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to Chris. He pulled me off the corner, so
once that happened, I was just hoping that
Jay would get there in time to make a run
at the end. On the last lap, I don't know
how I got through all the ruts, but you've
got to get lucky sometime. I had Chris
pretty much all set up. I think I just pulled
out a little bit too quick. I made a 42-yearold rookie mistake, I guess. I think the
miss might have had a little bit to do with
it. I had a chance to win the thing. If I had
it to do over again, I would have held on
a little bit longer when I pulled out. The
track was so rough. I got a good draft on
him; then we were hitting the ruts and
humps. You have to determine when to
go, and I just went at the wrong time. I
think I just went a little bit too qUick. It
was a good ride; I'm happy with second."
Springsteen came into the day as the
only active rider to have a win on the
tricky mile. The popular veteran scored
Syracuse wins in 1976, '78, '81 and '85.
Springsteen was right there the whole
race, but he came up just short of mounting a final challenge that would net him a
fifth Syracuse win.
"I had a nice line around the outside of
those guys, where they watered the
track," Springsteen said. "I knew that line
wouldn't last long, so I just had to fall in
line with them. Turns three and four were
a little bit rough; you'd go into the corners, and it was jumping and bucking
around there a little bit. It was fun. I had a
riot. It was a good, close race. It was good
and clean. I wish I could race like that
every weekend. On the last lap, they got
a little bit away from me in the middle of
three and four. Then I just couldn't make
it back up. Rich got a really good drive out
of there. Heck, I thought he ended up
winning the thing; it was that close. Carr
had a pretty good lead, and Rich just had
a really good line. He had a good drive off
of four on the last lap. I just couldn't stay
with them. I was there. I was in the picture, but not close enough - not enough
to catch the draft off of them."
Carr said that he just had to play it by
ear and see what developed.
"I knew from the heat race that we
were capable of breaking away," Carr
said. "The track was totally different in
the main event; I had to run a totally different line. It took me eight to I 0 laps to
get used to running down there. Where
you turn in and where you accelerate was
a little bit different. Once we got that figured out, I just played the drafting game
back and forth. The track changed so
much that I don't feel it was an advantage
to have raced here before. Every time I
hit the racetrack, it seemed like a different racetrack that the time before. The
older guys might have had a little bit of an
advantage, but in the end it was strategy
and track position and being in the right
spot. Us older guys know where to be. I
knew that I didn't want to fall back any
farther than third. When I broke away, it
wasn't planned, and I just rode with it."
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
SPORTSTER PERFORMANCE
NATIONAL
The
Harley-Davidson
Sportster
Performance main was interrupted twice
by red flags, as first John Clark crashed,
and then, one lap into the restart, Mike
Beland also crashed.
The race had turned into a five-rider
battle from the start, with Doc's HarleyDaVidson/Jim Wagner's Merle Scherb
leading defending series champion and
former New York rider Chris Hart on the
Harv's Harley-Davidson Racing entry,
lima Harley-Davidson/Jeff Eibling's Scott
Stump, Powell Performance/TNT Action
Sports' Clayton Riggle, and KK Supply/
F&S Harley-Davidson's AJ. Eslick.
Eslick took control before the first red
flag, with Hart, Scherb and Riggle right
with him. Springfield winner Stump, who
was aboard his backup bike, could not
keep pace. With each restart, Stump
would insert himself into the mix, only to
get shuffled back after a lap or two.
Up front, the four leaders were swapping positions all around the track. As the
last lap unfolded, Eslick led the pack into
turn three, only to end up off the groove
and out of the charge to the flag.
Hart had blitzed turn three, and he led
Scherb and Riggle to podium finishes. Eslick
held on for fourth, and Stump came home
with fifth. Pure Attitude Active Wear's
Bryan Hazel passed Mom & Dad/Scott
Stump/Pingel's Brian Phillips for sixth.
Shawn Baer, Lucas Scherb and Shawn Clark
rounded out the top 10.
eN
NEW
YORK STATE FAIRGROUNDS
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
RESULTS: MAy 29, 2005 (ROUND
5 OF 17)
HEAT I (10 laps; 12 riden. top 1 transfer): I.Jared
Mees (H·D); 2. Jay Springsteen (HoD); 3. Bryan Smith
(H-D): 4. Goo Roeder (H-D): 5. B