Matt Smith Racing VictoryVictory Motorcycles will return to the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2017, as the company will again partner with two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith and his successful Matt Smith Racing team.Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris Industries Inc., represents the first all-new American-made motorcycle from a major corporation in nearly 60 years, and is rapidly making impressive gains in the cruiser and touring motorcycle marketplace.
Victory joined the NHRA in 2015 with Smith and has been running a two-motorcycle team for the last two years, with Smith’s wife Angie also racing a Victory Gunner.“It means a lot to me that Victory is coming back,” Matt Smith said. “We’ve been developing a new motor for the last several months, and we’re doing new bodywork for the 2017 season. We should be even better next year.”Matt Smith has made the Countdown to the Championship in each of the last two years aboard a Victory machine. He has two No. 1 qualifiers and has one win in four final-round appearances while developing the new Gunner engine/chassis/body combination.“The partnership has been good,” Smith said. “We’ve struggled some. We all know we’ve had an aerodynamic disadvantage for the last two years, but we’re moving in the right direction to try and make the bike more aerodynamic with the new body we’re going to come out with. Hopefully, that will give us the edge we need to put Victory in the winner’s circle on a regular basis.“Closing out 2016 with a big victory for Victory at the last race of the year really gives us a bunch of positive momentum heading into the off season. There’s a lot of work to be done and the Gatornationals will be here (in mid March) before you know it but we’re all extra energized now with this latest Wally trophy on the mantle.”For additional information, visit Victory Motorcycles.Save
This Podcast is also brought to you by the new modular helmet from Schuberth, the C5. The C5 blends safety with light weight and amazing quietness. Visit Schuberth.com for more information.
This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
