Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ DIRT TRACK AMA6OOccNationalDirtTrackChampionship_Se_rie_s:_Ro_uD_d_5 m Larry Pegram (72) led early in the National, but Chris Carr (1) found an opening and powered into the lead for good. Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr has won every 600cc National that he's enteml this year. lin suffered a miserable start but blazed into second by the race's end. Polhemus finished a close third, but like the rest would have to compete in a semi. The third heat featured a battle between Springsteen and Kevin Varnes. Springsteen grabbed the holeshot and stayed glued to the groove while Varnes tried lines high in one and low in three. Springsteen rode flawlessly, and greeted the checkered £lag with room to spare ahead of Varnes and King, who worked up to third after a poor start. The last heat saw a close battle between Dan Ingram arid Davey Durelle. Ingram fought 0(( the repeated charges of Durelle and notched the win, while Mike Reid and Erick Gruber finished third and fourth, respectively. Semis Carr sails on at 1-96 Half Mile By Dave Hoenig Photos by Flat Trak Fotos LAKE ODESSA, MI, AUG. 29 ince its induction in 1988, the 600cc National Championship Dirt Track Series has had but one champion - Chris Carr. And this year looks to be no different as the fourtime champ piloted his Mike Camphouse-prepared HarleyDavidson XR600 to·the win at the 196 Half Mile, besting last year's series runner-up Larry Pegram and Rich King. Carr's win at the Michigan HarleyDavidson Dealers Association-hosted event marked his fourth 600cc National win of the season and kept his perfect record intact. The Team Harley-Davidson rider has won every 600cc National that he entered this year, and enjoys a healtlly series point lead over Pegram, 80-52. Over four inches of rain fell over the three days prior to the race, and the track was left underwater on Friday, the day before race day. By Saturday, though, the water was pumped out and a presentable racing surface greeted the 54 racers. S Time trials 28 Carr found the fast line around the track and stopped the docks at 22.924 seconds. Carr would be the only rider to break into the 22-second bracket, as Pegram turned in the second-fastest time of 23.117. Kevin Varnes and Dan Ingram rounded out the four fastest qualifiers who would sit on the pole positions in each of the four heat races. Heats Ray Dugan led the charge into turn one in the first lo-lap heat race that offered two direct transfer positions. Bob Sweeten held second, but Carr flexed his muscles and stormed into the lead on lap three. Sweeten remained in second until the halfway point, when Steve Morehead and James Hart rallied past. Hart pressured Morehead throughout the race, but could never find a way past the wiley veteran. Carr went on to score an easy win ahead of Morehead and an out-of-luck Hart. Pegram was the quickest off the line in the second heat and romped away with a start-to-finish win. Paul Polhemus held second early in the race, ahead of Brian Villella. David Uoyd and Greg Sims, but all eyes were on a hard-charging Davey Camlin. Cam- Polhemus holeshot the first eightlap semi ahead of Aaron Hill and Bret Beyer. Beyer worked past Hill on the first lap, but by the halfway point Hill had moved back into second. Polhemus slipped off the groove on the sixth lap and Hill was quick to pounce. Hill notched the win ahead of Polhemus and Beyer, who earned the last transfer. Mike Reid led a four-rider freight train in the second semi. Bryan VillelIa, Ben Bostrom and Tommy Colson tried to dethrone Reid, but no positions were changed at the finish. Reid, Villella and Bostrom headed for the maIn. King rocketed off the line in the final semi and never looked back. Behind King, Price, Hart and Jim Sumner argued over the runner-up position. Price began to slow with mechanical woes and Hart quickly snatched up second. Greg Sims motored into third at the finish. National Then the 17-rider field lined up at the start of the 25-lap National, fast heat-winner Pegram was given first choice on the line. Pegram chose to start on the outside pole. Ingram and Springsteen lined up to Pegram's left, while Carr chose to start the National on row two, behind Pegram. "I didn't think I could get a good start from the inside," said Carr. "I knew that I could pass on the outside, . even from the second row." At the start, Pegram won the drag race into turn one with Ingram and Carr close behind. Carr motored by Ingram and into second by lap two, and while Springsteen held a firm grip on fourth. Once into second, Carr quickly closed the gap on Pegram and began to probe for an opening. "I think I got a little top conservative _ . while trying to stay on the groove," said Pegram. "I knew that someone was back there and I figured it was him. I just tried to hold a steady line." At the start of the seventh lap, Carr dove to the inside of Pegram as they raced into turn one and took over the lead. "I got a real good drive out of four and he left a little room on the inside," said Carr. "Once I was out front I just had to make sure that I didn't make any mistakes." Pegram rode lap after lap in Carr's shadow, waiting for a mistake that never came. "I thought I had a shot at 'him in turn three, but he knew that I was where I would try and was really burning it in," said Pegram. "About three laps from the end I ran it in real hard, but I had to back off to keep from hitting him. I lost all my drive and after that I never had another shot at· him." Ingram rode on the outside edge of the groove and held Springsteen, King and Morehead at bay, while Hart fended off the attacks of Durelle. King and Springsteen zapped Ingram on lap 18, while Durelle did the same to Hart and Morehead to move into sixth. King slowly but surely edged away from Springsteen, but wasn't able to close the gap on Carr and Pegram. At the white £lag, Carr led Pegram, King, . Springsteen and Ingram. Springsteen coasted to a stop as he entered turn one with a blown motor. Carr greeted the checkered flag ahead of Pegram, who was well ahead of King and Ingram. "The rod let go, I can't believe it. I can run this thing 5000 miles on the lake during the winter, but I can't get it to finish 25 laps here," said Springsteen of his winte playbike. "You better just park it five laps earlier next winter," joked Morehead, who worked his way past Durelle on the last lap to earn fifth. Junior National Series point leader James Hart led the charge into turn one at the start of the -Junior National, but Kevin Varnes shot into the lead on lap one. Hart glued himself to the rear of Varnes' machine and made several pass attempts in the closing stages, but to no avail. Varnes greeted the checkered flag first aboard his Penn State Cycles/ Cycle Shack/Shoei/Bill Moyersponsored Rotax. "Turns one and two were pretty rough, but I was getting through three and four real good," said Varnes.;':"1 was pretty sure that I could hold him off until the finish." Bill Newkirk ran a lonely third while Ray Dugan, Chad Barth, Tim Selby, Brent Armbruster, Ryan Anderson and Dave Kolenda battled over fourth. Barth worked his way up to fourth, and Selby also slipped past Dugan for ~ourth. Pro-Am Yamaha-mounted Brian Borgman. passed early-race leader Rob Williams and ran away with the win in the ProAm main event. John Lowe passed Bryan Graybeal on the last lap for third, as did L.J. Schaidt a few feet later. Graybeal held on to fifth ahead of Paul Kops. Michigan State Championship The 12-fastest Michigan racers lined up for the Michigan State Championship race, but it turned out to be a tworider show. Greg Sims assumed the lead early in the race and held crowd-favorite

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