6/1/03

Carr Two for Three on Short Tracks in 2003.

In recent AMA dirt track history, the half-miles and miles comprised the bulk of the schedule, with only mainstays like Daytona and Peoria keeping short tracks and TTs alive. That cycle has recently been upended, with just one mile race contested since the season started five races ago - a trend that has been evident for the last few seasons, and one that is almost universally welcomed by riders, teams, and spectators.

The abundance of short track races has been good to the Ford QCCPOV Team, with Chris taking two wins and a close second in the three races held this year, the latest victory coming at last weekend's Chillicothe, Ohio race. Riding the venerable Rotax-powered machine in competition for the first time all year instead of the exciting Italian VOR, the team proved its versatility by putting the old reliable air-cooled single on top of the box.

Chris has a weekend off before heading to Granite City, Illinois for the first half-mile event of 2003.

"The day started out okay. We weren't real lickety-split in practice. I went out once on my VOR and once on the Rotax, and I struggled on both bikes equally, but felt more comfortable with the Rotax, and we made wholesale changes on it to try to get it going for the track.

"We got ready for the scratch heat, and we were in business. The changes we had made seemed to work really good, and even though we didn't win the scratch heat, we were competitive and gaining on (Johnny) Murphree the last lap or so, so we knew we had a bike that was capable, it was just a matter of getting decent starts and getting to the front.

"In the heat race, I took the lead fairly early over, I believe, A.J. Esslick and Shaun Russell, and pretty much checked out on the guys. The bike was flawless, and it went everywhere I wanted it to go, it was hooking up. We were fortunate enough to get our fourth pole position out of five attempts this year through the heat race.

"So, things were looking good. The main event comes along, and I got a terrible start - I think I was fifth or sixth into turn one, but I got by a few guys, and I think I ended up passing Murphree on the first lap and (Kenny) Coolbeth on the second lap, and then (Kevin) Atherton on the third lap, and we had the lead. I pretty much set a good pace from that point on. No one ever out a wheel back on me, so it was a nice way to end the day. We went from struggling to being dominant at the end, so that was good. We put our heads together, made things work."

How are the new additions to the crew working out?

"Everyone's working real hard. Richard Bates has come on board an been with us since January. Those guys seem to get along very well and work really well together. Richard has a lot of experience from years past, and he's a great addition to our program. We're glad to have him."


Back to the News page