Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; DIRT TRACK AM! 600cc National Championship Dirt Track Series:Round I e Chris Carr (I) passed Mike Hale (32) to score the main event win. Davey Durelle (58) finished a dose third. (Left to right) Hale, Carr and Durelle wave to the Fresno Fairgrounds crowd. Aaron Hill (17) led Carr (I), Hale (32), Cory Perrault (7Y), Durelle (58) and Bryan McDowell (30) at the start of the Promoter's Challenge dash-for-cash race. Carr cruises to Fresno M w ile in By Donn Maeda 16 FRESNO, CA., MAY 3. n the same fashion that he swept the opening two rounds of the Camel Pro Series, T eam Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr stole the sho w and the biggest I chunk of the purse at the Fresno Mile, th e open ing round of th e AMA 600cc Nati on al Championship Series. The event, originally scheduled to be round two of the eight-round series, served as the opening round due to the March 6 Daytona 600cc Short Track being rained out. A crowd of approximately 3600, noticeably smaller than last year's turnout of over 6000, watched as Carr powered his Kenny Tolberttuned, Hap Jones/SBS/Sunoco/Yoko/ Tsubaki /ITT-backed factory HarleyDavidson 10 the win. "We a ttrib ute a lot of the spectator loss to the disarray going on in southern California," said promoter Dave Harvey of American Mot orsp orts, " We even lost a few riders because of it." Carr earned $2000 of the $I0,000 p urse, along with the $500 first prize in the $1000 Promoter's Challenge, a sixlap das h that pitted th e six fastest . qualifiers against each other. "It's al ways nice to win a bi t of bonus money on the side," said Carr, who ultima tel y has his eyes set o n th e $100,000 bon us for winning the Camel Pro Grand Nati on al Ch ampionship. Bartels' Har ley-DavidsonlBieffe/Joe Sch mo e Graphics/Motion Pro/Redline/ Sam Line/Jack Sizemore/Tsu- , bak i/Pow ermist/Vanson/SBS/ Ixspabacked Mike Hale followed Carr across th e fini sh line in both the main and the dash for cash. "There were a few times when I thought I had him," said Hale, who led four -time 600cc National Ch ampion Carr for most of both races. " Bu t for every little mistake I made, he would tum a perfect lap. I'm still learning, th ou gh, it'll come." Like H ale, Davey Durelle turned in a pair of iden tical finishes aboard hi s Donahue H -D/Wood Racing/Bieffe/ Su burban H-D/ Sti:>rzlTsubaki/Yokospo nsored Rotax din tracker and went hom e with third place hon ors and cash. After turning in the da y' s fastest qual ifying lap of'37.2 seconds at 96.774 mph, Carr grabbed the lead at the start of the first of four heat races, each of wh ich offered two dire ct transfers to the m a in. Carr was never cha ll en ged throu ghout the 10-lap ra ce , and stretched his lead to 14 seconds at the finish. Wink Freitas , the 1992 Junior Nati on al Cha mpi on, ran second in th e ea r ly laps, but dropped o u t with mechan ical difficulties. Andy Tresser a nd Steve Mayfield battled for most of the race before Tresser ga ined the upper hand a t the fin ish with a last-lap draft pass. H ale did his best Carr imitation in heat two , as he bl itzed off the starting ' line wi th the holesho t and was never head ed. H ale greeted the checkered flag II seconds ahead of J unior compe titor Jeff Eklu nd and Dan McDonnell. In the third hea t, Ted T aylor stormed off the line with the holeshot , but pu lled off th e track wi th a n ill-ha nd ling machine two laps later. J unior Cory Perrault was happy to capitalize on Taylor's.misfortune, and once into the lead romped off with a convinci ng win. Bryan McDowell top ped the battle for second and earned a trip to the main . Aaron Hill had the fastest dutch han d in the fourth heat , but enjoyed the lead for only one lap as Durelle draft ed past on th e back stra igh t. Hill stuck to Du relle's rear fender, and th e two riders pulled well clear of the rest of the field, led by Jeff Dietz. Durelle 'managed t o pull awa y from Hill in the closing laps and scored the win by four bike lengths. Riders that failed to qualify in the heats co mpe ted in one of three, eightlap semis. Mayfield, Steve Beattie a nd Eric Green topped the three semis, and along with the second and third-place finishers from each race, rounded out the 17-rider main event field. Wh en the day's six fastest qualifiers lined up for the start of the $1000 Promoter's Challenge, it was Hale who hooked up best and grabbed the holeshot. Behind the 1990Camel Pro Rookie of the Year followed Carr, Perrault, Hill, Durelle and McDowel l. Carr tucked in behind Hale, and the two riders opened a lead on the four other riders . Durelle was the first to make a move, as he edged past Hill before the completion of lap one and gobbled up Perrault on lap two . On lap three , Hale entered tum one too hot and Carr was able to sneak past as they powered out of tum two and onto the back straight. " I upset my bike in the comer," said H al e. "And Chris was abl e to get hooked up better down the back straight." Once into the lead, Carr tried 10 break free, but Hale stayed in h is shadow to th e finish. Durelle crossed the fini sh line a lonely third, ahead of Hill, Perrault and McDowell. " My bike is wobbling real bad down th e straights, and I can 't seem to get it to stay still ," sai d Carr, wh o won non etheless. The story wasn't much different in the 25-lap main even t. Junior competitor Perrault led the field int o turn one but his lead was short-lived as Durell e blew past him in turn two . "My bik e just hooked up, and I motored past on the outside," said Durelle. Following Durelle past Perrault on that same lap were Carr and Hale, whil e Hill looked for a way to do the same. Durelle continued 10 lead until lap five, when Carr drafted past going into tum one. Hale followed two laps later as they entered tum three. Once into second, Hale set hi s sights on Carr, who had established a small cushion. Hale reeled Carr in and just past the halfway point drafted into the lead. Carr seemed cont ent to follow for a few laps, but retaliated with an similar pass on lap 20. After retaking the lead, Carr managed to break free from Hale and pulled ou t a two-second lead. Durelle closed on H ale in the last few laps, and though he was within striking distance, never managed to edge past. Carr sped past the finish line first, comfortably ahead of Hale and Durelle. Well behind the lead trio cam e Perrault, Hill and Beattie, in close order. "T he track was getting rougher as the

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