Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

........ ........ .... v ..0 o ..... u o After stretching out a huge lead in the Castle Rock TT ma in event, Carr checked out his pursuers. Ca rr clinched the t itle before Castle Rock. W inner Ch ris Carr (center) celebrates in Castle Rock's winner's circle w ith runner-up Mickey Fay (left) and third place f inisher Rex Fisher (right) . AMA600cc National Championship Dirt Track Series: Final Round Carr aces Castle Rock TT By Derryl Anderson Photos by Brian Barnes CASTLE ROCK, WA, SEPT. 23 Team Harley-Davidson's Ch ris Carr put the finishing touches on his second consecutive AMA 600 Nation al title-winn ing year by running away wi th the Castle Rock T T, the final round of the series. T h e 22-yea~-o ld . racer f rom Manteca, California, came to th e Castle Rock TT Steeple- 18 chase National with the series title a lready in hand. But even though th e pressure was off, Carr took adva n tage of th e opportunity to again assert himself as th e nation's top performer on 60~cc dirt track mac!lin~s.' H e set fast .1II~e, _won the night s fastest q.uahfYI!lg heat, and then raced to vICtorX ~n the 25-lap feature a.head of Pa CIfIc Northwest veteran MICkey Fay. " . . . ? Carr s Will III the fmal was worth $~975'a!ld he also pocketed th e $1500 wI~ner s share III t~e $3000 Bud- . w~lser Shoot-Out, a fIve:l~p race t.hat pined the top SIX qua lifiers agarnst one another. Rounding out the top five were surprising Oregon rookie Rex Fisher and Californians Aaron Hill and Ricky Graham. Hill's fourth place finish allowed him to take th ird in the final series ' standings behind Carr's 116 points and the 76-point tally of series runner-up Steve Aseltine. Aseltine, a heralded newcomer from Canada, finished 13th in the main event. , The Pacific Northwest was under a serge of ex tremely warm. temperatures th e week of th e race with highs ranging well into th e 90·s. Several get-offs , work on th e tra ck a nd too much fooling aro und trying to get the main started resulted in a late even ing. However, the standingroom-onl y cro wd stayed right to th e end. Time Trials Fifty-seven Expert and Junior rid ers turned in time trial laps with the fastest 48 making the program. Carr tu rned in the fastest tim e of the night with a 23.09-second lap. Junior Andy Tresser was second fastest with a 23.32, Steve Eklund was third at 23.36 and rounding out the top four to take the pole for the fina l heat was Don Estep at 23.40. H ' eats Carr chose the outside pole position for the first 'o f four six-lap heat races that would advance the top three finishers to the main event with the fourth through ninth p lace finishers going to a semi-final. Aseltine got the inritial lead after " Bou ncing" Bob Malley pushed the green light bu tton. Going over the jump Carr pulled up next to Aseltine a nd went by but Aseltine came right back and they two raced down the stra ig hta way side-by-side, Aseltine took th e lead go ing into turn one, but before you cou ld blink an eye Carr made a daring inside pass to take over th e lead for good. Carr ope ned up a half a straightaway lead by th e checkered flag with Aseltine fini shing second and Dan McDonnell tak ing third. Former Honda factory rider Fay took control of th e second hea t and took th e win with Tresser finishing second. The action took place behind the front-running duo and on the final la p John Wincewicz, Dan Stanley and Kevin Ath erton were three abreast fighting for the final transfer spot. Atherton got squeezed up against the wall coming o ut of turn four and pulled off a great save to prevent wh at was shaping up to be a terrible cra sh. With Atherton occupied saving it, Wincewicz took third by a tire width over Stanley. Don Wilson took the lead at the start of the third heat over former Grand National Champion Eklund and Aaron Hill. Eklund moved up and then past Wilson and on lap two Hill dropped Wilson to third and went after Ek lund. Hill caught Eklund and put about 30 yards on him by the finish. Kris Kiser took third a fte r battling with Marty . Zirbel, who finished fourth ahead of Wilson. . Fi sh er led two-time ' Grand National Champion Ricky Graham off th e line in the fo urt h and final heat but coming 'ou t of turn four on the ope n ing lap Don Estep lost it and Randy Roose clipped him and went down also . Fisher got the ho leshot on the restart, followed by Graham and Speed y Kell. Graham pulled a gap on Kell and Troy Norris soon got by Kell to drop h im to fourth . Graham got WIthin 10 yards of Fisher, but Fisher caught fire and pulled back to a 20-yard lead before taking the checkered flag . Graham finis hed second a nd Norris lost the last transfer spot when he hit a slick spot coming out of turn four. Estep took the spot. Semis Two semi-final races were run wi th o nly the winner from each advancing directly to the Nationa l fina l. The first go saw Kirk Strong take the lead off the start, followed by Robert Dameron and Chad Felicia and a bauling Larry Pegram and Atherton. Atherton got under Pegram on lap five and began to pressure Felicia. Coming into turn three, Atherton went under Felicia and headed for leader Strong. But Atherton 's charge came up a little short as the checkered flag came out. Felicia and Pegram followed winner Strong and runner-up Atherton across the line. The second semi got underway with a battle involving Kell, Wilson and Del Schnitzer. On lap two Wilson went by Kell a nd for the nex t six laps Kell was all over Wilson, trying to get by h im virtually everywhere on the track. Kell finally pulled it off to take the win and the only advancement spot. Ron Yamamoto finished third and Schnitzer was fourth. Last Chance Qualifier Pegram turned in a come-frombehind charge in the do-or-die Last Chance Qualifier. Don Wilson took the initial lead but Felicia slid under him and started to pull away while Atherton ran side-by-side with Wilson before getting by him and taking on Felicia. With two laps to go, Pegram passed Wilson and set off after Felicia and Atherton who had a sizeable lead. Heading towards the right-hander and the j ump, Atherton and Feli cia tangled and eliminated themselves from the race. A happy and surprised Pegram found himself heading towards the National. . Budweiser Shoot-Out Two restarts were required to get everyone off the line cleanly at the start of the $3000 Budweiser ShootOut. Once underway officially, it was Carr with the holeshot over Tresser, Estep, Hill, Norris and Eklund. Then Tresser and Estep went down in the right-hander, bringing out the red flag. Estep was unable to make the restart and headed for the pits to prepare for the final. On the restart it was Carr agai n quickly establishing himself in the lead by putting a great move on Tresser, Carr was accompanied by Eklund in making that move. A lap la ter Hill dropped o ut of the race to join Estep on the sidelines. By lap three, Carr had a 25-yard lead o n Ek lund, T resser and Norris and the positions remained unchanged as

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