AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships
Round 7: Allen County Fairgrounds
STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAVE
HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
UMA, OH, JaNE 29
1~)J henever you mention cushion
tracks and cushion-track riders,
the names Lima, Ohio, and Chris
Evans come up, but there has always
been something that has derailed the
former Canadian National Champion
in his quest for a win in the AMA's
Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track
Championships. Not this year, as
Evans stormed around the pea-gravel
half mile at the Allen County Fairgrounds to claim his first career AMA
Grand National win. Evans also
became the seventh winner in seven
rounds of Progressive Insurance U.S.
Flat Track Championships competition this season.
"I've been second here before, and
I've had some other times when I was
up front and something would break
or I'd do something stupid and fall
off, but everything worked great
tonight," Evans said. "I came here
thinking I had as good a shot as anybody. I figured if Chris [Carr] or
Georgie [Roeder] were going to win,
they'd have to beat me. They were
going .to have to go."
28
JULY 10, 2002'
cue
I
...
(Above) Canada's Chris Evans
(partially hidden) battled with Chris
Hart (44) for much of the 2!5.lap main
event at the Lima Half Mlle. When the
dust cleared, Evans eamed his first·
career AMA Grand National win. Hart
wound up third.
(Below) Kevin Vames (89) 9rabs the
holeshot to start the main, with
Canadian rider Dominic Beaulac (30),
Hart (partially hidden) and Geo Roeder
II (66) giving chase. Roeder eventually
made his way to second place In
the main.
n
e
_
s
Evans was officially listed as leading 20 laps on his American HarleyDavidson/KK/Arai-backed Harley.
For most of the race, it looked like
it was going to be a one-two finish for
Eddie Adkins-prepared bikes as
Evans and Performance HarleyDavidson/Lombardi Harley-Davidson's Chris Hart pounded away on
each other. But KK/Las Vegas
Harley-Davidson/Schaeffer's Harley-
Davidson's Geo Roeder II spoiled that
with a last-lap pass of Hart.
While the Allen County Fairgrounds half mile provided plenty of
action for the standing-room-only
crowd, the cushion track didn't serve
up as deep of a cushion as in past
years, and many of the top dogs
struggled all day, while many new
faces emerged from the crowd. The
National transformed from a who's
