Suzuki rider Smith sails to No. 2 in Memphis qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of five Countdown to 1 Playoffs events for Pro Stock Motorcycle
class
Round 14 of 17 for season
NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS
Memphis Motorsports Park
Oct. 2-4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

SUZUKI RIDER SMITH SAILS TO NO. 2 IN MEMPHIS QUALIFYING

MEMPHIS (Oct. 3, 2009) - Matt Smith and the Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki
Pro Stock Motorcycle team stepped it way up this weekend, landing themselves
in the No. 2 position in qualifying for the NHRA Mid-South Nationals.

Each qualifying round was a stunner for the team that has been struggling of
late. He first set a No. 1 run of 6.932 seconds at 193.29 mph in the opening
session, earning him three qualifying bonus points. He then recorded a
6.922/194.16, good for No. 3 on Friday evening for another bonus point, and
a 6.876/194.30 in today's third round, in which he earned another two bonus
points. That was followed by a 6.932/193.40. In all, he claimed six bonus
points.

"Qualifying was really awesome this weekend," said Smith, No. 4 in the
Countdown to 1 playoffs standings. "We've had a very good bike. It's been
good since the start of the weekend when we unloaded. We've basically
improved every round until the fourth round this afternoon and we didn't
improve then because the track was just too hot. No one improved during that
last session. 

"We've got a good bike for tomorrow and we're looking to go rounds and I'm
really hoping to put this Nitro Fish Suzuki in the winner's circle.

"By qualifying so well we picked up six points, so that's really awesome. We
needed to come out here and do that and it's good that we did. We'll take
all the points we can get in this Countdown.

"I think the conditions will be the same tomorrow as they were today. I
think we'll go in the 6.80s. Of course, the track temperature, with the sun
and hardly any cloud cover, it'll get hot again, so we might slow down in
the second and third round. But, if we can make it to the finals, we should
be good to go fast again. We've just gotta keep going down the track and
making good consisent laps like we have all weekend."

Smith faces Redell Harris in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

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