Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I AMA/Progres sive In s ura n c e U .S. F lat T r a c k Cha mpion s h ips R ound 3 : H e a rtl a n d P a r k STO RY BY D AV E H O ENI G PH OT OS BY FLA T T RA K F OT OS TOPEKA, KS, JUNE 10 J ust three races into th e AMA's Prog res sive In su ran c e US F lat T r ack Championship season, defend in g Grand National C hampion Chris Carr has b olted to th e top o f th e po int st andings. T h e Ha rl ey -D av id son o f Sacramento/Wrenchead .com/Phoenix Ra cing -ba c ked Carr ov erc am e th e c hallen ge o f the un ique , t emporary , short t ra ck an d a red fl ag /rest art situ at ion, brought on by Rich King' s sp ill on l ap 20 , to earn hi s fir st AM A Grand National w in of the year, an d the 4 3rd of h is c are er. " I had to win two r a ces t onigh t , maybe I can get double points ," sa id Carr after his wi re-to -wire w in. F amous fo r it s drag racing act iv i t ies , Heartland Park built a dirt t rack o ve r its drag st rip, c re ating a unique Chris Carr was fast qualifier, winning his four -lap scratch heat with a tim e of one minute, 27.486 sec. He then backed that up by running away with the first heat. Marc Gifford held down sec;ond all the way until the last lap, when J .R. Schnabel slid by in turn one. The second heat was all Joe Kopp 's while Mik e Varnes and Terry Poovey fought over second. Poovey was able to get by late in the race, sending Varnes to the semi. Heat three saw Dan Stanley break on top over Charlie Orr, Johnny Murphree and Will Davis. Greg Tysor took third at the end of the first lap, but Orr slamm ed down in turn one while running second and brought out the red flag. Stanley once again grabbed the lead on the complete restart, but Davis had the lead by lap three and pulled away. Orr came from last to finish a closing third. Rex Fisher got the holeshot in heat four with rich King, Geo Roeder and Willie McCoy giving chase. Fisher and King pulled away from the Roeder, McCoy battl e. On lap four, McCoy slid down in turn three, leaving Roeder alone in third . Suddenly , on lap six, Roeder was in a qualifying position. Fisher had also bailed off in tum three, and King and Roeder were National bound. Donnie Steward led heat five into the first turn, before giving way to Bryan Bigelow and Ken Coolbeth. Coolbeth took the lead on lap thr ee, and by the halfw ay mark. Kevin Varnes was challe nging Bigelow. On lap six, Varn es powered around the outside of Bigelow going into turn one. Varnes closed rapidly on Coolbeth, but ran out of laps. Brett Landes had the last heat covered, but there was a good race for the last transfer spot. Dale Jenneman, Scott Stump and Ja son Tyer were taking a shot at it. Stump fell off the pace after the halfway mark . The rookie Tyer was all over the veteran Jenneman, but to no avail. Tyer got a tire under Jenneman coming out of turn four on the last lap. then almo st high-sided and was forced to ride a sem i. With only the winners from the four semis going into the main, the action was fierce. Mik e Hac ker took the first semi win from Marc Gifford and Jo hnny Murphree. Charlie Orr was leading Mik e Varnes in the second semi when Brandon Hancock . Jamie Agu ilar and Steve Pruczinski all fell in turn three. All were able to make the restart. Orr picked up where he left off. then Roy Miller fell in turn three. The third time was almost a charm for Orr. He led until the last lap. when Varnes stormed by. Steve Liberty and Donnie Steward locked up in a battle over the third semi, but Tren ton Bailey flew into contention and took the lead on lap six of the eight lap race. Bailey held on to qualify for his first National main event. Bryan Bigelow easily took the last semi as Jason Tyer just couldn't quite mount a solid challenge. 30 J UNE 21,2000' cue • e nellV s Chris Carr dominated the restarted Topeka Short Track at Heartland Pari< from start to finish to earn his first AMA Grand National win of the season. The wi n also re-tied him with Jay Springsteen for second on the all-time Grand National winner's list, with 43. lay out t hat f eatured long straight awa y s a n d v ery t ight t u rn s . Large b l e a ch ers lined the f r o n t and ba c k straights, along with an enclos ed box sea t o ve r l oo ki ng th e t r i cky turn s three an d fou r. The r e w a s a l ot o f c on c ern , at noon , w he n m ost of th e rid e rs an d th eir c rews v iewed th e trac k for t he fi rst t i m e . Surprisin gl y , b y th e e n d of th e n igh t a ll th e r i d e rs seeme d pl e a s ed wit h th e f a c i lit y a n d c laime d t o e nj oy ri di n g th e odd shaped t r a c k . " I t h i nk th e t ra ck c am e to m e in th e m ai n ev e n t, " Carr sa id . "T h e fastest laps I ran all n ight were in th e m ain eve nt . The t rac k got better and m y b ik e work ed better. " W h en I f i r st got h ere , I th ou g ht 'M an this is go ing t o be terr ib le.' but afte r we rode th e t hi ng it wa s fu n . It was diffe re n t , it w as n ' t yo u r t yp ic al rac et rac k , I've always l ik ed varie ty ," C ar r a dded . " I think th at' s why I've done so well on TIs . M aybe th is was a TI with n o ri ght-hander, n o jump and no fr ont bra k e." It w as e as y to se e wh y Ca r r w as enjoy ing himself. After setting fast time in qu alifying an d in his he at, it was apparent t hat he was the man to bea t. "T he bike was working good and w e were pretty f as t o ut of th e ga te , but it wasn't eas y ," Carr sa id . J oe Kopp and his Corbin Racing /Dave Burks Motorsport s/Mi ssouri Har l eyDav idson backed-t eammate K en Cool beth chased Carr around the first lap, but Cool beth was dropped by first Moroney 's Harley-Dav idson /FASTHOG .com/G ouid Erectors' Will D a vis a n d th en Rich King on the Harley -Dav idson Motor Co ./Shoei -b acked entry. D avi s and K in g battled righ t up t o Kopp's rear wheel , b efore a cou p le o f slips dropped th em bac k . " I c o u l d n' t se t m y ow n p a c e , " Kop p sai d . " I was start ing t o w o r ry abou t W ill. About hal fwa y th rou gh , he k ept t ry in g to g et u nd er m e d own in t hree and fou r. Finall y I m o ved d own an d fo u n d a g o o d l in e in fou r . I g ot awa y fr o m Wi ll a nd f e lt like I w as ca tchi ng Ch ri s. " King fo u ght hi s w ay into thi rd o n th e 16 t h la p and set ou t after K opp. The challenge n ev er m ate ria lized, as sudd enl y K i n g was d o w n , w it h th e b ik e o n t op of h im , bet w een t u rn s one and two . " A s t he night w en t on th e tra c k sta rted to glaze and it was slick , but it was w eird b ecause a cou p le of spots it w ou ldn 't b e li k e that," Davis said . " It wasn't consistently greasy all th e wa y across . After Rich got by I just tr ied to sta y steady . On e of those slick spots got him." K ing recounted the crash . " I was sl iding both ends into that corner," he said . " I did it about four lap s. I t hought t hat if I could get right on Joe that I cou ld g et by him. I j ust pushed it a little to o ha rd and fe ll . We h ad a g ood motorc ycle . It was a shame to throw it on the ground. We had a bike th at de served to b e on the box ." At th e h alfway po int Co olb eth w as alone in f ifth and J .R. Schnab el had h is Team Powell/West B end Harl eyD avid s on -bac k ed Rota x in sixth , wh ile D an St anley and K ev in Varnes ba tt l ed o v er se venth . A three - wa y batt l e b etw e en M ik e V arn es, M ik e Ha cker and Bryan Bigel o w fill ed out th e t op 10 . Just w hen it loo ked lik e ev eryone wa s settlin g int o t he ir finish ing p osi ti on s, t he red fla g ca me out and it wa s a wh ol e new ball g ame. Ev er ybody' s pe rs pective of th e unfol ding eve nts w ere o f course a little d iffer en t, " It wa sn 't eas y - I .had to wi n tw o rac e s ," C arr sa id . " I' m a lwa y s co ncerned wi th a red flag . You te nse up an d r ide a li tt le m o re t en se, bu t m y la p ti mes even after th e red fla g w ere st ill p retty good. I was sti ll going for ward ." K o p p vi ew ed th e red fl a g as an op po rt u n it y . " W he n I sa w th e red fl ag , I'm lik e ' A ll r ight I g et a n o t he r c h a nce,''' K opp said . " O n th e r e st a rt it took me a co u p l e of laps t o g et g o ing a nd Chr is got t h at l i tt l e di st a n c e a ga i n . I t ho ug h t I r e a l l y h a d a c h ance. He h ad a lin e i n t h r ee an d fo u r that wa s p retty h ig h . W h en Wi ll

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