Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127960
DIRT TRACK AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Round 16: Illinois State Fairgrounds Chris Carr (4) was able to slingshot past Rich King (80) and hold off Dan Butler (22) and SCott Parker (1) for the win at the Labor Day weekend runn ing of the Springfield Mile. By Scott Rousseau SPRINGFIELD, II. SErf. 6 , fter just missin g out on a $15,000 payd ay some 24 hou rs ea rlier, former AMA Grand N ational Champ ion Chr is Carr sho wed the ove rflow cro wd at the Illin ois Stat e Fairg ro u nds tha t he never ma kes the sa me mistake twice. For it was in Saturday's inaugural Hall of Fame di rt track rac e that Carr, probabl y a future Hall of Farner himself, comitted the sin of leadi ng the pack off th e fin al corner in th e 10-lap, $50,000 race, go t draft ed by for mer tea mmat e Scott Parke r, and had to settle for second place in a thri llin g finish. But tha t was yes terday, and this was the Springfield Mile. And with precious G ra nd Nationa l Cha m p ionship poin ts on the line, the 32-year-old Califo rnia n w ho now resid es in Fleetw ood , Pennsylvania, vowed th at he wo uld not let it happen again. Carr remained tru e to his word , as he ra n his Kenn y Tolbert-prepa red , HarleyDavidson of Sacra men to/Phoenix Rae- A 22 ing-backed XR750 off the final corner in second place, drafted past Corbin Raeing /Su per tra p p's Rich Kin g a nd a lso hel d off USC Ra ci n g / La n ca ster H D /Dod ge Br ot h er s' Dan Bu t le r in a ph ot o fin is h to lock up ca re er Gra nd Na tional wi n number 37; it was on ly his second victory at the most famo us of all dirt track mot orcycle-racing facilities. Carr d rafted his wa y int o conten tion after running eighth on the first lap , and it wa sn't long before he was battling his old nem esis Parker, as well as title rivals Kin g and Will Da vis, veteran Ronni e Jon es a nd the resurgent Bu tler a t th e fron t of the 18-rider freight trai n. Ca rr was in a fort uitous position when the red flag was thro w n after Da le Jenn eman oiled down the fron t straight on lap 21. After revert in g back to lap 20, Carr was pla ced third for the resta rt and the za ny five-lap da sh tha t fo llo we d . H e was as far back as fou rth on lap 23, but he led lap 24 an d, when it counted most, lap 25. "It wa s a good day, a real good da y," Carr said. "Good ra ce. I felt like I had what it took to win eve n before the red flag came out. This place is amazing. It's lik e our World Seri e s, ou r Super Bowl. Daytona o r the Ind y 500. Winnin g a t Sp ri ngfield is th e epito me of our s por t. Th is is 'really an honor." Ca rr h ad hi s (Left) Carr is all smiles after notch ing his 37th career Grand National victory. He is now two wins away from tyi ng th e late Ricky Graha m for third on the all-ti me Grand Natio nal winners list. (Right) Rus h hour: The fie ld remained bu nched th is tightly for most of t he main event. Here, eventual sixth-pla ce fin isher Ronnie Jones (16) punches it into turn one ahead of Parker (1). fifth-place Ilnish er Will Davis (21) and the rest. work cut out for him in order to earn that honor, as a couple of hungry riders drag-ra ced him to the finis h line, each wanting to win for any number of reason s, let a lo ne the fa ct tha t th is was . Springfield. On th e one side was Kin g, who is engaged in a tight cham pionship race with Ca rr, Parker and Da vis, and who is so focuse d that he wou ld probably go uge ou t his competito rs' eyes for th e number-o ne -p la te if given th e opportu nity. On the othe r side was Butler, who has certa inly proved himself to be the most im pro ved rid er on the circuit, and who had been riding a posit ive emotional wave all day after set ting fast time .and ea rning th e p ole position for the final. In the end, King chose to lead Carr off the fin al cu rve, w hile Butl er elected to follow, and Kin g nett ed second, wit h Butler a close third. Such are the s trategies, a nd ga m b les, tha t ca n mean the difference betw een ago ny and ecstacy in a sp lit second on the mile. Even so, King w as in a little of both a fter th e fi nis h, becau se although he had failed to bring horne the win on his Sam Wesslev-tuned Honda , he now shares the top 'ru ng on the points ladder. "I' m satisfied, and I'm not," King sai d . "I' m second again, but th is o ne fe el s good . The bike was re al good today. I knew tha t I wanted to stay in the lead pac k an d save the tire, and it's hard to do that when you ' re catchin' up from behind. Today, yo u had to man age your tire to be ther e at the end . When the red flag carne ou t, we changed to a tire that we thoug ht wo uld be good for five laps, and it wo rked." "I had to d o so me thi ng tod ay," said Bu tle r, who wa s no w orse th an six th during the en tire race. "I wanted to be on the box. O nce aga in, Johnny (Goad) and Kenny (Mohler) had the bike dialed right in . This whole weekend ha s just been a blast . I love Springfield . It's just awesome. I' m ju st glad that my parents we re here to see this , and I'm also glad tha t this race is going to be on televisi on so that mv wife can see it." Suffering his worst da y at Springfield in quite so me time - if it's even fair to the co m petition to call it th at - w a s Harlev-D av id son fac torv / AGV / HOG rider Par ker, wh o has sO'me i 3 Sp ringfield Mile victories to his cred it and was firs t a t the Memorial Day Weekend runnin g of the event. Today, Parker found himself ru nni ng all the wa y back in 14th on th e opening lap . But Parker did as Parker does, making his way to the fron t seven laps la ter . He wo uld lea d nin e lap s altogether - tw ice as ma ny as Carr. Bu t after th e resta rt, the 36-year-old Michigander just happened to be in the wrong pl ace w he n it co unted, and he wou n d up fou r t h after just beati ng Dav is to the line. "Ma n, tha t was crazy ou t there on that last lap," Parker said wit h a gen uine smile. "Those five-lap sho oto u ts, yo u take them as they come. You know that eve ryone's going to be ber zer k on th at last lap. Before that red flag, yo u kinda know w ha t you're go nna do wi th