Smith snags No. 8 in Concord qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 1 of Countdown to 1 Playoffs (five in total for PSM class)
Round 13 of 17 for season - Pro Stock Motorcycle
NHRA CAROLINA NATIONALS
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
Sept. 18-20, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SMITH SNAGS NO. 8 IN CONCORD QUALIFYING

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 19, 2009) - Matt Smith rode the Nitro Fish Suzuki Pro
Stock Motorcycle to the No. 8 qualifying position for the NHRA Carolina
Nationals at zMAX Dragway today, posting his quickest pass of 7.058 seconds
at 182.18 mph in today's third qualifying session.

His other passes were a 7.468/179.16 (No. 16), 7.069/183.49 (No. 7), and a
7.060/186.48 in his final attempt.

Smith, from nearby King, N.C., was not able to earn any bonus points this
weekend awarded to the top three qualifiers (three, two, one) in each of
four rounds, and will face No. 9 qualifier Steve Johnson in the opening
round of Sunday's eliminations.

"We didn't get qualifying points like we wanted, but we'll try to race well
on Sunday and see if we can make it up there," said Smith, fourth in the
Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings.

"We just struggled with the tune-up here. Everybody is missing it; it's not
just us. It's so humid here and when it's this humid the engines have a hard
time making power. That's the big problem we're having and so is everybody .

"We probably should have been here doing a lot of testing so we'd have had
an upper hand. We'll just do what we can to make the Nitro Fish Suzuki
perform well on Sunday and do our best to win the event."

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