Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128337
he AMA Prog ress ive Insurance Fla t Tr a c k C ha mp ion sh ip ven tured in t o yet ano ther new venue as round n in e cam e to t he Fa rl e y Spe e dway in the small t own of Farley, Iow a . Normally a home for N ASC AR st ock cars , t he banked half-mile track created qu ite a challenge, w ith tight tu rn s coupling two relatively long straig hts. Turns o ne and two were wide and flat on t he bottom , w ith th e banking st arting about halfway acro ss th e track . Turns three and fo ur were na rro w er, bu t the bank ing started at the rail. Turns on e and two developed tw o d ist inct lines, o ne right on t he bottom and o ne up o n th e ban k. It was high, wide and handso me th ro ugh turn s th ree and four. C hris Carr o nce again pro ved how quickly he and tuner Kenny To lbert can ada pt to new tracks. Five new tracks were added to the se ries this year, and the Q uality C hecke d Certified Pre owned Ford -backed Carr has won four of them. He has been so dominant in his four w ins tha t, other t han the first four laps in Union , Kentucky, he has led all of the laps in each win . At Farley, Carr got the holeshot and checked out. "I got a good start and got a good rhythm going," Carr said. '" made some consistent laps. My laps got quicker until T 18 around lap 16, and then I checked them out behind me and saw I had a good lead . I had a real steady pace all race. When Iget out fro nt, I established a rhythm - I'm a rhythm meister. The bike was flawless in the main event. The track seemed to pick up a little speed, and we made some changes to adjust fo r that. I did some of my fastest laps of the night in t he main event. " Unfort unately for the fans, the race may have been bori ng fo r t he lea d, but I he ard there was a pr etty go o d race going on beh ind me ," Carr add ed . Gerence r 's Harley-D avidso n!Kerstings Cycle's KevinAtherton led the field into tum one right on the bottom of the track, but Carr swept by o n the o utside and set sail. Atherton was able settle into second and appeared to be on his way to his best finish of t he year, but it all came apart on lap 12. "It was going real good tonight, but I thin k the shock kind of faded on us," Atherton said . "It's a new sh ock with dlffere nt handling and d iffere nt o ils in it." Rich King was right there to take advantage of Atherton's problems , and he pushed his HarleyDavidson Motor Com panybacked entry into second place. Carr's win was number four on the year, and it gave his series points lead a big boost. Carr is 29 points ahead of nearest rival Joe Kopp, 156·139. AUGUST 18, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Atherton had no choice but to let him go . "It felt real good early on," Atherton said. "O n lap 10, maybe, is when it started getting a little loose on me coming off the corners. It didn' t ro ll through the ce nte r apex of the corners as well as it did earl ier. I think I overheated the shock. After Rich got by me, I lost my t iming and tried to make it all up in the next co rne r, and of co urse you can't do t hat ." KTM/Jones Powersports/Mid America Harley- Davidson's Kenny Coolbeth and Lancaste r Harley-Davidson! Saddlem en! Montgomeryville Cycle's Jared Mees both too k advantage of Atherton's probl ems and also slipped by, d ropp ing Atherton from second to fifth in one lap. Atherton was being hounded by Cozlah r Harley-Davidson! National Cycle's Johnny Murphree when his problems were compounded. MemphiS Shades/Parts Unlimited 's J.R. Schnabel miscalculated his entrance into tum three and collected Atherton. "I caught up to Murphree and Atherton , I caught them real fast," Schnabel said. "I got a good drivecoming out of two and tried to put it inside of them right away and get by them going into three. lhat was not a good move. I ran right into him (Athert on). Murphree had to checkup pretty hard too. I already told him I was sony. It was one of those things. If I had it to do over again, I definitely wouldn't have put it in there like that. I just tried diving inside of the groove . It w orked in my he at race. I d id it with Kopp. I dove inside of him,