Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIP....ogressive Insu....ance U.S. Flat T ....ack Championships Round 1 S: Illinois State Chris Carr (4), shown here racing potential future superatar Jake Johnson (14U), scored an exciting heat race win and then _n1 on to finish fourth after he accidently jammed his gearshift up two gears at the start of the race. WIth a win on the mile Saturday, he could wrap up the aeries title. Hayden sucked right up on Schnabel's rear wheel and then passed underneath him to take the second spot away. He then went after Bigelow, who was maybe two bike lengths ahead and still refusing to leave the groove that had been polished into the racing surface with about 10 laps to go. Hayden then tried to work his way around Bigelow in the same fashion that Schnabel had tried. It looked as though he might be more successful, but as he reared up to take one last shot, the trio came upon a lapped rider, forcing them to scramble every which way in a mad dash toward the checkered flag. Bigelow stayed low, while Hayden tried to go high, and that was the difference, as Hayden got sideways out in the deep dirt and bobbled, allowing Schnabel, who had not lost any ground, to pop back underneath him and wheelie cross the line in second. Hayden recovered to finish third. "It just took me a few more laps to get a rhythm going than I thought it would," Hayden said. "Maybe if that lapper hadn't gotten in the way, then things might be different, but that's racing I guess. No excuses. My hat's off to Bryan and J.R. They both deserve a lot of credit because they rode really good tonight. That reminded me of the old amateur days out there." For Schnabel, who scored his berth in the main by winning the sec- 32 SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 • cue ond heat race, second place only added to the fantastic season that he has been having with his Team Powell/Harley-Davdson of West Bend team. Following his flrst career Grand National win at Houston, Texas, earlier in the year, he has been tough as nails just about everyw~ere, and this race was no different, as he dogged Bigelow, looking for a way to take the lead. He and Bigelow would cross the start/finish line together several times in the 25-lap main event, but Bigelow simply had a better line down the back straight. Schnabel said that his plan was just to wait it out. "I had it all figured out," Schnabel said. "I was cruising behind Bryan, and I thought that I could just wait until I pushed him hard enough that he would make a mistake, and then I could just dive down underneath him. Then Nicky came along and kind of screwed that all up for me." Schnabel may not have had a chance to overtake Hayden for the second spot again, but when Hayden made his mistake, Schnabel capitalized on it, squaring it up underneath Hayden and then hooking up and pulling an almost uncontrollable wheelie as he drove across the line in the second spot. "Second isn't too bad," Schnabel said. "I'd have liked to have won it, but we had a pretty good night. I'm happy for Bryan, though. He needed to get that first win. He was due." Despite the tragic circumstances that had removed just about all the pressure on Harley-Davidson of Sacramento/Phoenix Racing's Chris Carr as he marched toward his third career AMA Grand National Champi- onship title, the former two-time Daytona Short Track winner still had his game face on. Carr provided fireworks in heat six by slipping underneath Suzuki/Continental Tires' Greg Tysor off the last corner, and he. provided a few more in the main event when he took off the starting line and poured into the first turn before standing it up and cutting off Memphis Shades/Coziahr Harley-Davidson's Johnny Murphree, who was forced to check up, as was much of the rest of the field. "That old point protector Carr," Murphree joked. "When he stood it up, I was coming in there at Mach 10, and I had to get on the brakes. I wound up out in the boonies, man." Carr, who started the first lap sixth, but then quickly shot past Rich King and Mike Hacker in the early going to run fourth, offered the following explanation. "I went in there and jammed my gearshifter, and it kicked my bike up a couple gears," Carr said. "It took me a straightaway to figure out that I was in flfth gear when I should have been in third gear. By the time that I got going, those guys were pretty far ahead. You just can't give away a straightaway on a track like this and expect to make it up. Once we got going, I could see that I was going the same speed as them and maybe even catching them a little bit. But I'll take fourth place on a track like this. This is the kind of track that Will Davis would have loved." While Bigelow, Schnabel and Hayden were scrambling up front, two other riders put in less noticeable but (Below) Playing It cool: Normally a threat for the win at any eoOcc event, Kenny CooIbeth (31) didn't push It In the main event, nursing his battered hands as he finished 13th. Coolbeth said he was aaving himself for the mile.

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