Chris led the main event early, but he couldn't hold off the advances of six fellow racers as they barged past, one-by-one to relegate him to his eventual seventh place. Fellow Eastern Pennsylvanian Kevin Varnes took the win and vaulted to within 15 points of Carr in the title chase.
Harrington, Delaware is the next stop this weekend, home of this season's Hall of Fame event. Carr has traditionally done well on the half-mile cushion-type surface at the State Fairgrounds, so confidence is high for an excellent result.
"Fortunately, we were able to do that in my heat race as well. I got o good start, got out front, led it wire-to-wire. I had a pretty good run, fourth fastest heat for the main event. Everybody was within a tenth or so a lap in the heat races. The only guy that really stood out is Coolbeth - he was haulin' ass. He was quite a bit faster than the rest of the group. Then he had a little problem, started from the back row in the main event.
"I got a good start again in the main event: out front. Then those guys just started marching by me, one at a time, here and there. I found myself seventh at the end of the race, and it was the best we could do. It was one of those deals where we were good, but not quite good enough."
Did the setup go off, or maybe start out a little off?
"We may have hurt the engine a little bit in the heat race. We felt like it wasn't running all that good in the main event, but I rode the thing as hard as I could, and guys went by me. The thing was still running, you know, so it was my job to get it around the track. Overall we weren't quite there.
"Those six guys were better than we were.
"We're still out front (in the points), it's a helluva battle for second. We've got a little bit of a cushion, but nothing to be overly comfortable with. We're halfway through the year, and if we can have a decent second half, I think we're gonna be alright."