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,D l TR K:'::':" ': ," IR AC AMA GrandNational Championship SerieS " Round 10: Hagerstown Half M ile (Left) Third-placed Chris Carr and runner-up Steve Morehead flanked winner RickyGraham in victory circle. Itwas only Graham's second race following a lengthy lay off. (Below) Ricky Graham (1) ran down leader Steve Morehead (42) after starting the National In eighth. Morehead latched onto Graham's rear fender. but was forced to settle for second behind the champ. Welcome back, Ricky By Donn Maeda Photos by Bert Shepard and Rick Menapace HAGERSTOWN, MD, JULY16 t was an evening th a t even Rick y Graham couldn't believe. In his second race back following an absence that seemed like an eternity, Graham broke-in his number-one plate with a spectacular come-from-behind ride that left little doubt as to why he is the reigning Grand National Champion. "I 'm just in awe of what ha s happened tonight," said an emotional Graham after his popular win at the 14th annual Hub City Classic Hagerstown Half Mile. "I can 't believe that 1 almost didn't come here tonight. 1 just didn't feel right about racing, and my confidence just wasn't there at first. But as the night wore on, everything started to feel normal and 1started gettin' it on again." , And boy, did he get it on. , After qualifying for the National via a semi final, the Team Undo rider started th e 25-lap contest in e ighth , but lo ok ed like the Graham o f ' 93 as h e raced through the field an d into the runner-up position. And wh o was the long gone lea der a t the tim e? None o ther than the man who has taken on the " On Fire" title in Graham's absence: 39-yearold Steve Morehea d. I 18 Once into second, Graham quickly began to eat away at the 25-bike-length gap that sepa ra ted him from Morehead . The two riders swapped the point position se ve ral times before Graham took over for good and raced on to his 39th caree r victory. "When 1 was leading, 1 knew that if anyone was gonna catch me it was gonna be Ricky," said Morehead, who finished only a few inches behind the champ. "I wa tched him in his semi and knew he'd be a contender. There was a guy on the side of the track in tum four signaling to me that 1 had a big lead, but the whole time 1 could hear Graham's Honda coming. 1 don't know who that guy was, but I'd like to punch him in the nose." Still, Morehead was happy to finish sec ond. "Th is guy is incredible," sai d Morehead, as he put his arm around Graham in the winner's circle. "This is his second race back and the dam guy just picked right up where he left off. If I'm gonna get beat, I'm glad it wa s by him. 1 wasn't gonna just lay back and give it to him, though." In finishin g second, Morehead continued to claw his way towards the leaders in the series p oint s tan d ings. Th ough he still sits th ird, th e w ily veteran is now onl y 19 points ou t of first with 114. Finishing a d ista n t th ird - but delighted with hi s performance - was Tea m Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr. Carr held down second during the earl y part of the race, but could do little to keep pace with Graham as he raced past. "Ricky was on rails tonight," said Carr. "After he got past me 1settled into a pace. I felt good. This is the best that I've seen this track, and this was the best I've felt here . I'm definitely happy with the wa y 1rod e tonight." And Carr had reason to be happy. After losing the series point lead to his tea mmate Scott Parker at the previous round, Carr moved back to the top of the heap with his show-position finish. "We al ways say tha t it's too early to coun t points," said Carr, "b ut who are we kid ding? We are." Team Loral Lake Racing ' s Ronnie Jones overcame a horrible start to finish a very impressive fourth, edging out fifth-placed Parker in the latter stages of the race. "I just couldn't get hooked up in the apex of the comers," said Parker, who now trails Carr by a single point, 133-132. "But I'm not worried: We're not even halfway through the series yet. It's too early to be counting points." HEATS Racing at the Hagerstown Speedway Inc-promoted event got underway a tad behind schedule, but still most rac er s agreed that the track was in excelle nt condition . Rains during the d ays p re ced ing the even t left the cou rse in perfect condition come race tim e, though