Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

··. D TTRACK . ... .... .:. Round 3: Peo IR riaTT '.AMA 600cc National ChampionshipSerieS . And the beat goes on• •• By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Foto s PEORIA, n,JUNE 12 o u n d three o f the A MA 600 cc National Championship Series visited the Peoria M.e. Clubgrounds, , a nd it was none other than Team Harley-Davidson' s Chris Carr who flew to the w in aboa rd his Kenny Tolberttuned XR600. Never in AMA history has one rider dominated a major track like Carr has here. "This is my 14th win here. The pressure to win gets greater each time, but I . can use that as an incentive. There will be about fifteen guys shooting at me in August at the Grand National," said Carr, celebrating his win in the 8th Annual Busch Beer 600cc National. Second- and third-place finishers Scott Parker and Aaron Hill echoed that senti- . ment. "We are getting closer, Chris," warned Parker. . The only champion the AMA's 600cc series has known, Carr kept his 1994 title chances alive by taking over the lead on lap nine of the 25-lap race. Finishing a distant second was Parker. "1 had to just keep pounding away. I wish I could have gotten by Aaron the same time as Chris, but it didn't work. After Chris checked out, the best I could hope for was second, n said Parker. For the second week in a row, Hill jumped out front in the National, only to have a red flag stop his charge. Hill had Carr on his hip until lap seven, when Jo ey Duvall fell hard over the backstretch jump. Duvall was airlifted to th e hospital with possible head injuries. Hill picked up where he left off, but soon ran into trouble. "1 lost my brakes a couple of laps after the restart and really lost my rhythm. I just couldn't hold Chris or Scott back," explained the disappointed Hill. No sooner had the winner's circle festivities concluded, than the threatening skies opened up and the rain fell, cooling what had been a hot and oppressively humid day. R HEATS Six qualifying heats were used to set the heat-race lineups, with some surprising results. Hill had the fastest fourlap time, just 7/100ths of a second faster than Andy Tresser. Carr was in Tresser's heat and carne from dead last to take second. "1 just got a bad start and four laps isn't much time to make up for it," said Carr. Hill and Ca rr lined up side by side for heat one. Hill got his normal great start, but by lap two Carr had taken over and pulled to the fastest heat win by almost three seconds. Hill finished well ahead of Mickey Fay, who was semifinal bound. Andy Tresser overcame Jeff Annen's fast start to run away with heat two. The Motion Pro/Circle Bell/Power Bar/Joe Carrera/ RichBraquet/Miller Trucking/Fox-sponsored Tresser finis hed far ahead of the battle for the other transfer spot for which Annen was challenged b y Da v e Hebb, Ke n t Longcor, J.P . Simonsen, John Hlebo ill and Kris Kiser . Annen prevailed for second, and the luxury of not having to ride a semi. Heat three had to be restarted twice. Rich King won the drag race into tum one, only to be greeted by the red flag at the end of lap one. Brian Anderson had (Left) Chris Carr (4) and Aaron Hill (17) battled during the 25-lap National-.Carr went on to win, while Hili ended up third behind Scott Parker. (Above) Carr (center), Parker (lett) and Hili (right) let the chempagne fly while celebra ting on the victory podium. The win was Carr's 14th at the Peoria TT. bailed off on the jump. "Someone just stopped at the top of the jump. I clipped him, bu t thought I could ride it out. I knew it was over when my face hit the front wheel, said Anderson. After some repairs, Anderson was back in the . H lineup. King took charge again over Washington riders John Wincewicz and Dan Stanley. Ben Bostrom was charging from deep in the pack and took third on lap four , making up most of his ground in tum one. "1 get on the front brake .real hard going into one, then get back on the gas real quick to maintain my momentum. It's something I picked up from motocross. It gets you through tum two real fast," said Bostrom. This is where Bostrom ran into trouble, however. Just p a st th e halfway point, Bostrom drove hard under Wincewicz. As the two riders exited turn two, there w as co ntact and Wincewicz hit the ground hard. The red flag once again was out, and an upset Wincewicz was headed to the pits. "There was no need for him to ride like that. If he's faster, he cou ld find a place to pass that didn't endanger both of us. There were five laps left; he had plenty of time, said Wincewicz. "1 came into one a lot faster, then I saw him drift high. I just drove under him coming out of two, then all of a sudden he tried to come back down. He hit me in the back as I was already by," said Bostrom, as he showed off the hole in his seat from Wincewicz's clutch lever. On the second restart , King ma intained his lead , but on lap nine Bostrom instigated another tu m -one pa ss . He then held his Aztec Racing /H-D of Ventura/H-D of Fresno /Storz /Barnett / Works Performance/Shoe i-sponsored Rotax up front for the win. Joe Kopp led heat four into tum one, but was quickly displaced by four-time Grand National Champion Parker, who streaked on to an easy win. "1 feel real good. We're trying to get things sorted out for the GNe. Everything is working today," said Parker. Kopp fended off the repeated challenges of Tom Troudt to move on to the National H SEMIS The three semis present the last opportunity to make the National field, as the top three move along, while everyone else goes home. Mickey Fay led the first semi all the wa y on his Peiroli Racing Rotax. Kent Longcor stayed close in second, with Lars Trulson alone in third. The second semi was exceptional. Brian Anderson, Tommy Colson and Kenny Coolbeth Jr . were all brawling over the lead. On the next-to-last lap, Coolbeth slipped into second. Anderson kept h is Apex Sports/Patsy's Candies/Torco Oil/C&G Machine/ MAC Tools/Parents-sponsored Rotax on top for the win. Almost unnoticed, Tom Troudt was making an inspired charge to the front. He disposed of Colson over the jump on the last lap for a slot in the National. The las t semi saw hometown rider Dav e Hebb leading until hard-luck rider Stanl ey blasted by on lap four. The top two posit ions were set with the BBRP / St eve Baker/THOR/Smith/ Bell /Ma xima /Idaho Gold/Energy Relea se-sponsored Stanley on top. The last transfer spot was fought over by Joe y Duvall, Davey Camlin, John Wincew icz and John Hlebo m. The last laps narrowed it down to a battle be tween Du vall and Wincewicz. Duvall prevailed, earning his first National berth. NATIONAL The skies threatened as the 17 riders filed out of the pits to choose their starting positions. Carr selected the inside pole with the first pick, while Parker made his way to the outside with pick two. Tresser, Hill , Kopp and Bostrom filled out the front row. Hill put his H-D of Sacramento-sponsored Rotax into tum one first over Annen and Parker, . while Carr suffered another sub-par start. Annen made one slip and Parker and Carr were both by . Parker couldn't hold Carr back either, and by lap three Carr was all over Hill. "1 had to work from behind almost all d ay . You just have to be patient and smooth,"said Carr. Carr was still looking for a way around when the red flag came ou t on lap seven. Duvall's spill over the jump gave the remaining sixteen riders a brief respite from the high heat and humidity while Duvall was loaded into the helicop ter. A full 19 laps remained. The always-eventful restart found riders headed in all directions. Hill maintained the lead as Carr pushed ; . . - ' . .. Chr is Carr pocketed $2.000 for.the win; . :' . .'. " . : While sC:citt Parker cOllected $1300. Aaron . Hili hung onto thirdplacemoriey of $8SO: . .'; . ~ . -i think 'a lot at' ride~a'r~ ·~lim~ted . by ~i~ ': Th~. llbbr~iated . ,. . ' . . . . . 600'cc Nationai ~edule . · place,"'said Chris Carr ,. explaining'his 'rea- : make s' .every race important in the point: · soning for tJie 'small rider pre-entry'.. Only 28 ' :. s~dlngs. The last race of the.series'will. be riders pre-entered: and 37 actually signed up. :. .the resc heduled castle .Rock, W~shi n gton: carr could PoSsibly· be resPOnsibfe for' semev . TT on ~ uly 16: carr, the only overall champi'of the. intimidation.Ten 01 the 3'1: riders had . on the 600cc series has kno~, is holding t!'e made the long'trip"from the state of Washing.. . , ~ints .lead with 40; Hill is second at.26. Both. ton to ride the fame

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