Scioto Downs was rained out in April of this year, but the teams traveled there this past weekend to run the rescheduled Grand National on the limestone track normally reserved for harness racing on pacers and trotters. Chris sat on pole, transferred directly from his heat, and after leading the main event early, settled in for second as Kenny Coolbeth won his very first main event.
Eight podiums in 2002 with just one race remaining put Chris at the top of that statistic and show how crucial consistency at the top is in order to take Grand National titles.
"I was glad to get going around that place. It was an awful lot of fun - even when it grooved up it was fun to ride. Things started out good in qualifying, with fast time - I pulled one out of my butt in the last practice, or qualifying session, and put ourselves on the pole for the first heat race, which really didn't do me any good! (laughs) Other than make a hundred bucks.
"I had a couple really good laps the last session. I had a real good rhythm going and I rode the same line every lap. I felt really good. I was getting into the corner pretty deep and getting it turned quick up in the high part of the cushion where it wasn't as thick and making my turn up there, and making the straightaways as long as possible. It worked out to put us fast time.
"So that was cool, it was the first time in 19 races that I was fast qualifier all year. We were pretty pleased about that.
"I got going in the heat race, and fell back to fourth or fifth or whatever, guys were beating the cushion, and the groove hadn't really formed much at the bottom. I kind of fell back a little ways, and then I went down to the bottom, the top dried out, and I got by a few guys and just stayed patient. I caught (Steve) Beattie at the end, but I didn't really have enough time to deal with it. He was going really good the first eight laps of the race, and he started coming back to me the last couple. It worked out to put us on the front row if the main event.
"I got a horrible start in the main event - by my standards - y'know, you're on the front row, you should be at least in the top three going into the corner. I was sixth or seventh, or something like that. I went to the top early on, and it seemed like I was the only guy that did that and made it work. I was able to march to the front in three or four laps, and then (Kenny) Coolbeth came along with me - I guess he was going really good on the bottom.
"I made one little tiny bobble going off of turn four, and he had a good drive going, and he went right on by me and proceeded to put about twenty bike lengths on me the next two laps. At that point, I settled in and started to establish a rhythm and basically kept the gap about the same the rest of the race. I didn't make much headway on him, and Kenny was the thirteenth different winner this year, which is pretty cool in itself."