Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ .R A A E. O O·R C , S unoco Race Fuels Form U Series ula SA Rou d3:Road Atlanta n Af ter abou t a 25-minute d ela y, th e p a ck w as regridded by th eir ru nn ing p ositions at the end of th e six th la p Klin g on th e p o le, th en Sa dows ki, Graves, and Stanton. Again it w as Klin g and Sadowski, but this time Adams hung tight, movin g in to second on the sec ond lap, and on the th ird lap p assing Klin g go ing into one. Klin g wasn' t let tin g him out of his sight and wa s ba ck out fron t on the fifth lap, then blistered away. His lap times were abo ut th ree se conds faster in th e seco nd part of the ra ce th an the first, a n d o nc e in the le a d h e w a s _un su rp assed . "I figured if I did it the first time, no reason not to do it a second tim e," Kling reasone d , th in kin g he'd h ave his way again. "All of a su dde n, Cu rtis came by. I follow ed him and went by. Right now it' s h ard to see on th e back stra ig h taway." Kling was the only rider ab le to deal w it h A dam s, th e Ca lif ornian slot ting himself into a secure second an d p ulling away at the end. By Henny Ray Abra ms BRASELTON, GA., MAR. 31 t was cold, it was wet, it was miserable. It wa s Du tchman' Racing' s Pritz Kling's day. On an aftern oon most peopl e wou ld like to forget, Kling had a day to remember. Glid in g over the wet and slippery . Road At lanta track like a skater, Klin g disp ro ved th e n ot ion th at th e Su noco Ra ce Fu els Fo rmu la USA was wi de open, m akin g it his personal crusade with a 'pair of comfortable wins at the Tran sam e rica Atlanta Formu la USA Champ ionships. In the first 12-lap, 30-mile race, Kling was smiling, well out fro nt and on his way to winning when the race was redflagged. No m at te r. On the restart he p icked up wherehe left off and easily han d led th e 32-rider field, wi nni ng by over 4.5 seconds. The second race was eve n more convinci ng . Witho u t a red flag to interru pt hi s ch arge, th e FZR1000 "Ya marnonster" -m ou nted Mich iga n native reeled off a string of laps better than a second faster th an an yone else to win by nearly 15 seconds. "The team w as prep ar ed thi s weekend and we showed w e were read y to race," Kling said, surrounded by Dave Sch losser ' s Du tchman Racin g Yamaha team in the winner's circle. . Because of th e red flag on th e seven th lap of the first race, the only official sta tis tic is Klin g' s m a rg in of vic tory, 4.655 seconds after the second six laps. Kling won the second race by 14.834 seconds after 12 lap s and 30 miles of racing . He ave rage d 96.387 mph in com pleting the race in 18 m inut es, 49.446 secon ds . Th e double w in vaulted him in to a tie for second in the point standings. With three rounds, 'six race s, complete, and six more rounds to go, Kling is tied fo r secon d w ith Valvoli ne Su z uki 's David Stan ton at 152. The leader is Stanton ' s teammate, Tray Bat ey, w ith 173 point s. Batey card ed 8-2 finishes today, his second-race improveme nt att ributed to a better rain setu p. Stanton was a consistent 5-4. The most con sisten t ride r on the da y, next to Kling, was Team Labelle's Dave Sadow ski. The Geor gian fini shed thi rd I ..... ;.... P-. -c 16 twice on a consfantly evolvi ng H onda CBR900, a bike he w as racing for th e first time in its current trim. . "I just di dn' t have it tod ay," Sad owski sa id . "We' re ge ttin g ba ck into thi s. . We' re making po int s." Second in the first leg wen t to Ada ms Racing's Curtis Adams, who briefly led th e secon d leg bef o re d ropp in g b ack and then dropping out. RACE ONE Th e 32- rider fie ld was greeted by unseason abl y cold tem peratures in the low to mid-50s an d a light, mistin g dri zz le that soaked th e 2.5-mil e, 12- turn Road Atlanta circuit. Rain tires were the order of the day, th ou gh the y were in sho rt supply an d more th an one ra cer wa s left scrambling. Sadowski got the holeshot, but Kling (Top) Chuck Graves (34), Tray Bate y (3), Fritz Kling (2) and the rest of the Formula USA pac k blast into turn one during a rainy day at Road Atlanta. (Above) Kling was in a class by himself In the wet, winning both legs. (Left) David Sadows ki leads Kling through the asses. was qu ickly by and pulling away by the second lap. Just as easily, Sadowski was leavin g the field as the othe r struggled to catch up. Four laps passed and Kling ha d better than five seconds wi th Sado wski second, then a three-w ay batt le for th ird b etw een G ra ves Mot orsp or ts' Chuc k Graves, Valv oline Su zu ki's Stanto n, an d The People 's Ne two rk 's Dou g Pol en . Polen was ru nning a stock motor in his 1996 Suzuki GSXR750.T afte r his race mo tor blew up in pr act ice. All was goin g swi mm ingly until the end of the seven th lap when Iagerm eister's Michael Fitzpatr ick crashe d at the top of the esses in turn five, his Yamaha FZR750 catching fire. "1 w a s co n fi dent that Fr itz di d n ' t kno w I was there. 1 kept it to the ins ide (to make the pass) and wa s able to stick it ins id e h im. " Ada m s s a id t hat tire wear p revented h im from makin g a run at Klin g for the wi n and that th e track was t reache rous. "The w h ole t im e y ou ' re right on th e edge in th e rain . Every second of eve ry lap."

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