Not for Chris. Setting the fastest heat time put the local boy on the pole, and after taking the lead on the backstraight on lap one of the main, Chris simply twisted the throttle to the stops and never looked back, winning the race by over 4 seconds and showing, with authority, why he is the 1999 AMA Grand National Champion. With family and friends looking on at the hometown event, it was a perfect climax to a fantastic season for Chris and his team.

This is the second Grand National Championship for the 32-year-old from Stockton, his first coming in 1992 when he rode for the factory Harley-Davidson squad. Now competing as a privateer team under the H-D of Sacramento banner, winning without factory support makes the title that much sweeter. Lots of hard work and dedication paid off with a number one plate for the turn of the century.

"Sacramento was obviously rather good for us. We were competitive right off the bat. Our lap times were good early on in the day and the track was starting to come around pretty good. We pretty much nailed the setup for the main event. We had a plan to try and get away, we thought we had a tire on that would work and go the distance, run hard, and make those guys chase us. That's what we did and it worked out."

Chris on the Championship:

"We're ecstatic on a personal level. Being able to set out to accomplish a goal that you want to and being able to do it before we go to the lousy racetracks that we're going to finish the season off feels good. It feels good not to have bad tracks in the back of your mind going into the end of the season as you fight for a points championship. It's nice to be able to wrap it up on a good track. Sacramento has always been pretty good and pretty safe. It beats going to Del Mar and having to throw your brains in the toolbox and go race for a title.

"This one feels a lot better than the first one, to be honest. The first one was surrounded with a little bit of controversy with the Oklahoma City incident with Scotty Parker. Nobody can take away from the fact that we put our heads down and we won this thing and there are no excuses. We won it big enough to where no one can point a finger and say, 'if this had happened, it might not have been that way.' There's no doubt in everybody's mind that we won the championship this year. Plain and simple."

With a week off to celebrate, Chris, Kenny, and Travis head to the glitter of Las Vegas on October 2 for the next-to-last round.