The win came on the heels of a rowdy get off in the short track competition the previous night in which Carr was knocked unconscious for twenty or thirty seconds before gathering his faculties and racing back from fourteenth to fourth on the restart.

"I knew right there I had good shot to clinch the title," said Carr. "I went from a possible five-point lead to a nineteen-point lead based on my comeback from the crash."

In the accident Carr was collected by Bryan Bigelow and slammed viciously to the ground. Dazed and confused, the veteran dirt track legend managed to stagger to his feet, remount his KTM 450 and stage back in the pack (fourteenth) for the restart.

"I was out cold, but fortunately I still pretty much remembered what happened," said Carr. "Though I didn't remember hitting the ground, I remembered going down, then getting back up to my feet. I was a bit shaky at first, but was able to gather it back together and race from fourteenth place to fourth. And I think that was the turning point of the entire weekend for me."

Carr was on fire in his qualifier for The Mile the final day, taking first place over flat track legend Jay Springsteen (second). He carried that momentum into The Mile that evening and was in hot pursuit of race leader and rival Kenny Coolbeth, when Coolbeth was forced from the race on lap ten with a mechanical failure.

"Kenny pulled off when he was leading, lost his chain off both sprockets," said Carr. "So at that point I just had to 'circulate,' but like Sedalia (MO), I went for the win. And this time I got it."

Carr said his heart went out to Kenny Coolbeth, saying that's certainly not the way he (Carr) wanted to wrap up the title. However, Carr's been around long enough to remember that he's had mechanical issues like that crop up with him during his career and figures Coolbeth will be back on the gas hard on mission to win Du Quoin (IL).

"During key parts of the year I've had that happen," said Carr. "I've had carburetors fall off, oil tanks leak, etc. Learning from those setbacks is what's made us as good as we are now. So Kenny and his team will learn from this and do everything possible to see that it doesn't happen again."

Carr continued: "It was obvious that Kenny gave me all I could handle as a rider, as did his team. And we don't like to win based on another rider's misfortunes. But again, I've been in that position before and I know Kenny will be back."

As for the final round at DuQuoin, Carr says that despite wrapping up the title early, he expects to take the battle right to the very end.

"DuQuoin will be a perfect setting for us to work on the 2006 bike," said Carr. "Stuff that we can test, in an actual race situation, without the title on the line. But believe me, I'm a competitor and I still want to go there with the idea of winning."