8/17/03

Carr Fights for Second at a Memorable and Exciting Peoria TT .

Chris Carr is always the man with the target on his back at the Peoria TT, having won there 13 times consecutively in Grand National competition and many more in 600 National races. Riding his trusty twin-shock Woods-framed Rotax for what may be the final time at the Illinois track, Carr looked like the man to beat once again as practice and qualifying progressed. In the race, he battled four familiar youngsters aboard their modified motocrossers, finally dueling with J.R. Schnabel on the last lap and losing the lead in the final corner after the tough kid from Wisconsin put a serious but clean block pass on the Prince of Peoria.

Chris still maintains an amazing string of podium finishes at the fabled TT, and more importantly, he increased his championship cushion to a whopping 37 points, as title rival Joe Kopp suffered machine problems and was forced to retire. Third-placed Johnny Murphree leapfrogged Kopp and moved into second in the points chase. Six more races remain on the schedule.

"Well, the day started out okay. We were decent in our scratch heat, we were pretty much the fastest guy in practice, which is usually the case there. We always seem to come off the truck pretty strong there. The track changed as the day went on, and you've got to make changes with it. As the track dried out the field narrowed up a bit, and we went about the same speed - at least the top few guys anyhow. That usually happens as well - at least the past few years it has.

"We got a good run in the scratch heat, we had to come from behind. Caught and passed Jake Johnson there at the end. It wasn't a blistering time or anything like that, but it was one of the later scratch heats, and the track was changing, and they had a few delays, we were riding on a dry track, so we kind of expected things not to be so fast. So that was that.

"In the heat race, I got the holeshot and split. I set a real good pace early on and just kind of cruised at the end because I knew I had it in hand and I was trying to save a little energy for the main event.

"Lined up for the main event, and proceeded to get my worst start in Peoria TT history. Front row start, and I'm off of turn two like eighth or something like that - I don't know where I was, but it wasn't very good. I marched my way through, picked off a guy at a time, the Kenny Tolbert-prepared Rotax was certainly the fastest bike down the straightaway, and we were able to get the drives off of turn four, and I made a lot of passes going into turn one. I made a few passes coming out of turn two. I don't remember everybody that I passed. I know there was Jared Mees and Shaun Russell, and maybe even Dan Stanley up there, and then I got into fourth and up front, and up front it was Johnson leading, with (Johnny) Murphree second and Schnabel third. It looked like Murphree was catching Johnson, and then he made a few mistakes and fell back and Schnabel got by him. Then I got by Murphree and then I got by Schnabel. Johnson had pretty much a half a straightaway by the time I got into second and somewhere along the way Murphree and Schnabel got back by me, I started making some mistakes. Then I got back by Murphree, and I got back by Schnabel, and we started catching Johnson. We got to within two or three bike lengths of Jake, and he tipped over in turn three, I guess about six or seven laps to go, and I inherited the lead. I was leading a race I didn't expect to lead the way things were going. I rode as hard as I could, and that darn J.R. Schnabel gave an aggressive pass on the last lap and just beat me to the line, that sucker.

"I had vowed a year ago that I'd be better prepared, and my injuries at Laguna didn't allow me to be as well prepared as I would have liked. To be honest with you, I felt a little better than I expected to, we just came up a little bit short. We got a bigger gap in the points. I went into the race with a 26 point lead, and I was hoping to leave with a 30 point lead, and we left with a 37 point lead, so it was a productive day."


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