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/128627
AMA/ Progres s iv e In sur a nce U .S . F la t T rac k C h a m p io n s h ips R o u n d B : P eor ia Ra c e way Park c z w ~ w ~ , 0 iii ~ c, w ~ , u: B Y S COTT R OUSSEA U PEORIA, n, A(JG. 13 hey had Chris Carr in their sights and still they couldn 't kill him . Late in the runnin g of th e 52nd annual Peoria Grand Nationa l TT , it was business a s usual for the 11-t ime Peoria winner and re ign in g AMA Grand Nationa l Champion ; h e had built up an insurmountable lead. Then , with seve n la ps to go , the unthinkable happened. With his brakes failing him from about the halfwa y point on, Carr suddenly blew the groove in turn one , stomped on the brak e pedal and stalled the motor on his H-D of Sacra - mento/Wr en chead.com -ba ck ed Rot a x. On e second he wa s o ve r a s tra ig ht a wa y ahead of runner-up J oe Kopp. The next h e wa s coast ing w ith ou t powe r. He was vuln e rabl e . But with th e cool , ca lm collective ness of som e on e who could pr acti c ally la y cl a im to t he re al e s ta te o f Pe oria Ra c ew a y Park via b irthri g ht, Ca rr s imp ly bumped o ff h is Kenn y To lbert-t u ned m ac hin e and kept on tr u cki n ' . A few la ps la t e r , Carr 's brakes we re complet e ly g one a n d Kopp was edging close r as Carr s hut of f e arly and c o a s te d into turn on e with each pa s sing lap. Th e laps would run out before Kopp cou ld g et Chris Carr overcame stalling his bike, bump-starting it and then l osing h is brakes to w in this year's Peoria TT, once again showing t h at he i s the Prince of Peoria. c lo s e to C arr , th ou gh , and the 32 ye a r-o ld Pennsyl vania transplant had hi s 12th Gra nd Nationa l win a t th e c elebrated facility in th e bag , h is thi rd AMA Grand Nat ional win of the year a nd a big ger po ints le ad in th e AMA/Progres sive Insura nc e U.S. Flat Tra c k Champ ion sh ips . At le ast t h is Peo ria was inte re st ing for him . "T h a t bike fired back up on th e first bump ," Ca rr said. "It wa s jus t a good th ing th at we had s uch a g ood motorc ycle that we cou ld have a fe w p rob lems li k e th at and h av e a b ig enough lead to sti ll win . I lost t h e brakes and what happened was that I wa s so desperate to s low down that I e y e ' e ja m med th e br a ke ped a l, a nd it rotat ed unde r th e p ipe and locked up the rear wh ee l. Th ank God I got it slowed d own b efor e the ha y bale s , got it turn e d and got it bum pe d . Th e bike was j u s t working goo d, a n d I ha d some g o od lines an d was a b le t o bu ild up a good le a d. I'm glad I didn 't dec ide to jerk around a nd p la y wit h a ny body . Th is one was a lot more e xci ting th an I wa nted it to be . I had n e "" s • AU GUST 2 3 . 2000 15