p.m. CT and 6:30 p.m. CT, followed by Saturday’s sessions at 11:30 a.m. CT and 2 p.m. CT. Final eliminations kick off at 11 a.m.
