9/20/03

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Win Races

Putting an exclamation point on a determined late-season charge that will have seen the Ford QCCPOV team lead the series from the very first race at Daytona, Chris Carr marched off with a hard fought win in Columbus, Ohio at the Scioto Downs half-mile, which is actually closer to five-eighths of a mile of pea-gravel/limestone.

A cushion line developed quickly in the main, and although Carr held the lead early, cushion-track specialist and Ohio native Geo Roeder bolted to the front around lap five and led until the low groove came in a few laps later. Carr drove back by Roeder and narrowly held off hard-charging Kenny Coolbeth at the checkered flag for his fifth win of 2003, his second on a half-mile.

Now ahead by 21 points in the championship with only two races remaining, Chris heads to the final weekend in Springfield confident of a fifth title.

"Columbus went about as good as we could have hoped for. We were pretty fast right off the truck and one of the faster guys in practice throughout all three sessions. It was just a matter of keeping up with an ever-changing race track. Those guys at the AMA, especially Steve Morehead, did the best they could to try and keep the cushion, but I think it was inevitable with the amount of horsepower that we're putting out on these half-mile bikes any more that rubber was bound to build up eventually. We were able to chase the race track all night long and have a setup that was good whether it was loose or if it was on a groove. We happened to be toward the front when the rubber set in and we held those guys at bay.

"I tip my hat to (Kenny) Coolbeth - he certainly kept me honest the last half of the race and I could hear him breathing down my neck the whole time - but we were fortunate enough to not make any mistakes, and we kept it on the rubber, and I didn't' leave the door open for him like I did a year ago."

What's your plan for Springfield?

"We're going to keep doing what we've been doing. We show up and we're capable of winning races, and we're going to go for the win. That's what got us in the position we're in right now. I haven't sat back and played the counting points game, I've been riding as hard as I can, week in and week out, and whatever finish we get is what we get. We leave nothing on the table we can't be disappointed with the outcome at the end of the year if it goes the other way. We're going to therewith the idea of winning or giving ourselves a chance to win and see what happens with the points when it's all said and done."


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