Although Carr would lead every
lap of the 25-lap race, two red flags
forced two restarts. Mike Hacker got
the first holeshot, but Carr quickly
stormed by the Saddlemen/Lancaster
Harley-Davidson/Dodge Brothers
rider.
"Mike [Hacker] was running real
good, the best he's ever looked here,"
Carr said. "It's not a surprise if someone gets off the line before you, but I
was able to get a good drive off tum
two and get up front early. I was leading by the jump."
Rich King and Nicky Hayden were
all over Hacker, but as the field went
through turn two on the fourth lap,
Gary Roger's C4Stom Chrome/American Suspension-backed Rotax
slammed him to the ground. The red
flag greeted Carr as he finished lap
four. A shaken Rogers returned to his
pit, and 17 riders resumed the chase.
Carr controlled the restart with
Hacker and Hayden leading King,
Bryan Bigelow and Joe Kopp. Hayden, who was aboard Will Davis'
back-up bike, took over second on
lap five.
"I got a bad start the first time and
just wasn't doing anything right, when
(Left) Coulda been a contenda: The
hard-charging Nicky Hayden fell victim
to mechanical Ills on Will Davis' backup bike, finishing a disappointing 16th
in the main event.
(Below) Former amateur rivals Bryan
Bigelow (11) and J.R. Schnabel (33)
found each other in the main event,
both batUing problems. Schnabel and
his slipping clutch prevailed over
Bigelow's lack of rear brakes to land
the Wisconsinite fifth.
STORY £, PHOTOS BY
DAVE HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
PEORIA, IL, AGO. 19
ever has anyone dominated a
racetrack like Chris Carr has
dominated the Peoria Motorcycle
Club's Peoria Raceway Park TT track.
Carr won his first National in 1986 on
the historic track, and 15 years later
the 34-year-old Pennsylvanian
notched his 13th Peoria win and his
50th overall. It was round 14 of the
20 race Progressive Insurance U.S.
Flat Track Championships.
Once again, rain played an important part of the weekend. Heavy rains
moved through the Peoria area on
Saturday that left the normally challenging track soft and easily rutted.
"I wasn't thinking about the 50-win
thing until JB [Norris] started in, but
that's cool," said the Harley-Davidson
of Sacramento/Phoenix Racingbacked Carr. "I won my first here,
now my 50th and I won the 50th
annual race here a couple of years
ago. I've got a lot of milestones I've
been able to accomplish at this facility, it makes it all that much more
special. "
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AUGUST 29, 2001
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