Matt Smith has had an illustrious NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle career highlighted by his five world championships in 2007, 2013, 2018, 2020-21.

The King, N.C., rider reached another milestone Saturday at the Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.

Smith clocked a 6.741-second elapsed time at 201.79 mph to capture the 50th No. 1 qualifying position of his career.

Smith moved to the top of the ladder just one spot in front of his wife, Angie (6.757 seconds). Both are riding Buells.

This was Smith’s third No. 1 qualifier this season to go along with the ones he collected in Gainesville, Fla., and Denver.

“It is pretty amazing,” Smith said about having 50 career No. 1 qualifiers. “I think I’m either second or third on the all-time list. The No. 50, I will be 50 this year so I guess there’s something about this. Angie and I had great runs (Friday). She beat me a little bit (Friday) and got the provisional No. 1. On Friday, I made a bad run. I didn’t do my job shifting the bike and I knew if I shifted it better, I would go faster. I just didn’t know if the conditions Saturday morning would be good enough to overtake her. Luckily it was and we did it.

“In Q3, it got pretty bad air again and we messed up a little bit, but we were still third (in the session) and she was low of the (session). The MSR camp picked up up a bunch of bonus points and we just need to continue to put together a round at a time and hopefully we can turn on four win lights and Angie can turn on three wins and we can meet in the finals.”

In addition to Matt and Angie, Jianna Evaristo has shown marked improvement piloting a Suzuki under MSR’s guidance.

“Just coming off the U.S. Nationals win is huge,” said Matt, who won Indy for the second time in his career Sept. 5. “Then we come here (to Reading, Pa.) we are No. 1 qualifier. She (Angie) was No. 1 one day and I was No. 2 the second day (on Saturday). It is just a lot of momentum for our team and this Denso team is thriving at the right time. Somebody told me we have a quest for six (world championships) and that’s the goal. If I lose this championship, I want to lose it to Angie. She has just as good a bike I do. Hopefully we can do our jobs.”

If Smith does win a sixth world title, he will join an exclusive club of six-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champs that includes just Andrew Hines (2004, 2005, 2006, 2014, 2015, 2019) and the late Dave Schultz (1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996).

“Yes,” Smith answered when asked if it was important for him to win six world crowns. “When I started Pro Stock Motorcycle racing in 2004 nobody knew who I was or anything. I wanted to be like Matt Hines and Dave Schultz and (the late) John Myers and Angelle (Sampey) back then. Just to be able to say that I’ve done it and to be up there with those guys, I just want some new kid coming up four or five years (from now) and I want them to say they want to be like Matt Smith. 

“So, my name is going to be up there, and I just would like to solidify it with Dave Schultz and Andrew Hines because they are two of the greatest riders who have ever been in our class. To have my name up there is pretty special.”

Smith did talk about his strategy that vaulted him into the No. 1 position in the point standings heading into the Countdown.

“What the Countdown is good for is you get to test some through the year,” Smith said. “You know if you have a tough race here or there you are going to get your points reset after Indy. We tested the Suzuki all year long. We brought the V-Twin out and ran it a couple of races. Our goal is to run the Suzuki. It has more power than my V-Twin on the dyno. I just have not figured out how to make it run to 330 yet, quick enough. We are currently going to test Wednesday and Thursday next week, all the days with the Suzuki. My plan is if I get it right, I will run that thing in St. Louis.

“I think the Suzuki is going to be faster so we will just wait and see.”

The NHRA Midwest Nationals are Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 in St. Louis.