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World Cup ICE Speedway Championship Series, Round 2 with MacDonald settling for last place in this four-lap heat. In the second heat, Simon Cartwright was supposed to start on the pole. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the start due to mechanical King crow-ned Comeback Kid PHOTO By problems, and only three riders st'arted the race. Westminster, Colorado's Shawn Hurley now took the inside position; Darren Pearson, from Yorkshire, England, started in the middle; and Cary, North Carolina's Ronny Kemp started on the outside. When the starting gate went up, Pearson took the early lead, with Kemp in close pursuit. Pearson chose to run a higher line than most riders, and it wasn't long before Kemp took advantage of that with a nice inside pass on lap three. Once Kemp cleared Pearson, he rode to a two-bike lead for the GARY DENSFORD NORTH CHARLESTON, SC, DEC. 4 rom now on, Vallejo, California's Matt King will be known as "The Comeback Kid." At the opening World Cup round in New Haven, Connecticut, King suffered a painful shoulder F North Charleston, South Carolina: Matt King leads defending champion Anthony Barlow at the second round of the World Cup ICE Speedway Championship Series. injury in the prelims and was unable to race. It was questionable whether he would be able to compete in the second round, but in the final hour, doctors cleared King to race in North Charleston. The top four riders in World Cup points faced off in the first heat race of the night. Grant MacDonald from Cumbria, England, took the early lead from the pole. Defending World Cup Champion Anthony Barlow from Merseyside, England, did not gate well from the third slot, and he found himself in the rare (for him) position of last place. Canadian Nick FaFard, 17, was second after having started from the second slot, and South African Bevan Compton ran in third place after starting from the outside position. Going into the third lap, FaFard made his move on MacDonald, sending him high in the process and allowing Compton and Barlow to also freight-train by. Compton tried his best for a last-lap pass of FaFard but was unable to get the job done. Barlow finished third, right behind Compton, 6 JANUARY 12, 2000' eye I victory and 10 World Cup points. Pearson held on for second place and five points, with Hurley taking third and three points. In the third and final heat of the first round, Matt King started from the pole; in the second position was Robert Arms from Greenville, South Carolina; the third spot belonged to Dean Garrod from Norfolk, England; and the last and outside starting position was taken by Brent Densford from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. If there were any doubts about King's determination and ability before this race, they immediately vanished when the tapes went up. He led from start to finish, proving he could get the job done even when riding hurt. The race behind King was pretty good, as Densford tried every move he had to get by Arms for second. The 45-year-old rookie, Arms, held off the 19-year-old rookie, Densford, for second place at the checkers. Garrod finished close behind them in fourth. The format of the second round of heats, like the first, was determined by e neVIl's the riders' current point standings from the previous World Cup event. I;;lowever, they are sequenced differently so that riders race against different riders in their second heat. This final round of heats also had some excellent racing. The winners were Compton, Barlow and King. The Last Chance is a six-rider, fourlap race, with riders who finished in fourth through ninth in the heat-race points lined up in two rows. Row one was comprised of Kemp, Barlow and Pearson. Row two contained Arms, MacDonald and Garrod. The starting gate was released, and everyone darted to the first turn in the same positions in which they started. On lap two, Barlow made an aggressive pass on the leader, Kemp, who went wide, allowing Pearson to slide through for second place. Further back, MacDonald had gotten around Arms, and he now challenged Kemp for the third and last transfer position. The young British rider was determined, and he got by Kemp to take third place. By virtue of their heat-race performances, King, FaFard and Compton locked down the front-row starting positions in the rna in event. Barlow, Pearson and MacDonald made up the second row. King took the lead from the gate, with FaFard hot on his tail. Compton was about a bike length behind them, with Barlow hot on his tail. These two races-within-the-race continued hot and heavy for three laps until Barlow passed Compton. At the same instant, the fifth-placed racer, MacDonald, lost control of his machine coming out of turn four and hit the wall; he and his machine were sent to the ice, sliding across the start/finish line. MacDonald quickly scrambled off the track, starter John Dmytrow quickly pulled the wounded machine off, and the race continued on unimpeded. King was not to be denied, and he held off the wild charge of FaFard for his first win of the young season, and his second career win. Barlow, "Mr. Consistency," finished third for his second straight podium. The New Haven winner, Compton, took fourth place. Pearson finished fifth, and the uninjured MacDonald received the last-place points. eN World Cup ICE Speed..., Championship North Charleslan, South Caroli.... Results: December 4,1999 (Round Zl HEAT 1: 1. Nick FaFard; 2. Bevan Compton; 3. Anthony Barlow; 4. Gnmt MacDonlild. HEAT 2: 1. Ronny Kemp; 2. D,men Pearson; 3. Shawn Hurley. HEAT 3: 1. Matt King; 2. Robert Arms; 3. Brent Densford; 4. Dean Garrod. HEAT 4: 1. Bevan Compton; 2. Grant MacDonald; 3. Dean Garrod; 4. Shawn Hurley. HEAT 5: 1. Anthony Barlow; 2. Ronny Kemp; 3. Robert Arms; 4. Simon Cartwright. HEAT 6: 1. Matt King; 2. Nick FaFard; 3. Darren Pearson; 4. Brent Densford. LCQ: 1. Anthony Barlow; 2. Darren Pearson; 3. Grant MacDonald; 4. Ronny Kemp: 5. Dean Garrod; 6. Robert Arms. MAIN: 1. Matt King: 2. Nick FaFard; 3. Anthony Barlow: 4. Bevan Compton; 5. Darren Pearson; 6. Grant MacDonald. World Cup ICE Speedway Championship Series Points Standings (After 2 rounds): 1. (TIE) Bevan Compton/Nick FaFard (80); 3. Anthony Barlow (73): 4. Ronny Kemp (38): 5. (TIE) Grant MacDonald/Darren Pearson (36): 7. Shawn Hurley (13): 8. Robert Arms (12): 9. am Hermant (11); 10. Dean Garrod (9): 11. (TIE) Simon Cartwright/Brent Densford. AMA Mid-South Championship Winter Hare Scramble Series Round 6: Trail of Tears Ricketts mighty in the mud By DEBBIE ALLEN JONESBORO, IL, DEC_ 12 he AMA/Pirelli Tires/Parts Unlimited/Moose/Offroad-sponsored MidSouth Championship Winter Series teamed up with SOIL riders to compete on the Trail of Tears track located in Jonesboro, Illinois. Track officials wasted no time making a few adjustments to their rain-drenched track, cutting out the dangerously wet portions of the course. For an hour and a half, 150 riders rode on 4.7 miles of pure mud, and Shad Ricketts was the one who slid his bike into first place. "I had a bad start again," Ricketts noted, "and I was the last one in the woods. I know I definitely have to work on my start." Ricketts quickly made up for his poor start; he was out front for every lap. "After I got in the woods, I passed a few riders," Ricketts said. '" later passed some more on a real bad uphill, and by the end of the first lap, I was in first place." Ricketts ran the fastest lap time of 15:31, and he rode a smooth race in spite of the muddy conditions; but then, he had the advantage, because he loves the mud. At the start, Gary Hendricks rounded the first turn first. He took it too wide and was quickly overtaken by Kawasaki rider Chris Thiele and Answer/Excel Motorsports/Factory Effex-supported Jeff Cregg. Then the nine AA riders took off on a straightaway that dropped into a small woods section and led back around through a deep creek ravine. Moose/J&W Cycles/Clark Trelleborg/Scott-backed Chris Nesbitt was the next AA rider to hit the score tent on the first lap. Chris Thiele, Hendricks and Lance Smith followed close behind, but with each lap, they dropped further back. "I just rode with no problem on the first lap," Nesbitt said. "Everyone else went down except for Ricketts. I did get stuck on a nasty uphill and some· 250cc/Open A riders caught up to me. I just knew that I would have to fight to the end and be consistent." , Nesbitt rode for an additional five laps, but he dropped back several places. The top riders in the 250cc/Open A class were Alan Westerfield, John Roth, P.A. Allen and Dustin Gibson, and they fought back and forth for all T