Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDIRT TRACK e AMA 600cc National Championship_Se_ries :_ _od_2 _R ou Chris Carr (I) led Dan Ingram (31) from stan to finish in the main event. Ricky Graham (3) finished fourth . Rodney Farris finished third, after chasing Ingram throughout the 20-Iap fin al. Mark Smith (52Y) nipped George Garvis Jr. (44K) for the Junior Na tional win. Carr conquers San Jose TT By Donn Maeda SAN JOSE, CA, MAY 1 8 nown as the " King of TTs," T eam Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr proved worthy of his K mon iker by scoring a convincing, wireto-wire win at the inaugural San J ose TT. Following the thr ee-tim e-600cc National Cham p ion across the fini sh lin e some six-bike lengths back, were Dan Ingram and Rodney Farr is. Ingram , aboard his Indi ana po lis South Side H -D/S hoei / Ham p to n Racin g/ Cra ig Roger s and Cha rlie Anna-tuned Harl ey, j umped off the starting line in second, and fended o££ th e ra ce-lon g ch a rges of Farris ' Gardner Racing/ Walters Bros. H -D/ Mike Lynch / Fox Racing/Bell/ Zoom White/Cha rlie Cycl es/Ta ylor Gardner-tuned Harley-Davidson for the entire 20-lap final. Carr's win in front of nearly 3500 spectators earn ed him $2000 of th e $10,600 pur se, and pla ced him well ahead in the series point standings. With two victories in two rounds, Carr lead s the poin ts chase with a perf ect 40 po ints. Ingram, Durelle and Freitas are tied for second with 17 points each. Ingram 's second place finish earn ed him $1305, whi le Farris ended th e day $850 richer. Quickest among the near ly 80 ride rs who took tim e trial laps was forme r Expert-turned-Junior, Wink Freitas. Freitas ripped aro und th e track aboard his Wood- Rotax to post a qualifying ' time of 40.752 seconds, with a comfortabl e margin over th e second fastest tim e of 4I.I 61, posted by two-time Gra nd Nation al Ch ampion R icky Graham aboard hi s ESP H onda. Third fastest was veteran and former T eam Honda rider Mickey Fay, who turned in a 41.408 lap , ah ead of Davey Dur elle's 41.421 clocking. Texan Bill y Herndon rounded out the tOP five, cloc king in at 41.553. Altho ugh Carr q ua lified on ly ninth fastest with a 41.651 lap, he took to the track and trounced the competition in the first heat race. T rai ling Carr's Ken ny T olbert-tuned factory H arl ey across the line by a distan ce in the first heat was veteran Rick Hockin g. Mark Key sco red th e last direct transfer posi tio n to the final , barely edgi ng out J eH Eklund and Freitas. And y Tresser topped ESP Raci ng teamma tes Graham and Larry Pegram in the second heat. Graham tried every trick in the boo k to find h is way past T resser, bu t Tresser hung tough and scored th e win. Graham and Pegram crossed the finish line just in ch es behind, while Kris Kiser and Allo n McBee headed for a semi. Farris blasted to the front of the third heat , and on ce in control rode to an easy win over Sal Ho££man and Mike _ Gresham, who finished second and third, respectively. In gram fou gh t o££ th e race-long ch arges of Durelle in the fourth and fina l heat race, and greeted the checkered flag in first place. Dur elle nabbed second pl ace, wh ile T erry Poov ey stormed up from a poor star t to secure th ird p lace and a trip to th e main. Freitas romped to the victory in the first semi, wh ile Bryan McDow ell did the same in the second semi. Both rid ers earned a spo t in the final , whil e th e rest of th e field headed for the Last Ch an ce Qualif ier. Bobby McDow ell fought tooth and na il with McBee in the Last Chance Qualifi er , an d h eld o n j u st long enoug h for the win and earn the last transfer to the Exp ert main event. George Garvis Jr., th e son of George Garvis wh o fields Hondas for Ronnie J on es on th e Camel Pro circui t, sped o££ th e lin e at the start of the IO-Iap Junior National , a nd led Ek lund, Georgie Price and Troy Rose through the first turn on the tight, twist y track. Price dove to th e in side of th e second turn, and stol e second from a surprised Eklund, while Mark Smith came out of nowhere to take over fourth. As th e pack began to spread out, Smith displaced Eklund just after the course's only jump to move into third. Smith th en set after Price , and quickly closed the ga p between them. After hounding Price for six laps, Smith took over second in the far section of the track and set after Garvis, who had estab lished a comfortable seven-bike leng th lead. Smith set a bl istering pace, and within two laps had closed on Garvis' rear fender: Smith stalked Garvis, and in the last turn hugged the insi de line, and edged Garvis for the win at the finis h line. Price finished a few bike lengths beh ind in third p lace, just ahead of McBee, Rose and J e££ Annen. "I knew it was my last ch an ce, and I went for it," said an elated Smit h, who ha ils from Pleasanton , Cali forni a. " He wen t a little wide and I saw the ope ning I needed." " I can ' t believe he passed me," was all a disappointed Garvis could say. Carr held the inside pol e position on th e front row at the start of the final , acco m pa n ie d "by T resser, Farris, Ingram, H ocking and Graham. Row two was filled by Ho££man, Durelle, Key, Gresham and Poovey, wh ile the third row was comprised of Freitas and th e McDowells, Bryan and Bobby. Carr was fastest at the flash of the green ligh t and da sh ed a head of In gra m , Farris, Gresham and T resser. Graham su££ered a poor sta rt, but immediately began slici ng his way th rough th e pack. Wh ile Ca rr, Ingram .an d Farris began to pull away from the field, Grah am scooted into fifth behind Hocking. Graham ho unded H ocking, but on lap seven of the 20-lap race was surprised to be passed by T resser. Graham retaliated four laps later, and carried his momentum past Hocking and into fourth place. From there on , the race was a followthe -leader affair, as Carr pulled out to a comfortable lead. Althou gh Ingram was able to sta y wi th Carr for most of the race, in the clo sin g laps he faded wi th an ai li ng motor. Farris did everything he cou ld to get past, bu t Ingram nursed his Harley across the .line in second place. Farris settled for third, well ahead of a hard-charging Graham. " Everyth ing went great ," said Carr. " I love riding these races (TTs), they're a lot of fun . Once I got the hol eshot, I just rode a stead y race and tried not to make any mistakes."

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