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/128384
AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship CARR NIPS KING IN _ SYRACUSE MILE PHOTO FINISH HOENIG/FLATTRAKFOTOS.COM he long-awaited return of the Syracuse Mile to the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship Series was delayed an additional day when heavy rains swept across the New York State Fairgrounds. Round five of the 17-race series was scheduled as a Saturday night affair, but the horrible track conditions forced AMA Pro Racing officials and promoter Dave Sedlack to push the race back to Father's Day. But when the 25-lap Aaron Creamer Memorial Mile was completed, Ford Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Racing's Chris Carr notched career AMA Grand National win number 70 in the record books. Carr grabbed the holeshot on his Kenny Tolbert-tuned Harley-Davidson XR750 at the start of the 25-lap main event, but Latus Harley-Davidson/Jones Powersports' joe Kopp muscled his way to the front for the first lap, only to immediately slip back into the pack. "I just never got comfortable today," Kopp said. "Nonnally I can handle rough tracks, but this was just different today." Kopp eventually dropped to a IOthplace finish. Carr regained the lead for two laps before giving way to the hard-charging jared Mees, the youngster pushing his Saddlemen/Lancaster Harley-Davidson mount to the point, while Bartels' HarleyDavidson/Rock Springs' jay Springsteen settled into second. Carr, Screamin' Eagle Harley- T Davidson's Rich King, Mid-America Harley-Davidson/Jones Powersports' Kenny Cool beth, Moroney's HarleyDavidson's Bryan Smith, Kopp, and American Suzuki's jake johnson made up the lead draft, but Smith and Kopp dropped off the pace, and the remaining riders pulled away from the field. Mees .would lead his last lap on lap seven. The rest of the race would see the veterans Springsteen, Carr and King - exchanging the lead at the line. "When Iwent out on the starting line for the main event, I just kept thinking, 'Stay calm,''' Mees said. "I was just talking to myself to stay calm and be relaxed [because] there are 25 laps. lied a few laps, but I was really messing up with the lead. "Halfway through, I didn't really get excited, but my timing was all off," Mees added. "It was like I was really fast in the corners but Icouldn't get that run to go by them. It's really just a lot of experience. I ran fourth here, and it is a big confidence booster. The best I've ever done at a National is fourth, but I was hoping for third. The last lap, I got a run on jay, but thought I might be able to stick it in there, but it might be a little bumpy. It wasn't really worth it. jay has never done that to me. I'm not going to start riding like that." Coolbeth and johnson freight-trained behind Mees as the laps wore down. On lap 19, Carr appeared to lock the race away, pulling to a big lead by mileracing standards. "I got a good run on Rich [King] going into one," Carr said. "I had a good one and two and got away from those guys for a while. It wasn't a plan, it just worked out that way. I had feeling that they might catch back up to me by the end. Fortunately, it was at the very end and a little bit too late. I felt confident that I could beat either one of them [King or Springsteen] to the line. I felt I had better than a 50/50 chance to lead them to the line. It worked out." King had a little different perspective right up to the finish line. "I just planned to stay up front and stay out of the holes," King said. "I thought I had some really good lines, and I thought I had him at the line. "We developed a miss about the halfway mark and couldn't get off the corner like I could earlier," King also said. "I wasn't really dropping a cylinder, just enough of a miss to kill the drive off the turns. When Chris got out there, I couldn't do anything with him; he was just going away from me more. When jay got by me into second, he kind of pulled me back up (Above) Chris Carr takes a victary ride with son Cole after winning the Aaron Creamer Memorial Mile at the New York State Fairgrounds. The special checkered flag sported the late Creamer's National number and featured the autographs of all the riders in the main. (Below) Carr (1/ got the holeshot at the start of the main, but Joe Kopp (3) quickly moved into the lead. Kopp would fall bock, whi e Kenny Coolbeth (31), Jared Mees (21), Jay Springsteen (9) and Rich King (80) would form the bulk of the lead draft. 22 JUNE 29, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS -