Chris Rivas, formerly of the Brian Bozsum and Jessey Fenton’s Mohegan Sun team, left that team earlier in the week. He is aligned with the first-year Smith team seeking one of the best chances he’s ever had of pursuing a world championship.

Rivas is currently ranked sixth in the championship point standings.

“I am excited to be given the opportunity to be included in Evan Knoll’s growing family of race teams,” Rivas, of Fresno, CA, said. “To me this is an incredible opportunity. I am a very competitive person by nature. I am very driven and I have very large goals for my Pro Stock Motorcycle career.

“I feel that Matt is a very driven rider. I foresee us as a team being a very dominating force. This team change for me is a very strategic move to turn my career from hobby stock racer to Pro Stock. I’m ready to turn the corner and be the rider that I’ve been trying to become for the last three years. I think Evan Knoll is the key to this by allowing me to team up with Matt.”

Knoll didn’t agree with the rule change and let his feelings be known on the popular Nitromater.com message board. The situation inspired him to move forward with the program at a rapid rate.

“We were looking for the right time to branch out and with what Matt did in St. Louis, this is the perfect time to do,” Knoll said. “Hopefully this will enable us to make up the gains taken away that we made before the rules were changed.

“I think this team has just scratched the surface of their true potential. I think you just got an idea of what they are capable of with St. Louis.”

It’s all about adding crucial data to their computers at a rapid rate that inspires Smith.

“We are using this second bike with the intention of adding data to what we already know,” Smith said. “We want to exercise every option we can to win a championship.”

This announcement comes a week after NHRA’s tech department imposed a weight penalty on the Buell bikes. During the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Smith made a clean sweep of the event by qualifying number one, establishing a new elapsed time world record and winning the event.

“When I initially put this team together, I had planned to have two bikes,” Smith said. “Things didn’t pan out with the person I was going to put on the second bike and it fell through. I called Evan and let him know we weren’t prepared to move forward with the second bike at the time but wanted to keep my options open for the future.”

Knoll was so inspired that he purchased his own team. Smith has opted to keep confidential who the bike was purchased from.

“It has worked out really well. We have a rider that is #6 in the championship points and ready to make a difference in the championship,” Smith said. Chris is a very good rider and the same weight I am. I think we will gel really well.

“This will allow our program to go forward at a rapid rate. Any time you can add a second bike, it increases your chance of learning more. I think is going to be a great stepping stone towards testing and learning things quicker.”

Knoll’s combination of ownership and major sponsorship of NHRA POWERade professional teams stands at three Top Fuel dragsters [Melanie Troxel, J.R. Todd, Doug Foley], three nitro Funny Cars [Mike Ashley, Gary Densham, Dale Creasy, Jr.], two Pro Stockers [Dave Connolly, Justin Humphreys] and two Pro Stock bikes [Rivas, Smith].
 
The Rivas-piloted bike will represent Knoll’s second professional ownership on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour. It will be sponsored under the Knoll Gas & Energy brand.