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Chris Carr (20) rode the low li ne to victory at Ascot; teammate Scott Parker (1 1 ) took the high line to second. AMA Grand National Championship Dirt Track Series: Round 2 Carr nips Parker in crash-marred Ascot HM By Farren Williams Photos by Mitch Friedman GARDENA, CA, MAY 7 T eam H arley-Davidson riders Ch ris Carr an d Scott Parker swapped the lead ill the d osin g laps of the 11 th Ann iversary Spring H alf Mile a t Ascot Park in Gardena, and when the checkers finally fell it was 600cc National Phoen ix Half Mile winner Carr ho . w took the Ascot VIctory. 14 Parker finished about two feet behind Carr to capture a very close second place, and Team Honda's Bubba Shobert snared third when he took the final flag a few bike lengths behind the leading duo. Marioneaux Racing's Terry Poovey and three-time National Champion jay Springsteen, riding for Bartell 's Harley-Davidson, rounded out th e top five. Carr's victory, taken one day after the factory Harley rider celebrated his 21st birthday, marked .his fourt~ career Gran.d Nau<;>nal WID and h~s second. Nauonal victory on Ascot s half mile oval. , Carr's birthday win was marred, however, by the tragic death of Grand National Championship! Camel Pro Series 12-year veteran Ted Boody , who suffered massive head injuries in a last -turn, last- lap crash that also sent Don Estep to th e hospital. The first incident in th e crashfilled , main event came on lap 15 when Steve Eklund lost control of the front end on his XR750 HarleyDavidson and crashed in turn two , bringing out the red flag. Eklund's bi~ V-twin went into a tankslapper exi ting the turn, threw Eklund to the track, then slammed hard into th e wall. The force of the impact broke the motorcycle in half. Following Eklund's solo crash, the former Nauonal champ was transported by ambulance to Harbor General-UCLA Medical Center in nearby Torrance with a broken right shoulder and possible broken right elbow. He was treated and released. When the race was restarted, Carr reclaimed a lead he had held since lap four and powered into turn one with Parker in tow.' For the final five laps Carr and Parker put on an . amazing show as th ey battled fiercel y for first place. Michigan's Parker, who was all over the northern Californian, poked a wheel under Carr here and tested Carr on the outside there. Parker finally used a high line to get around his teammate on the white flag lap, but Carr hugged the pole on lap 20 and managed to slip by Parker in ' turns three and four on the last go_ around. Only moments after the Harley teammates led the way past the checkers, Oklahoma's Boody and Ohio's Estep, who were running 11th and 12th, respectively, went down hard on the front straight. When Oklahoman Ronnie jones, running 10th, powered out of turn four on the last lap, his GF Racing ,H o nda suddenly, unexpectedly, went sideways and Boody, who was on th e gas just behind jones, had nowhere to go . The Hud Racing rider centerpunched jones' Honda. jones didn't go down, but -Boody was pitched from his motorcycle and went cartwheeling into the chainlink fence that separates spectators from Ascot's front straight. Estep clipped Bood y's downed Hud Racing Honda and tumbled to the track. Both riders were taken to Harbor General, wh ere Estep was treated for a broken hand and possible broken shoulder blade, and later released. Boody was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. "It's a shame to see a race end this wa y," said Carr in th e winner's circle, unaware that Boody had died. "They work their butts off all night long, go down on the last lap in the final and get hurt. I give them my best." "Let's just 'hope Don Estep and Ted Boody are alright, " added Parker. When asked about the final few laps in the main event the two Harley teammates had plenty more to say.' "I felt I had enough momentum to win," said Carr. " I' ve got to give Scotty credit. He gave me a run for it. I took a peek over my shoulder and there my partner was. I knew I would have my hands full after that. "I bobbled in turns three and four and we came across the line on the white-flag lap side by side ," Carr said. "I dediced to run at the bottom (on the last lap) and I won by a whee l so I guess I did the right thing." "After the restart, I took a couple of laps following Chris on the low line," Parker said. "I decided to try the high line and started catching him in (turns) three and four, and stayed even in (ta rns) one and two . "I started reeling him in and got the drive on him," said Parker. " After I passed him, the bike go t sideways in (turns) three and four (on the final lap). I lost that little extra drive coming out and lost by less than a wheel. " Three-time Grand National Champion Shobert, who has 33 National wins to his credit but who has never won at Ascot, said, " I' ve had a couple of seconds out of this thing, but we've always come up short. "We didn 't have the right combination; we couldn 't make the thin g work," Shobert said. "If you don't have the righ t combination at Ascot it doesn 't matter how hard you ride. It's kind of aggravating, but I guess there's just some tracks you do n' t win on. ' Only 29 Experts were on hand for the National, which was seen by a reported 5583 race fans , and a mere 11 Juniors riders showed up for th e special junior program. Conspicuous by his absence was California Expert Doug Chandler, winner of the 1987spring half mile in Gardena. " I like running Ascot; it's one of my favorite half miles, " said Chandler the day after the race. " But I didn't want to jeopardize my Camel (Pro Series) program by going to Ascot and having something break. It would have been good for us to run Ascot, but we had nothin g together and no money to run it." Carr collected $4000 from th e $28,000 'p urse for winning the main .event, plus lap money, a performance incentive award of $250 and a bonus from Harley-Davidso n. Parker took home about $2900 and Shobert's share came to approximately $1975. Tonight's race left the top three finishers locked in a tight battle for control of the point standings in the fight for the 1988 Grand National Championship. Shobert came away from the year' s first National half mile with a to tal of 33 points. Parker has 32 and Carr has pocketed 31 points so far thi s