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Round 1: Municipal Stadium CalTmles atDaytona RegionalSf By Donn Maeda Photos by Kinney Jones DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MARCH 10 eam Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr . trounced the field at th e AM A Reg ional Dirt Tra ck Champ ionship Series opener under the lights at Daytona' s Muni cipal Stadium. The former Grand National Champion started the IS-lap main event in second behind Will Davis and waited pa tiently for a mistake fro m th e early leader before running away with a commanding win. Davis held on for second - barely. A hard-eharging Terry Poovey shadowed Davis' every move throughout the latter stages of the race and finished just a few inches behind Davis in third. Due to a large rider turnout, 18 scratch heats were used to thin the field down to 60 entrants..The scratch heats were dela yed , however, after the skies opened up and poured rain on the crushed limestone track. After an extensive wheelpacking session, the scratch heats commenced and opening ceremonies were held at 8:30 p.m. , onl y 30 minutes behind sched ule. Six lo-lap heats were run, with each offering only two direct transfer positions. Racers who didn't make the cut competed in one of four eight-lap semis, from which on ly the winner of each advanced. As the evening wore on, the once wet and slippery track began to T dry out, and a thin blue groov e began to form . By the time the IS-lap main event came to the line, traction was abun dant. When the light flashed at the start of the IS- lap ma in, outsid e pole-s itter Davis ripped off th e line ab oard h is A&R Ra cing Ro ta x and led Car r, Micha el Varnes and Poovey throug h tum one. As the rest of the field packed into tum one, Garvis Honda's Rich King hit the ground. "I just wen t in way too hot, way too low," said a disappointed King. "It was a little muddy down there and 1 just lost both wheels at the same time. That realIy pissed me off." Duan e Veed er blitzed hi s w a y through tum one and managed to sneak past Poov ey and Varnes for thi rd. Moments later Varnes slipped wide and allowed Poovey to sneak pas t for fourth. Davis and Carr opened up an immediate lead over Veeder and Poovey . On lap two, Davis wheelied as he pow ered out of turn four, and looked as if he was str u gg li ng to keep the fr ont wheel down. "I knew right from the start tha t 1 was in trouble, " said Davis. "The track had changed a lot since my heat - it got real abra sive. The bike was hookin g up too much, and 1 was actually getting too much traction." Carr saw Davis stru ggling, and knew it was just a matte r of time. "I saw him fighting to keep the fro nt end down,