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/1481458
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 11, 2022 P121 see how well I did on the Super- bike," Carr said. "Superbike was the priority, but I was free to go race all the flat tracks that didn't conflict. I think at that point of the year I was pretty much in con- tention for the [Grand National] Championship, and I knew down the road I was going to have to miss some races, but I had an opportunity to race both the Mid- Ohio and the LaSalle that week- end since they were only a little over 300 miles apart. "I looked into getting on a pud- dle-jumper. So, after Superbike qualifying on Saturday, I went to a local airport and, because it was an hour earlier in Illinois, I was able to fly a little private prop- job into the town just to the west of LaSalle. I had somebody meet me there and the pilot came with me and watched the races." Carr was helped by the fact that a shower had moved through LaSalle earlier in the day and by the time he arrived from Mid- Ohio, the short track was still drying. A few fans were surprised to see Carr, but most in the pits knew Carr was going to try to be there. "I think the word might have gotten around in the pits," Carr said. "We had some friends helping. It was Kenny Barth who actually met me at the airport and dragged me out to the short track and then back to the airport right after the checkered flag. It was quite the 24 hours." Once racing started on the track it seemed no problem at all for Carr making the transition from racing a Superbike to a short tracker all in the same day. He won his heat race to eas- ily qualify for the main. He then finished runner up to Will Davis in the Crane Cam Challenge, a money race for the six heat-race winners. And in the Grand Na- tional, he ran to a strong podium finish of third. The performance put him fourth in the Grand National Championship, only 12 points back to new series leader Scott Parker. Directly from the podium an- other mad dash was underway. Carr's trip back to Mid-Ohio. "As soon as the checkered flag flew it was back to the airport," Carr said. "And we even got a chance to buzz the track on the way out of town, which was kind of cool. "That was the good part. Everything was going according to plan until we were flying back in. We were supposed to land at the Mansfield [Ohio] Airport, and it was socked in with fog. The pilot could not see the runway at all, even with lights on and everything. He tried twice to land in Mansfield, but he said, 'Man I can't do this.' So, he ended up flying to the small airport in Columbus near Ohio State Uni- versity. "The pilot had a buddy who picked us up at the airport, so by the time I got back to my rental car at the Mansfield Airport I had just enough time to stop by my hotel, grab a shower and basical- ly get back out to the racetrack. So it was a long, long night, let's put it that way. "I'd talked with Harley, and they approved me doing this as long as I could make my way back for the Superbike race. I made it back and was able to do morn- ing warm-up and everything, but needless to say I probably wasn't Carr admitted that he probably may have finished better on the factory Harley-Davidson VR1000 Superbike Sunday had he not been in the air all night coming back from the Grand National race in Illinois the night before. PHOTO: HENNY RAY ABRAMS