-c
~
IX:
>-
Z
Z
w
:I:
>al
--
Ci$
~
Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr won the 600cc National Half Mile in
Phoenix to pull within one point of series point leader Bubba Shobert.
AMA 600cc National Championship Dirt Track
Series: Round 5.
Carr drives to Manzanita
Half Mile victory
By Michael Ross
PHOENIX, AZ, APR. 30
Californian Chris Carr finally broke his
string of bad luck in the'600cc National Dirt
Track Series to claim an impressive win in
tonight's Phoenix Half Mile, held at Manzanita Raceway.
The talented H arl ey-Davidso n / Sh oe i/ H a p jon es /RS
..
.
Ta ichi v'Tsub aki- sponsored
26
rider dominat ed raci ng all ni ght
long with fastest qualifying tim e, a
runaw ay win in his hea t race a nd
fin all y scored a convi ncing victory
in th e main event.
A 17-year- old Junior, Michigan's
Kevin Atherton , dazzled the en th u sias tic crowd of mo re th an 6000 fans
wi th a stro ng co me-fro m -behi n d
secon d-p la ce fin ish o n his Ron
Wood-tuned Wood -Rotax. Third
went to Californian Pete Hames on
a H arl ey-David son .
After five rounds of racing, Bubba
Shober t leads the point sta ndings,
foll owing two victories in San
Francisco, with 40 points, but Shobert says he won 't race any more
600cc National s.
Carr is now one point beh ind
Shobert with 39 whi le Pete H am es
takes th e third slo t with 37 poin ts.
While m any riders a nd tuners
gra p p led wi th findin g th e right
setu p for th e slick, rough Manzanita
track, Carr seemed to have things
well in hand. Carr set a fast qual ifying time of 25.058.
Second-fastest tim e went to Don
Howard (25.104), H arley-Davidson
rider Bryan McDowell was third
fastest (25.334), and fourth fastest
went to Brian Ath erton (25.383).
These four quickest rid ers _took
pol e positions in the four IO-Iap
Expert/Junior heat races. The top
thr ee transferr ed directl y ~o the main ,
:-v h I1e fou rth. through .ninth moved
In to. the sem is. The winner. of each
semi tran sferr ed to th e main even t
whil e second through sixth went to
the Last Chance Qualifer. T he
winner of th e LCQ filled ou t th e 15rider fin al.
H eat one saw Carr get the hol esho t, but David Mill er took the field
throu gh turn one. Carr blasted past
the Florida rider to take th e lead in
turn two . From th ere Carr steadi ly
pulledaway.
Pete H am es' Harley was on the
move after hi s fifth pl ace start. H e
passed Kevin Ath ert on on lap two ,
then Miller o n lap three to tak e over
second behind a fleeing Carr.
Lap four saw the battle for second
shuffle the order. Ath erton motored
past H am es to retake second wh en
H ames got off th e groo ve. Once past,
Ath erton inched away wh ile Miller
looked for a ' way around H am es.
Crai g H oward was a di stant fifth .
At th e flag, it was Carr by four
seconds with Ath erton two seconds
ahead of H ames. Miller tried to put
a last-lap pass on H am es as they
exited turn four bu t Hames held on
to the last transfer spot.
Heat two belonged to Don H oward 's H arl ey. Rob ert Dam ron of
California grabbed the holeshot with
Ohio's Donald Estep in tow. On lap
two H oward took th e inside line in
turn two, powering past Estep and
Damron for th e lead.
T ed Boody picked off riders oneby-one after a poor start. On lap four
Junior Kevin Athert~n surprised everyone but himself when he powered'
his Ron Wood-tuned Wood-Rotax single to second place in Phoenix. .
Bood y was in fourth , trying to hold
off a determined David Durelle, wh o
started fro m th e back row after
j umping the start. The Wood-Rotax
rider used every inch of the tra ck,
especia lly th e high line, to mov e up.
On lap five, he tried an inside line
on Boody but couldn 't make it work.
By lap seven th e finishing order
had been set. H oward was untouchable in first wi th a 2.5-second lead.
Estep was all alo ne in second with
a three-seco nd gap back to Damron
in third. Boody held fourth with
Durelle fru str ated in fifth.
H eat three was the most excitin g
ra ce of th e even i n g . Two-time
National champ Ricky Graham took
th e hol esh ot and led Bryan McDowell , Mar c Gifford and Bryan Villella into th e first turn.
. The closel y-packed field rounded
turn four and headed down the front
ch ute wh ere Villella set up everybod y
for a daring pass. Running up the
inside in o ne and two , th e Michigan
rid er bl ew pa st Gifford, McDow ell
and Graham to take the lead.
The running order sta yed th e same
for th e next three laps but the riders
were tightly bunched and ran four
abreast down th e front strai gh t.
Kelly Larkin, of Colorado, picked
off two riders to take th e th ird spot
on lap six.
Lap seven saw Vill ella out front
by a wh eel over Graham, Larkin,
Gifford and J oe Green.
On lap nine, Larkin suddenl y
slowed as he cro ssed the finish line
handing third and fourth to Gi fford
and Green , respectively. The checkered flag caugh t Villella out front on
his Ron Wood Wood-Rotax. Second
went to California's Graham and
third to Gifford of Kan sas.
A strong br eeze bl ew as the riders
came to the grid for heat four. Recil
H art, Daniel McDonnell, Todd
Bridges and Aaron Hill took the back
row start positions after jum ping th e
. start.
A further dela y followed when th e
wind blew over th e start light. AMA
officials repl aced a br oken light and
the race was on .
.
Brian Ath erton quickly went to the
front to lead Dan Bennett, Kris Kiser
and Woodstock winner Charlie Orr.
Hill was on the gas and took over
fourth on lap two.
Orr took over the second spot on
lap three. Hill was char gi ng th e h igh
line but tangled with th e hay ba les
n early cr as h i n g. The in cident
dropped him back to fifth.
On lap four, th e running order was .
Atherton by four seconds over Orr. )
Bennett was in third with Bridges in
pursuit. Dan Powers was working
the cu sh ion in fifth.
As th e laps wo und down Atherton ,
pulled out a com ma nding lead. Orr
had second 'sewn up, but Powers used
the cushion to tak e over third with
Bennett dropping back to fourth.
They fini shed in that order.
The first semi saw Durelle lead at
th e start but th e race was red-fl agged
wh en Bobby McDowell and Keith
J acob sen tangled in turn two on the
first lap.
Jacobsen got th e worst of it when
he cartwheeled down the retaining
wall. The New York rider suffered
a broken foot , lacerated head and a
possible back injury. McDowell
walked away.
The restart had Boody's name all i
over it. The Hud Racing rider took
the holeshot and led lap one with .
Green trying hard to stay in touch.
Green got Sideways in turn four on
the third lap, nearly taking ou t David
Miller, but Miller held it on as Green )
dropped back. The halfway flags
ca ugh t Bood y out front with Miller
in two. Durelle was in third and
trying different lines.
The running order stayed the same .
until th e ch eckered flag with Boody
winning by five bike lengths.
Semi number two saw California's
Jon Nunez disqualified for jumping
the start twi ce.
Larkin was fastest off the line
during the restart and led a heated
battle between Bennett and McDonnell before Bridges crashed in turn
th ree on the second lap.
Hart cra shed hard in turn three
during th e second restart bringing
ou t another red flag. Hart took out
nine sets of hay bal es and flew some
200 feet pas t th e point of impact. The
unlucky rid er was transported to the
hospital with a bruised neck.
With bo th ambulances gon e, track
officials elected to wa ter th e rapidly
drying tr ack until racing co u ld
resume. The wat er truck thoroughly
watered the high side of the track just
as the wind sudden ly stopped. Infield
vehicles worked the water into the
track for 45 minutes before officials
called the riders to th e start line.
The track ch anged co m p le tely
after watering. It developed a second
groove at th e top which was much
smoo ther and would figure significantly in the remaining races.
Hill sampled that second groove
