Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA,/ P rogressive Insuranc e U .S . Flat T r a c k C h a m p io n s h ip s R o u n d 4 : Allen C o u n ty F a ir g o u n d s S T O RY AN D PHOT OS BY D A VE H O ENIG/FLA T T RA K F OT OS UMA, OH JaNE 25 e fe n d in g AMA Grand Nat ional DChampion Chris Carr showed he has learned to go fast on pea gravel. Very fast. After a one-day rain delay and a midrace red flag , the Harley-Da vids on of Sacramento/W renchead .com/Phoenix Racing b a ck ed Carr d e cima ted th e field o n th e All en C o unt y Fa irgrounds ' c us hio n half-mile. "Boy th ey 're ma king me work hard for th e s e wins , " Carr s a id . "T h e bigg est thing that concerned m e wa s som ebod y co mi n g up from und erneath on th e res tart. I nailed the start pretty g o o d and got g o od tracti on through the gears and was able to get a way. Tha t a lways m akes it e a s ie r late in th e ra ce. " Wh en th e green light fla shed fo r the start of th e 25 -lap Pr ogres s ive Insuran c e U.S. Flat Tr ack Ch amp i- 18 J ULv S ,2000 ' cu e I e o n s hi p s ma in e ve n t it w a s lo cal favorite Geo Roeder shooting his KK Supp ly /Schaeffer 's Harle y -Dav id son /Las Vegas Harl e y -D a vi ds on backed XR-750 into th e lead. Ga rdn er Ra c ing /Sp ringfield Arm ory/Wa lters Brothers Har ley -Da vidson ' s Dan Stanle y and Carr were rig ht beh ind him. Jay Springsteen got a big drive off turn tw o and pushed h is Ba rtels Ha rle y -Da vi dso n / C or b in / McCoy 's Har ley into second. A lap lat er, Ca rr wa s into s e c o nd and t he to p th re e were putt ing s ome dist an c e o n th e field. Stanley was holding fourth over, Ch ris Evans and S c o tt Pa rk e r. Jo e Kop p was lead ing Will Da v is a nd Bryan Bigel ow , while J.R. Schnabel , Rich King , Johnny Mu r phr e e and Kevin Varne s made up the next pack. Carr c losed on Roeder and mad e the pass on lap' 10 . Roeder th en had his ha nds full with the charging Spring steen. Springer moved by a nd set his sigh ts on Ca rr, but as th is was unfolding , J .R. Schnabel c a ught a rut in tum n e vv s three and bailed off. The red flag came out, negating Springsteen's pass. During the break s everal riders voic ed c onc e rns over the dusty con ditions in the back of the pa ck. After po lling the riders , Parker requ ested water be put on the track be fore the resta rt. Allotted time to wor k o n th e m o t orc yc les exp ired as water wa s applied, lea ving Springsteen very agi tated. "If I'd known they we re goi ng to wate r th e t rac k , I'd ha ve c hanged tires ," Spring st een said. "Now there 's no time. " It wou ld g et mu ch worse fo r S pringsteen before th e race wa s over. On the restart, Carr was gon e , a nd it be c ame a race for second pla ce . "I d idn ' t k n o w I h ad s uc h a b ig lead ," Carr s ai d . "After a co u p le o f laps , I look ed ba ck a nd it wa s abou t hal f a stra ightaway . Ba si call y th ere was one fast line a round the race tra c k a nd that wa s bumping the cus hion. I had it to myself, and the guys behind On any sunday: The 18-rider field leaves the line to start the Uma Half Mile main event. Chris Carr (11 claimed the win in the race, which had to be held over to Sunday because of bad weather. me were fighting ove r it. That let me get awa y. Whenev er yo u' ve got a clear track, yo u're going to go faster." Roeder ma int a in ed s e cond as Springsteen s lipped b ehind Park er (Ha rley-Davidson Motor CO/ AGV/ Fick Exc a vating ) and Am erica n H-D/Mike's H-D /W inchester H-D 's Chris Evans , who took third from Park er on lap 16 and , o ne lap late r, had second fro m Roeder. "T h e resta rt he lpe d me a ton , " Evans said . "It let m e get ba ck in touch with th o se guys. The le a d e rs had g otten aw a y wh ile I h ad been duking it ou t with Parker. I got awa y from him, but then I ha d th at ga p to make up . Putting us all ba c k together reall y he lped me . " Pa rk er cla imed t h ird o n lap 19 , and th e top thre e positi ons wer e set.

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