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taking the first round, leading Kurt Hawk, Snyder and Steve Liberty to the main. Davey Durelle won the second heat, followed across the line by Stanley, Landes and Steve Murray. In a glimpse of what was to come, Poovey took the third and final heat, ahead of Willie McCoy, Rex Fisher and Tony Souza. The first semi moved Jeff Annen and Beau Brown into the main, and Scooter Vernon and Jaime Aguilar took the second and final semi. Eric Beers and Christian Vernon did it the hard way, using the last-chance qualifier to get to the starting line for the main event. When the flag dropped, it was Stanley who jumped out in front, with Poovey, Durelle, Smith, McCoy and the rest of the pack giving chase. Stanley managed to hold on to the lead for most of the first half of the race - that is, until Poovey stuck his Rotax-powered machine under Stanley on turn one. They diced for a couple of laps and then Poovey made it stick. Experience paid off for Poovey when, after using his earlier heat race to sort out his setup, he went back and made a few changes that gave him just the edge he needed. "Everything worked good there," Poovey later said. "Before the feature, I changed my gearing. The other guys in the heat race were just a little bit faster, so I needed to pick up the pace a little bit, and it worked." Stanley didn't give up the chase, dicing with the leader and sticking to his rear wheel to the finish. "I was just down about a horsepower on Terry," Stanley said. "He'd pass me and I could get right with him on the straightway, and then he'd pull away a little bit, and then I'd pass him back in the corner and he'd pull away a little bit." "It's good to travel all over the U.S. and then come home and have a National in your back yard," said the BBRP/Circle Frames-backed ATK mounted Stanley, "and then to almost win the thing in front of your hometown fans is just a great thing." With Poovey and Stanley fighting for the front, American Suzuki/Wildcat Motorsports-backed Durelle, who started out in third and slipped a couple of places before working his way back up, found himself too far back to catch the leaders. "It took me a while to sort out the track," Durelle said. "The lines and where I wanted to ride... I don't want to say I ran out of time, but it sure would have been nice to get up there and mix it up with those guys." Smith, aboard the TLC Racing/Red Line Oil ATK, had won his heat, but he went back and made some changes before the main that may have done more to hurt him than help him. "I struggled a little in the heat race ... changed my gearing to run down low, and everyone else was running up top and they got away from me," Smith said. He would have to settle for fourth, which moved him up to tie with McCoy for third in the points. With the series championship most likely out of reach, he's setting his sights on second and, with the mile tracks coming up, he thinks he has a good chance. Landes suffered from a poor start. Running 13th after the first lap, the Audiovox/Quaker State-backed CCM rider worked his way up to sixth, behind McCoy, eventually getting around him. "By that time, the leaders were gone," Landes said. "Another couple laps [and] I might have caught them, but we just ran out of time." One Texan may have won the race, but it was another rider from the Lone Star State who won the hearts of the spectators. Cheering loudly at Jennifer Snyder's introduction, they crowded around her, waiting in a long line for her autograph after the race. Snyder said that she's finding "Terry to be a tough competitor" and hoping to find a way to break out. "It wasn't what I wanted," Snyder said. "I seem to be finishing midpack a lot here lately. I just want to break through that and get to the top." CN (Lett to right) Durelle, Poovey and Stanley bust out the bubbly on the podium. Poovey now has a commanding points lead with just two rounds lett to go in the Fonnula USA National Dirt Track Series. SERIES (After 7 of 10 rounds): 1. Terry Poovey PortIIInd Moter Speedway PortIIInd, 0..... Jlnalts: $eptulber I, Z081 lllllund , of 10J (226/2 wins) 2. Jennifer Snyder (160/1); 3. (TIE) Willie McCoy/Bryan Smith (152); 5. Steve Murray (122); 6. (TIE) Brett Londes/Dan Stanley (118); 8. (TIE) Mike Hacker (108/1)/Rich King (108/1): 10. PRO SGl I'IA1N (20 laps: 18 riders): 1. Terry Poovey (Ru); 2. Dan Stanley (ATK); 3. Davey DureUe (Suz); 4. Bryan Smith (ATK); 5. Brett Landes (CCM); 6. Willie McCoy (Yam); 7. Jennifer Snyder (H-D); 8. Kurt Hawk (Rtx); 9. Steve Murray (ATK); 10. Beau Brown (CCM); 11. Jeff Annen (Yam); 12. Davey Durelle (104); 11. Steve Liberty (96); 12. Scooter Vernon (74); 13. TIm Eades (48); 14. Will Davis (46/1); 15. Christian Vernon (38); 16. Paul Normandin (34): 17. Rex FISher (32); 18. (TIE) Kurt Hawk/Jeff Annen/Aaron Creamer (28). Rex Fisher (W-R); 13. Scooter Vernon (ATK); 14. Jamie Aguilar (Rtx); 15. Tony Souza Jr. (CCM); 16. Upcoming Rounds: Round B - Sacramento, Califomia, September 15 Round g - Seattle, Washington, September 22 Eric Beers (W-R); 17. Christian Vernon (ATK); 18. Steve Liberty (ATK). Time: 8 min., 28.674 sec. FORMaLA aSA/SFX NAnONAL DIRT TRACK One of the highlights of the Portland round was the five-lap aGee Amateur exhibition/main event, which gave the fans a glimpse of dirt track's future. Elliot Oquist (middle), Scott Baker (lett) and Chris Celorie (right) finished in the top three spots. BRIEFLY••• The track surface at the Portland Half Mile was so good last year that many racers told their friends about it and eagerly looked forward to this year. Though it reportedly fell short of last year's surface. most of the riders were still happy with the track conditions at this year's event. "The track was pretty good - not as good as last year, but pretty good." Dan Stanley said. "The track was pretty good but not near as fun as last year." Brett Landes agreed. "I've been telling all my friends, 'You've got to go to Portland, this is the best track you'lI ever race on.'" Jennifer Snyder was hoping to be able to have a surface that would let her run wide open. "'t wasn't as good as I heard it was last year," Snyder said. ·You can't really hang it all out and run it in there as hard as you want to. " An exciting feature of the night's competition was the Amateur 80cc Youth"class main event. A half-dozen youngsters hit the track for practice. qualifying and a five-lap main event. giving spectators a glimpse of the dirt track stars of tomorrow. cue •• n e _ 50 'SEPTEMBER 26,2001 37