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AMA National Hot Shoe Series Round 3: Daytona Municipal Stadium STORY PHOTOS As has become habit' over the past halfdecade, Brett Landes scored a Daytona win, then celebrated with the checkered flag. By SCOTT ROUSSEAU By FLAT TRAK PHOTOS DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 9 ~eam Audiovox/Quaker State's Brett Landes made his bid for the lead in the scheduled 25-lap Hot Shoe National at Daytona Municipal Stadium on the night before the AMA/Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship Series opener there by picking off Memphis Shades/Coziahr's Harley-Davidson rider Kevin Varnes about eight laps into the race. It proved to be the right time, as a rain squall came in and halted the proceedings just 14 laps into the main event, just when Fasthog.com's Will Davis began to stalk Landes for the lead. But lest anyone think that Landes somehow escaped certain peril, remember that Daytona has always been the right place for the Los Gatos, Californian, and the win only reinforced the notion that, despite what happens to him for the rest of the season, he can never, ever be counted out of a chance for victory when Bike Week rolls into Daytona. Landes' record at Municipal Stadium bears ample testimony to the fact. With the exception of 1996, the year after Landes earned his first and only career Grand National win, he has never failed to get on the podium at least once in the two nights of shorttrack racing that bring the curtain down on the week's flat track festivities in the Daytona area. L!. 42 MARCH 21, 2001 • a U a I "It's just amazing that that streak is still alive," Landes said. "I'm really pumped. I didn't really get a good start. I knew that Kevin was holding me up, and I needed to make a move or else someone was going to pass us both. This is awesome. If we KevinVames (89) leads In the earty going, with Mike Hacker (67) trying to force his way undemeath. • n • _ s had a whole series down here, I'd do pretty well." Landes did pretty well to pass some tough customers early in the main, as he drove off the line fifth from his perch in the middle of row one and was forced to scramble to pass two-time AMA Grand National Champion and two-time Daytona Short Track winner Chris Carr while the field was still bunched together in the first couple circuits around the track, which had been slickened by intermittent rain showers throughout the evening. Landes quickly adopted his trademark Daytona style, though, and he was attacking Carr by the second lap, pulling down low under Carr off turn two in an attempt to more or less twowheel it past the exchamp. The move paid off in tum three, as Carr, who was running a line midway up the track, left the door open for Landes. Varnes was pulling away by then, with Saddlemen Racing/Lancaster/ Dodge Brothers' Mike Hacker trying unsuccessfully to run him down. Varnes had set fast time in winning the opening 10-lap heat race of the evening, but he was clearly struggling with his setup as he made his way around the sandy quarter-mile running track. Hacker had a shot, but then Landes dove underneath him off turn four as they prepared to come across the stripe to start lap five, dropping him to third. Davis, who had struggled early and gotten passed by Carr, had made his way back around Carr and was now chewing on Hacker's tail in fourth, the front four riders pulling away from the rest of the pack. Varnes then realized that Landes was knocking on the door, and he dropped down in turns three and four in an attempt to block him, but landes simply got a better drive than Varnes down the back chute on lap seven. "One of the things where I've really struggled down here before is being able to pass," Landes said. "I was able to get by five or six guys, and it just felt great. The first couple of laps, I had to tell myself, 'Settle down, settle down,' and that helped me to make my line work." Varnes, who would ultimately slip backward out of the top five, was left to later scratch his head while searching for what went wrong. "What happened? I wish someone could tell me," Varnes said. "I don't know if I lost my rhythm around the outside or what, because they said I had a pretty good lead. I just kept fighting it and fighting it, and I could see that they were coming up because I was squaring it off. I tried