Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Grand Nationa l Champion Bubba Shobert (6 7 ) leads Ricky Orlando (1 2 1 Jeff Heino (6 4). Jay Spring. steen (1291 and Satoshi Tsujimoto, (Below) Lawson at speed, -- 8 in p racti ce, qualifyin g or th e h eat races. Several h ad cras hed a t o ne point or a nother, in cluding Merkel (tw ice ), Baldw in , Fil ice, J ones, Shobert. Lawson hadn 't blown u p, hadn 't crashed , hadn 't had a problem . H e put o n new bo o ts for th e ra ce, Stvl Martins with a swa th of chec kered fla g design bu ilt in to th e o u tside of the foot. Lawson pointed to th e chec kered design an d sa id, " T h is is it. " Th e fla g dropped, and wh en th e race hit th e seco nd corner it was Lawson o u t front with Rainey seco nd and Schwantz thi rd , Fil ice a n d Baldw in tra iling . Ra in ey led o u t of the chi ca ne a nd around th e east ban ki ng, but La wson wa s again in from a t th e start/finish line a nd th en th e two wer e back in the infi eld . Schwa ntz was just behind, losing a 10th o f a seco n d h ere, a 10th th ere, pull ing away from the pac k but visibly strugg ling to keep to uch with Lawson a nd Ra in ey. Schwantz looked a little m ore despera te into th e corners, th e bike lea ned over a nd co m i ng in o n a tighter lin e, faster; Sch wa ntz a li ttl e less sm oo th on th e exit. n o t much , bu t there just th e sa me . La w so n lo oked effo rt le ss, th e Ya maha n ot slidin g or twitchi ng, Ra iney h ook ed on hi s rear tire. The pace was hot , Lawson 's first lap from a standi ng start 2:05.58, hi s second a I :58.37, hi s thi rd a I:57.95. Lap fo ur wa s ,I:58.53, laps five a nd six 1:57.53 and 1:57.25. Ra in ey was as fa st, slipp ing past Lawso n here a nd th ere. pull ing a little d istance, th en La wso n ins ta n tl y back ahead a nd several len gths in front . La wso n looked in co n tro l, looked to ha ve th e upper hand . If a ny th ing, Lawson 's Yamaha pulled harder just o ff th e co rner, a n d, if a ny th ing, Ra iney h ad a bi t o f to p speed , but it wa s a fair co ntest. It was on those fifth a nd sixth laps tha t Schwantz realiz ed th e pa ce was too hot, h e'd say lat er, kn ow in g th at h e'd h av e to ba ck off a littl e to be sure o f run ning th e d istan ce. It was a perfect opport u ni ty for Schwantz to ma ke th e mi stake of wanting it so bad th at h e co uldn 't j ud ge wh at he and hi s bi ke co u ld reasonabl y expect to do on th at track o n that da y for 200 m il es, But Schwantz d idn 't ia ke th e op portun ity to cra sh o r bl ow , didn 't gra b th e ch ance to not o n ly get beaten but a lso n ot fin ish . In stead , he backed it down , from hi s first few laps a t I:58.56 a nd 1:58.50 to I:59.94 a nd I:59.31 and 1:59.31 aga in. Tha t's w he re he' d ru n for th e next 40 laps , I:59 and so me 2:00s mixed in, every la p . Not Ra in ey. H e was o n La wso n, a nd o n La wson he'd sta y. Except the firi ng order of th e V-four Ho n das seems tough er o n tires th an th e even power impu lses of co m pe titive inlinefo u rs wh en th ey' re ru n hard at Da y- tona , and Ra in ey's Honda was being run hard on th e high banking o f Da ytona. Which brought him slowin g dramaticall y at the chicane, th en pulling into th e pits on the 15th lap, ch u n ks pitch ed o u t of h is Honda 's rear tire. The crew wa sn 't ready, a m echani c would say lat er , having been told by th eir ra d io m an th at Rainey was p arked in th e ch ica ne . So in ro lled Rainey, wanting a tire; by th e time he left, a bo u t 50 seco nds had been lost in th e p it al on e, a nd Lawson was long go ne . Mean whil e, priva teer Chivington an d th e FZ750 buil t by G eorge Vin cenz i was ' cu tt in g thro ugh th e field like a sha rk in sardines. Chivington had passed th e ent ire th ird wave by th e fir st corner , and was through the secon d wav e in five la p s. It was slower going for Chivington as he worked h is way through th e first wave, a nd it so m etime s too k h im a lap or two to p ass a ri der o r a clump o f rid ers ; he passed them, and kept mov ing forwa rd. At first , Mi ke H arth , a lso a third-wave starter due to q ua lifyi ng tro u ble, was moving at a bo ut th e sa me pace, a few pos itions, th en a dozen pos itions beh ind C hivi ngto n. To land , too, wa s m oving, less d ra m a rica llv. de termined to ru n the ca u tious race a nd fin ish. Fil ice was defendi ng his posi tio n , Baldwin , Tsuj imoto , Merkel, Sho bert, Kevin Schwantz; playing it smart fo r 200 miles. Springsteen, Ashmead, McMurter, J eff Heino. Orlando. Balling ton , Quar terley , Super Team's R icky Graham (Yam), Keit h' P in kstaff strin gin g out beh ind, separating into clumps, and getting down to the business of racing 200 miles. By the fif th lap, Filice was five seconds behind Schwantz; T sujirnoto had passed Ba ldwin and was gaining; Shobert was stalked by Springsteen; Ashmead, McMurter and Ba llin gto n were linked up; H eino battled Graham an d Orlando. Lawson and Ra iney were lapping traffic on th e seventh la p ; Tsujimoto was fourth , nine seconds behi nd Sch wantz, Baldwin a nd Merkel were hoo ked up for w ha t would be an a lmost-race-long di ce, and Fi lice was just behind. Springsteen passed Shobert. Quarterl ey wa s in th e pits with a serio us oil leak, a ca m plug having blown o ut. T raffi c was h eav y for th e leaders n o w, a n d T suj im oto gai ne d on Sch wa n tz until th ey h it cl u m ps of backmarkers , when Schwantz would pull it back. Even so , T sujimoto pulled up within three seconds of Schwantz. And th en th e gas sto ps sta rte d . Lawson refueled on lap 18 of 57 schedu led laps, leaving th e pits in 13 seconds. Schwantz pitted the same lap, and got out just abo u t as quickly. Tsujimoto di dn 't pit, a nd so led one lap across th e line, was caught and passed by Lawson a s he rode a ro u nd toward his own pit stop. T sujimoto had a slo w pit and slower restart . Ba ldw in and Merkel didn't pit until lap 20, when both pulled in. Lawson led Schwantz by about 24 seco nds on th e 26th lap; Tsujirnoto's slo wer sto p had in creased Schwantz's margin. Behind T sujimoro, Merkel passed Baldwin, Baldwin repassed . th eir battle heating up . J ust three laps lat er Ra iney, who had worked hi s way back u p into a bo u t sixt h in a fero cious charge a fter h is tire change, had to co m e in for yet a no ther tire; h e'd overhea ted a nd greased up h is tire. Shobert's bi ke had slowed down , a nd Spri ngs teen had left h im beh ind. By th e 30th lap, Springsteen was up to sevent h , just behind Fil ice and ga i ni ng, a nd a lready a head of Ballin gt on. O rla n do . a nd Kul ta lahti . Chivi ngton was 12th, Shobert 13th . Ch ivington wo u ld reach th e to p 10 before .h is Yamaha threw a not her rod. , When La wson mad e hi s second pit sto p o n la p 37, hi s crew added fuel and cha nged th e rear wh eel in 19.6 seconds ; before th e sto p , La wso n was ru nni ngcons istem l:58s; wh en La wso n retu rned to th e track , he cru ised tow ard th e fin ish with a strin g of

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