Funny thing happened to Matt Smith this season. He’s stopped working as hard and still wins.

The defending NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion captured his second win of the season in as many final rounds by stopping a determined Steve Johnson in the final round.

Smith wouldn’t say his lack of dominance as of late was due to the other teams catching up.

Funny thing happened to Matt Smith this season. He’s stopped working as hard and still wins.

The defending NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion captured his second win of the season in as many final rounds by stopping a determined Steve Johnson in the final round.

Smith wouldn’t say his lack of dominance as of late was due to the other teams catching up.

“We brought in the same tune-up we had here last year,” Smith said. “We kind of stopped our research and development program after Houston this year. It doesn’t seem like we can catch up because every time we do, we get slapped with weight.”

“I didn’t know if I had to get after him because we had been consistent all day,” Smith admitted. “I didn’t want to push the tree because I knew I had a fast bike.”

Smith added only one of the Suzuki teams are doing their homework.

“The Schumacher team is doing a good job with their team,” Smith admitted. “They have a lot of power but the other Suzuki teams just sit and wait for the NHRA to take the weight off so they can catch us. We’re just going to try and not work so hard and spend as much money. We’ll have to see if they take weight off of us.”

PLAYING THE GAME – Smith admitted he tried to reverse starting line tactics on Johnson in the final round.

“Steve is one of those guys who likes to stage first,” Smith admitted. “He likes to roll up there and double stage, then back up. I told myself that we were going to have fun today so I was going to race up there and beat him into the lights. I almost beat him in and double-bulbed. He got in there before I could.”

Smith still nailed Johnson with a .005 reaction and used the .038 starting line advantage to win easily with a 7.326 elapsed time at 180.74 miles per hour.

This victory marked his second consecutive Denver victory and eighth overall.