Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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ti on in t he Rose City - m uch as t he Emerald D o wn s Mil e h a s do n e for Seattle. Carr used the pol e position for th e l8 -ride r, 25- lap fina l to sli ngsho t into th e lead ah ead of Oreg on's Rex F ish e r a n d Spr ing st een , a pos ition in wh ich th e lo ng- ti me California re si de n t, w ho n ow c alls Pennsylv an i a home , would hold a lock upon from wi re to w ire, quic kl y v anish in g at a pace that was unp ara lleled b y the rest o f th e field . It ha s been a season of co nsistency fo r Carr , wh o now enjoys a 50 point lead ov er his next -cl osest riv al , Sc h na b e l , 388 -338 , in the s eri e s. Sp rin gst een, wh o brok e free from a t ie f o r fifth pla c e in t he sta nd ings, m ov ed in t o third p ast Rog ers , Ric h Ki ng a n d Mike H a ck er w i t h 3 16 po int s. Spr in gs t e en was q ui ck t o d r op Oregon 's h ighest -ran k ed ride r, F ish er, a part -t im e Gr and N at ional ca mpa ig ne r ov er th e years, back a notch , and Fi sher soon fo und himself ta king t h e b ack sea t t o Sprin g er' s 75 0 c c Harle y -D av ids on , o n e o f th e fiv e tw in s t o make th e fin al. Carr l eft Springs teen and F ish er well beh in d in the ear l y g o i ng , as h e h ad qui ck ly gap ped the field b y th e third lap . T hat wa s as c lose -as th e rest of th e fi eld would g et t o h im t he r e st o f th e eve ning . " M a n, I h ad i t goi n ', " C a rr la ter s a i d . " I fi gu red that I n eed ed th e holeshot m on e y [t h e ha rd-c h arge r award of $500 offered by Yuasa Bat ter ies], but the n dec ided tha t I m igh t as well ju st stay up front fo r th e rest of t he race a nd f i n is h it o ff si nce th in gs wer e go ing so good. Th e bik e w ork ed r e a lly w e ll t onight. K enn y [T olber t ] did a g rea t j ob of d ialing it in . I r eall y lik ed th e new tra c k . It 's pr et ty cool to co me to a new ve nue. Th e c row d ' s awesome . It's n eat t o see rac ing ba ck up her e in Oreg on. " And finish them off he d id . Carr' s l e ad pr ogr ess ed wi t h e a c h l ap . Spring steen , m ean while, ma naged to sha ke off Fisher , al though the latter wa s adding som e c re di b i li t y to h i s ot he rw ise TT-spec ialist label. Land es, w ho st arte d o ff i n fourth pl ac e j ust ah ead of Schnabe l on th e openin g lap , broke free from a tight k ni t p ack t o ca tch up to Fis her and he wo ul d ult ima tel y m ana ge to overtak e him . Furt he r back , Was hington's D an Stan ley, T ex an Ja so n Tyer , Ro gers, Mark Corsetti a nd Na te Wa it were bunch ed up , but it was St anley who would ho ld down th e position at th e head of that pa ck - a mira cle of sorts si nce he was barely abl e t o wa lk after crack ing two ve rtebrae in a cras h th e we ek p rio r at Sp ringfield . B y la p fiv e , Ca rr 's lead had b a l loon ed to an astonish ing six sec onds. W hil e Carr was busy amassing suc h a lea d , Springsteen had h is han d s fu ll w ith Landes , who h ad narro wed the Carr (i) got the jump on the field right at th e start and was never headed as he stormed his way around Po rt la nd Sp eedw ay. Although it was only Carr's first win of the series, he hold s a commanding lead in the points chase. g a p o n Spr in g er after firs t ge tti ng around F ish er on th e second lap. Bu t it was Spr in g st een wh o ma intain ed t he sec ond-pla c e posit io n fro m th e seco n d lap, r efus ed t o budg e, alt ho ug h he was un ab le to w as h hi s hands en t i re ly o f t he fo rme r 600cc Na t io na l Ch ampi on . "I had a 600 in fro n t of me and one be hi nd me ," Springsteen lat er said. " So I really had to h ave t he th rottle c o n t r o l dialed . I j u s t kept t e ll i n ' myself 'j ust roll the t h rottl e on and ho ld her steady .' Hey, the 600s are fast, don 't get me w rong, bu t t he 750 has a lways worked th e best fo r m e . Th e 600 was pro babl y th e hot ticket tonight, j ust look at Chris [C arr] - he co uld run it in hard er in th e c orn ers t han I co u l d o n t h e b i g b ik e . T h e thi ng th at 's coo l about this se ries is that y ou'v e g ot all o f the different brands a nd sizes of b ik es he r e and you can run whatever you feel co mfo rt able running ." la p eig ht, he would m aintain his position to th e finish , ena bling th e fo rmer A MA Roo ki e of the Yea r to maintain h is second p lace to Ca rr in th e points standi ngs . '" d idn ' t get t he sta rt th at I'd hav e liked to ," th e Team Powell / We st Bend Harley -D avidson -spo nso red Schn abe l sa id. " I go t b y R e x o ka y , b ut I co u ldn' t st ay w it h Br ett ve ry long . He [La ndes ] m ov ed up w ith Sp rin ger and left me all by m y self in fourth . All in all, I'm happy to co me awa y w ith the points that I d id. Fourth 's o k ay fo r us , i t pu ts u s i n a goo d positi on i n po in ts ." Fishe r , wh os e march back wards from an initi al second- p lac e start saw him d ropping p o sitio ns t o fi rs t Spri ngsteen , then Landes , and fin all y t o t h e cha rg ing S chna bel on la p eig ht, managed to ho ld an advantage ove r St anl ey to ma int ai n fifth . Whil e k eep in g Schn ab el in si g h t, h e wa s una b le to m ak e a forge forward in an at tempt to get the position back. "I got a decent st a r t, bu t Ja y [Spring steen] got around m e com ing off of turn tw o ," F isher sai d . " I stayed t he re for a lap, b ut then Brett [Land es] got b y m e and all I could d o fr om that point was hope t ha t I could sti c k wi t h h im . Brett broke free and moved ahead t o ca tc h Sp rin g st een , so at th at poi nt my only hope was t o hold J.R (Schn abel ] ba ck and finish fourth . I m ad e a m ist ak e on abo ut th e eig hth l ap - I drifted up h igh - an d then Sch n abe l g ot by me . I lo o k ed "I look ed back and saw him [Lan des] co min', " Sp ringsteen ad de d . "It wa s reall y cl ose on th e last lap. I we nt down lo w bec au se I kn ew th at he was g o ing t o tr y a nd tak e i t [my l in e) away from me and I bar ely held him off." Wh il e Landes los t o ut in a ba tt le of horsep ower at t he fini sh li ne, th e T CR Ra c i n g / A u d i ov o x / Q u a k er Sta te backed rider was pleased wi th h i s t h ird - p l ac e fi nish, and t o be on th e rost rum . "I thought I had Jay at one poi nt : Landes said . " I dove underneat h hi m [Sprin g st een ] k nowi ng th at I had th e co rner spee d adva nta ge with th e 600 , bu t down t he st rai g h taway that 750 wo uld reall y put t he m oto r on m e." S ch n abel, wh o s t a r te d i n f ift h pl ac e , onl y m ad e a s i n g le pa ss t h ro ug ho u t the 25-lap final b u t he nailed down a soli d fo urth -p lace fi n ish (b ack ing up last week's podi um in T exa s) . After runn ing down Fishe r o n cue I e n e _ s • S E PTEM B ER 20 , 2000 27