Smith is Ringers Glove Bike Battle semifinalist at U.S. Nationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 12 of 17 - Pro Stock Motorcycle
55th annual U.S. Nationals
Raceway Park at Indianapolis
Sept. 4-7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

SMITH IS RINGERS GLOVES BIKE BATTLE SEMIFINALIST AT U.S. NATIONALS

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2009) - Matt Smith rode the Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear
Suzuki to his fourth straight semifinal appearance in the Ringers Gloves
Bike Battle, a special event held at the U.S. Nationals at Raceway Park in
Indianapolis.

At the same time during today's eliminations rounds, he qualified No. 3 in
the Pro Stock Motorcycle class for the U.S. Nationals after three of five
qualifying sessions, posting a 6.968-second elapsed time at 190.57 mph to
win the opening round of the Battle against Karen Stoffer.

In his first pass on Friday, Smith recorded a 7.018/190.65 (No. 4). He then
faced Hector Arana in the semifinal round of the Battle (and the third
qualifying pass), posting a solid 7.015/189.18, which was disqualified for
the bonus event because of a red-light start.

Two more rounds of qualifying on Sunday will determine the 16-bike field for
Monday's eliminations.

"We go rounds and sometimes we get these little monkeys on our back, as we
call them, and you just can't get over that little hurdle. And it's those
little hurdles that keep plaguing us," said Smith. "We had a really good
bike today. I feel like I let my team down by going up there and turning the
red light on. 

"I look at it two ways: If I would've been really late, that would've been
bad, but I was going for it. I was trying to beat Hector. I knew he had the
best bike out here and I tried, but I came up -.008 red. It was really
close. It could've gone either way. We're talking two centimeters of rolling
in (to the lights) different and it could've been .008 the other way.

"Our bike is just running fabulous. I had to try to push it because I wanted
to win it. I wanted to win for our Nitro Fish team and sometimes the rider
just has to step up and do it when the other bike has a couple of
hundredths¹ advantage. I take all the blame, but we'll be back Monday and
try to win this thing. Monday is the big day. We want to win it. I've been
to the finals here three times and I've won it once, so we'll see if we can
win it twice.

"We're happy, everyone is happy, that we're No. 3.

"I have my fiancee Angie McBride running this weekend for my personal team
(Matt Smith Racing) and she's doing a good job in the Buell. We're going to
stick a better motor in it for tomorrow. I've also got L.E. Tonglet riding
for us and he's doing an awesome job. You've got to give the kid credit.
That's three times on the Buell and he's qualified fifth. We're going to try
to get Angie up there just as high as he is tomorrow." Angie is No. 13 after
three sessions.

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