Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 95
Pro Extreme Motorcycle /
RONNIE SMITH
T
he 2018 Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle world championship
battle went down to the final day of the season as Ronnie “Pro Mod” Smith
led Brunson Grothus into Monday eliminations at the World Finals. Smith
needed to hold off the late-season charge of Grothus, who won the previous
race at Darlington
Smith was off to a strong start with his first-round bye run, a 4.02 at 171 mph. He
notched a second-round win with a 4.08, then stumbled out of the gate and didn’t make it to the
finish line in the semifinals. With his championship fate now out of his hands, Smith watched to
see what Grothus would do in his semifinal match with drag bike veteran Paul Gast. To Smith’s
relief, Gast ripped off a 3.99 to defeat Grothus and take away any chance of him passing Smith.
“Dreams do come true if you want it bad enough,” Smith said in his acceptance speech.
“I competed against some very tough
riders this season. Getting to this point
was definitely not easy. We had many ups
and downs, but we had a great program,
worked hard and never gave up.”
Smith was the breakout star of the 2018
season aboard his Innovative Performance
‘16 Suzuki. The Pasadena, Maryland, res-
ident raced to a runner-up finish at the
North-South Shootout in Maryland and
scored his first PDRA victory at Drag
Wars at GALOT. He also finished the
season as the nitrous E.T. record holder
with a 3.973.
“Winning this championship was a
team effort,” Smith said. “I couldn’t have
done it without Shane Smith, my tuner
and builder, and my team and family. At
the start of the season I had three goals:
win a race, set a record and win the cham-
pionship. I did all three in one year.”
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