Progressive AFT - News - Bryan Smith Talks Important Win At Charlotte

Bryan Smith Talks Important Win At Charlotte

April 2, 2017

Bryan Smith was highly motivated to take a win at the Charlotte Half-Mile. For one, his championship rival and fellow Indian FTR750 rider Jared Mees was smoking everyone. At the same time it’s no secret that Smith prefers bigger tracks. So the target was Mees…and a resurgent re-entry into the early 2017 title fight.

Smith duly found his groove on The Dirt Track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. A dominant performance meant he crossed the line by 3.769 of a second over Mees. Defending the championship is the ultimate goal but there was also some timely redemption after last year’s steel-shoe malfunction that took away some valuable points.

So, you got what you came for…

Yeah, exactly. Obviously you go to every race and you want to win but until you get out there you really don’t know what’s going to happen. All day I just felt really comfortable; kind of similar to how I felt in 2015. I felt like if I needed to go faster I could and it wasn’t like a big deal to go that little harder. Usually if you’re going for a win - or even if you’re not - on a 750 you’re going as hard as you can. So when somebody passes you and you got to go more usually it’s like your eyes get big and you get death grip, but today it just felt like: ‘Okay, Brad’s right there. I’ll go a little bit more, work around, find a better line.’ I just felt really comfortable today. It was one of those that don’t happen very often: where you just feel comfortable right out of the truck. I was definitely stoked on just having fun riding, not really having to work hard at anything. It just happened.

How does it feel to have this win going into the break?

Good. It’s bragging rights going into the break. It shut Jared down from his helmet getting any bigger. Then obviously we get a break and then going to the miles, so it’s not like we had to wait until the miles to win. Seriously: I want to keep this number-one plate. It’s time to win. Like I said before, I feel like if I beat Jared [Mees] I’m going for the win, or if I beat Jared I’m going for the championship. So I just got to keep beating him.