Matt Smiley Is gone

Matt Smiley has probably been the most consistent Pro woods rider in the country for the past decade. He rides fast and smart and anybody that thinks he sucks doesn't know much about atv racing. He is a top 5 Pro and a threat for the podium and win at any given GNCC, ENOUGH SAID. He probably just wanted to ride something competitive for once this season.

[MadDog56]

Originally posted by T MORRIS
I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! THEY NEED TO MAKE A 450! THE KTM QUADS GOING TO BE A 520 THOUGH! I THINK THEY SHOULD MAKE A GOOD RACE WORTHY 450! I CANT WAIT TILL THEY DO! CUZ I KNOW IT WILL BE GOOD WHEN THEY DO!

KTM does make a 450, try to keep up.

I was wondering why they ran a feature on the outlaw during the OLN airing of the GNCC Big Buck race and then Matt's riding an SRA machine. He did get the holeshot, fell back pretty quick though and while he stayed in the top ten pretty much the whole race the only reason he wasn't way behind the guy in front of him was because of a few slowdowns by the front runners.

Smiley is a great rider and will do well on another team and bike. I think Polaris still has a serious future in GNCC. I just think that they're going to have to do more in house testing with the outlaw, you can't just throw a brand new bike into the race a few weeks after it rolls of the production line. Polaris needs to take their time and find out what works, this is new to everybody with IRS and will take a lot of time/money/effort to get it setup right. In the meantime you can't keep losing in the spirit of improved tuning.

[jb500ex]

Originally posted by polaris bob
Am I the only one that is not unhappy to see him go?

Jake, I agree with at least part of your thinking, he was looking to have a label put under his name.

But IMO, what the label now says about him, is not what he was hoping for.

Quitter

Crybaby

Not a team player

Flash in the pan

IMO, a top notch, factory grade, , A main rider can and should be able to hop on just about any quad and win on it., if the rider is any good at all. The bikes have way less to do with how a rider places than everyone thinks.

IMO Matt is just out of his league and is trying anything to be considered at the top of his game, unfortunately his top game is just not good enough!

I doubt that his stats will change much no matter what bike he is riding! He is just not as good as he thinks he is!

I say good riddance to Matt Smiley! Buh Bye now Matt!

this post shows how clueless your are about racing. 1st you call him a quitter, how many years has he been a top 10 and top 5 rider. second a crybaby, has he ever publicly said one bad thing about the polaris or did he stand behind them until the end. Not a team player, he did everything he could to help polaris . Flash in the pan i don't even have too address this moronic statement. and then you say a top notch rider should win on anything, this is the dumbest statement that is used way too much, when you get several top level talent the machine absolutely can be a difference. how well did borich do on a yamaha not very good why, because he did not feel good on it. And matt will be doing very good on the honda and the guy's on pro row know it.

[jb500ex]

Originally posted by Jeff@TireBalls
Just an FYI, the Predator won the 12 Hours of America shootout against the Honda and the Yamaha. I was one of the test riders and I had never rode a Predator up untill then. I was very impressed!

i was at a 12 hour test 2 years ago and i can tell you the polaris did not win. Jeff go out and ride it hard for 2 hours chasing ballance and borich and see if you still feel the same

[jb500ex]

Originally posted by GE4x4
Smiley basicly has no choice to do better. If he does the same it will show that the Pred is a great quad and he is at his limit. If he does worse it will show he made a bad choice. So his only option is to do better to quiet the critics.

Parton changed quads but it wasn't a solid axle to a solid axle. If you go from a SRA to IRS is a huge change in riding never mind racing. So considering her quad is still basicly stock, she is doing quite well. Put a set of stock a-arms and steering stem back on Cecco's YFZ and see how she does.

As far as not needing a summer to tune there quads, just look at what Natalie did when he did a couple GNCC races. He used Borich back-up quad with no seat time and did real well. Yokely raced a near stock quad and did well. Smiley all last year was in the top 5. The Pred has not changed at all. Smiley is a awesome racer and is far from sucking, but I can see from many post that people thinks it's because it's the Polaris is why he is doing bad. And I'm sure he gets told that all the time. If I was told all the time that my quad is whats holding me back, I would quit to. Nobody like to be the odd man out, and that is what he was. I hope he does well on his Honda.

natalie rides a honda so using someone elses honda is not that big of a difference. yokley raced a stock quad at florida because that was a good track for it, he did not race a stock quad at any other round. And the polaris is holding him back, tell me again how many pro's are racing a polaris. Didn't kim kuhnle switch to a yamaha also from polaris this year, im not sure why but he did.

[calds650]

Originally posted by jb500ex
i was at a 12 hour test 2 years ago and i can tell you the polaris did not win. Jeff go out and ride it hard for 2 hours chasing ballance and borich and see if you still feel the same

The predator did not win the shoot out on points, it beat the other stock quads on the race track.

[infantry317]

The fact of the matter is Polaris built machines that are simply not competive enough for that level of racing. At that level its not "just the rider" like it is or can be at lower levels. This isn't the first pro to not be happy with Polaris' products. I won't say any more.

[Flynbryan19]

Although I also feel that it is the machine, I will certainly stir the pot with this question..... How about the suspension? Its the only thing that hasn't been talked about yet. Smiley was on a pred last year AND this year and his results weren't up to last years even on the pred. I wonder if he was just unable to get comfortable/find a happy setup with his Elkas. Smiley has been an Axis man for several years as far as I know. Maybe he just couldn't get his Elkas to work right.

[calds650]

Originally posted by infantry317
The fact of the matter is Polaris built machines that are simply not competive enough for that level of racing. At that level its not "just the rider" like it is or can be at lower levels. This isn't the first pro to not be happy with Polaris' products. I won't say any more.

Give the Predator 75 more cc like the 450's and you might see more in the Pro ranks. The fact that Polaris has only been making the Predator for 4 years they have had too make up a lot of ground on the big 3. If I was a pro race I would race Polaris because I like to be different. To be real a Honda or a Yamaha would be more practical more engine builders and aftermarket parts to use. Polaris mistake is they came out with a 500cc engine when they should have made a 450. Now they have team up with KTM they may get a 450 but I would guess that is at lest two years off.

[Flynbryan19]

Originally posted by calds650
Give the Predator 75 more cc like the 450's and you might see more in the Pro ranks. The fact that Polaris has only been making the Predator for 4 years they have had too make up a lot of ground on the big 3. If I was a pro race I would race Polaris because I like to be different. To be real a Honda or a Yamaha would be more practical more engine builders and aftermarket parts to use. Polaris mistake is they came out with a 500cc engine when they should have made a 450. Now they have team up with KTM they may get a 450 but I would guess that is at lest two years off.

Isn't the cc limit for Pro class 530cc....?? Why does it matter about the predators displacement?

I just feel Polaris doesn't know how to build as quality of a quad as the big four does. I've owned a Predator myself, so I know from personal experience the lack of build quality and attention to detail.

They split and thats that. The only ones that "really" know what happened are Polaris and Matt. Aside from that, we're all just pulling straws and making guess's based on our own opinions.....