7/19/04

Carr Takes Sixth in Davenport

After the previous week's half-mile at Joliet, Illinois was rained out, the Ford QCCPOV team traveled to a new venue, the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, a replacement for the cancelled Quad Cities Downs event located on the other side of the river from the original track in Davenport, Iowa.

Chris struggled early and could only manage a sixth place in the main event, with his closest rival Joe Kopp gaining valuable points on him. Carr still holds a ten point advantage as the series rolls into the busiest stretch - there are twelve races remaining, and there's just one off weekend before the final race in DuQuoin, Illinois.

"Last night - at least for me - where I started was where I finished, with the exception of the heat race, maybe. In the scratch heat, I got off the line third and finished third. I couldn't pass anybody. Shaun Russell was out front and I believe George Roeder was in second, and I just couldn't get around them. It was just one of those things where the groove was fairly wide for a slippery little track, but there was only one part of it that had any really good traction , so it turned into a bit of a one-line affair for the most part.

"In the heat race, I did not get a very good start - I got off the line about sixth - and I was able to work my way up to third by the end of the heat race and get a direct transfer to the main event, but I couldn't put a dent in the guys on front of me, which were (Kenny) Coolbeth and Roeder once again, so I lined up ninth for the main event, so I was third pick on the second row.

"I got a really, really good start from the second row. I think I was fifth after turns one and two - from the second row, that's a really good jump. I struggled really bad the first ten laps. During that time, Mike Hacker passed me and I was pretty much holding up the field behind me. About ten laps in, my rear tire came in a bit and I found a rhythm, found a line on the racetrack and was able to stretch away from those guys and actually made a dent in the leaders from lap nine or ten until lap eighteen, when I slipped the groove. I gathered that back up, and Johnny Murphree came up on my heels and I was able to hold him off, and came back up on Hacker and Roeder again toward the end of the race. I was pretty much a sixth-place man last night and that's the way it goes, I guess."

The schedule gets hectic now, with only one weekend off between now and the final race in September. How do you feel heading into the grind?

"It's down and dirty. I'm looking forward to getting on with the program. I haven't liked all the gaps we've been having between races, with rainouts, and this and that. It's going to be good to go out and hammer off some races and start tallying up the points and see how things are looking. I feel good about the position we're in, I like the majority of the tracks we're going to between now and the end of the season, so I think it can be a really good year for us, and we're looking forward to a nice title chase."


Back to the News page