Matt Smith isn’t going down without a fight.

Smith has been a thorn in the side of Vance & Hines rider Gaige Herrera all season, and he continues to twist that thorn some more this weekend at Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C.

Smith clocked a 6.799-second elapsed time at 199.67 mph in Q3 on Saturday to take the No. 1 qualifying spot on his Denso Buell.

“We knew the weather was a little bit better. I thought the track was a little bit worse than what it was, and everything stuck,” Smith said. “We came up, and we took a tooth off for this morning to see if we could control the tire because we lost control of the tire [Friday] in Q2, and it worked. It stuck. And we went 79 at 199. So, all in all, we thought we were on the right path. And then we come up here from Q4 and got back in that right lane, and that right lane is just throwing us for a loop right now. So, lane choice is going to be big for me right now, because I'm going to stay in the left lane as long as I can, and then I just have to figure out how to go down that right lane if I lose choice” Sunday.

This is Smith’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 57th of his decorated career. Smith won world championships in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2020-22.

“Well, we're just doing what we do every week. We go all out. We don't lay back. We don't sandbag. We throw everything we got at it, and it shows always by our speed,” Smith said. “We just tend to struggle with 60-foots, and when you have as much torque as the V-twins have, that's where it kind of bites us. It tries to take the tire off of the first 30 feet of the racetrack. So, in essence, we don't typically 60-foot as good as Suzuki's bikes do. And, in essence, they're a lot faster than us a lot of times, ET-wise, but we typically outrun them on speed. 

“So, all in all we just got to do a better job in our 60. It's just track prep. It's how hot it gets. And when it gets hot like this, it just makes it more difficult for us. Hopefully [on Sunday] we'll have some clouds. That'd be nice for us and where we can just try to get back to our 106, 107 60-foot, and let the bike do the work down track.”

Since there were only 15 Pro Stock Motorcycle entrants, Smith’s No. 1 slot was rewarded with a first-round bye Sunday. He will face the winner between his wife, Angie, and Geno Scali in Round Two.

“I hadn't even looked at the ladder. I just look at qualifying points right now, the little bonus points, and I think we ended up getting two or three bonus points. We got one round position, so I think we gained three or four points on them,” Smith said. 

Vance & Hines teammates Gaige Herrera (6.812) and Richard Gadson (6.830) are second and third on the qualifying ladder.

“Richard has got a great bike, and Richard should have won that last race,” Smith said. “I don't know why they didn't tune his bike up and let him win that last race, because that was the time when Gaige was out, but they didn't. And Hector [Arana] Jr. won it. So, I don't know. I think in their mind I think they know that Gaige is the one that's got to bring the championship home to them.”

Smith collected Wallys in Charlotte in 2010 and 2018. He entered the Charlotte weekend 17 points behind Herrera, the reigning world champion.

“Well, when they 60-foot good and they run the big speed, then I know they're putting everything they got into it,” Smith said of Vance & Hines. “When Gaige goes out there and goes 109 and it goes 198 mph, I know that they're not showing their full hand. A prime example is Reading. They shut off down there and probably E1 was probably going to go faster than their 74 [run]. So, they're just playing the game and that's fine. That's what is going on right now. I mean, NHRA has allowed that with their not keeping the parity close. It is closer than it has been, but it's still not where it needs to be. But all in all, we're going to battle as hard as we can. That's all I can do is I'm showing everything we got.”

Smith did take a moment to address the fact that the Pro Stock Motorcycle class doesn’t have a full field of 16 riders this weekend.

“It is very disappointing and that's why we're not seeing full fields is because everybody knows that they don't have a shot because one bike is just dominating,” Smith said. “And it is not Gaige's fault. Gaige is just the rider. It's the team. It's the crew chief. It's the whole complex there. They know that one bike is just stupid fast when they want it to be. Angelle [Sampey] rode that bike, it was the same way. 

“I told them all along. I said, ‘Why don't you put Richard on that bike and put Gaige on Richard's bike if Gaige is so good?’ And they didn't do that. They won't swap bikes. So, we know it's that bike, and whenever they want to show their hand, they tend to show it. And it is going to be hard to beat them for a championship. But we're going to try our best.”