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AMAIProgressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships Round 12: Delaware State Fairgrounds Will Davis 121) got the jump on Chris Carr 14), Joe Kopp 11) and the rest of the field before running a near-perfect race to win the Harrington Han Mile. Carr was second, with Kopp sixth, turning the series points lead back over to Carr. Lima Half Mile way back in '89. He has always been plenty fast on the loose stuff, but clearly fancies the clay stock car tracks that d9minate the AMA half mile schedule. Still, after fiddling with tire choices during practice - which proved to be a real speed secret at Harrington - Davis was not defeated all night. He won his scratch heat, set fast time in his regular heat race, and then showed the field his heels in the oft-restarted Grand National feature. Davis nabbed the holes hot each time from his perch just outside of low pole-starter Chris Carr, and each time he drove away, leaving Carr and the rest of the field in his wake. His lead over Carr, who finished second, was nearly half a straightaway when he rocketed under AMA starter Poochie Cox's checkered flag to nail the lid on the 25-lapper. "I can't be any happier, especially the way that things have been going lately," Davis said. "This is what it's all about. I'm speechless, really. This is the first pea-gravel track that I've won on since Lima in '89. I got a first-place trophy here during the rainout in '96, but that doesn't count. That was a brand-new motorcycle we rode tonight. That's the first National that I've won on it. Chris showed me a wheel early, and I thought I was going to be in a race, but then the next lap I looked back, I had 10 bikelengths on him." Carr's stout second-place finish coupled with a sixth-place finish by reigning AMA Grand National Champion Joe Kopp, who crashed in the early going, caused a red flag, and then had to charge from the back just to get sixth - meant that the HarleyDavidson of Sacramento/Phoenix Racing rider once again took over the series points lead. Carr now leads STORY BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTOS BY DAVE HOENIG/ FLAT TRAK FOTOS HARRINGTON, DE, AUG. 4 he reversal of fortune that can befall those in the racing game is often nothing short of mind boggling. Take Fasthog.com/Moroney's HarleyDavidson's Will Davis, for example: Going into the Charlotte Half Mile just a week ago, the 36-year-old North Carolinian was having such a wild year that he was darned near forced to include a snake-bite kit in his gearbag every time he showed up to contest a round of the AMA/Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship Series. Little things, stupid things - most of them mechanical kept rearing their heads like a rattler to strike Davis and tuner Mike Wheeler, bringing them to their knees just when it seemed like they were poised for dominance. Even when things went half right, they went half wrong. That's enough to take the piSS out of even the most hard-core racer. But after that highly motivational win in front of his homestate fans at Charlotte a week ago, Davis came to the gritty limestone half mile at the Delaware State Fairgrounds with the mojo bag firmly in his fist, and damned if he was going to let it go without a fight. As things turned out, he never had to fight. Davis was so strong that he flat out-muscled the rest of the field right from the green light, cutting 100 perfect cornefS in 25 laps en route to his 31 st career Grand National win, his third of the season, and his second in a row. It was also only his second career win on a pea gravel-type surface - the first being his first GNC win, at the T 6 AUGUST 15. 2001 • cue I e neVIl's Kopp, 197-193, in what has become a see-saw battle for supremacy. Like Davis, Carr was never engaged in a battle for position on the racetrack during the main event. Davis got away early, setting a fast pace. Carr followed him, unable to keep up, but still fast enough to stay well ahead of anyone else as the main event unfolded. Except for a brief challenge by Kopp, who fell when he overcooked it going into turn three while attempting to pass the two-time series champion, Carr rode out a fairly uneventful race. "I would like to have won this race, but I flat-out tried, and I had nothing for Will [Davis] tonight," Carr said. "He was smokin', going real good. We had a good tire combination that allowed us to adapt to whatever the track was going to do. Maybe, in hindsight, we could have changed the gearing to get down on the rubber, but I didn't think that the track was going to take that much rubber. But when everyone starts using the same line, it goes down quick. I have to say that for Joe [Kopp] to do what he did, coming back to sixth on a track like this, that's a pretty good run." KK Motorcycle Supply/Las Vegas Harley-Davidson's cushion-master general Geo Roeder II was on his game at Harrington, and finished third, about a dozen lengths behind Carr at the finish. The Ohioan was on a surface that he likes, armed with a potent Skip Eaken-tweaked HarleyDavidson, and even had a new trick Once Davis got away, Carr was never challenged for the second spot. Carr was the pioneer of the Continental rear tire/Goodyear front tire combo for the cushion tracks. Davis used Carr's own knowledge against him at Harrington.