AMA Progressive Insurance U. S. Flat Track Championships
Round 10: Hagerstown Speedway
;
CARR PICKS UP
THE PIECES AFTER THE
"SUMMER BREAK"
STORY AND PHOTOS By
DAVE HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
HAGERSTOWN,MD,AUG.9
A fter
a four-week hiatus the AMA's Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat
MTrack Championships came to the Hagerstown Speedway for
round 10 of what has become a 17 -race series. Just as in most of the
races in the first half of the season, foul weather threatened all night. That
threat had a great impact, as the track crew was afraid to add the normal
amount of water to the red clay half-mile.
Normally at Hagerstown when the sun goes down, the moisture comes up,
providing traction galore. This time the track developed a wide, smooth groove
with almost no traction. Defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr proved
what a master he is of such racetracks as he took his Quality Checked Certified
Pre-Owned Ford/Lancaster Harley-Davidson-backed XR750 Harley-Davidson to
a wire-to-wire win in the 25-lap main.
Hagerstown is as close to a hometown race as Mike Hacker has, and after
setting fast qualifying time and fast heat time, the SuperTrapp/ Moroney's
Honda-backed rider was the man to beat in the National.
"All night, everybody that had gotten in front of Hacker, he had passed,"
Carr said. "When he hadn't passed me by lap 10, I felt pretty confident
we could win it. He was the fastest dude here until the main event."
Hacker kept the pressure on but eventually
slipped back into a solid second.
"I think my tire started to go away
after about nine or 10 laps," Hacker
said. "I was slipping and sliding,
and he was hooked up. It was like
his tire came in when mine went
away. He set a real good pace
early in the race, and I was going
for all I was worth. We were fast all
night, and to come up with second,
I'm pretty happy with that. We've really had an up-and-down year. It sure
felt good to be on the podium."
His fourth win of the year coming
on a half-mile was extra sweet
for Carr.
"We have struggled on half miles
this year," he said. "We were decent at
Granite City, we stunk at Lima, and we
stunk at Sharon. We came here with a
different attitude. We made a lot of
changes for the main event just to get it
to hook up better, and we got it. I rode
Chris CarT carried the
checkered flag after
winning the Hagerstown
Half Mile. His fourth win of
the season helped to extend
his series points lead over
Joe Kopp. CarT now leads
Kopp, 181·155.
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