Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

_ _~;;:::::==--:::::~w u z w a: ~ >a: a: :) >co Vl ~ , o I a. (Above) Doug Polen (296) leads Thomas Stevens (19), Greg Tysor (67), winner Mike Harth and Scott Gray in B Production Expert action. (Below) Dave Despain (200) leads Shannon Silva in the B Production Novice class. Mark Gruber (Rtx) won the Pro class at the Loon Lake ice race. Barth, Swims charge at WERA RoebliDgRR By Larry Lawrence. FAULKVILLE, GA, MAR. 16 Mike Harth and Dean Swims highlighted action at the "VERA regional held at Roebling Road Raceway. Harth rode his RSC/ Harth Racing/Shoei/Tsubaki/SuperTrapp/ Wiseco-backed Suzuki GSXR750 to victories in the B Superbike race as well as the supercompetitive B Production race, in which Harth took home $1000 from uzuki. Swims, on the other hand, continues his successful return to racing by taking commanding wins in the A Superbike race as well as the F-I contest on his monster-motored Honda CBIIOOF. There were several notable Roebling first-timers, including Deuton Motorcycle Center's Doug Polen, the first winner this year of the GSXR Suzuki series, and Californian Scott Gray on his Eurocycle/Dunlop/Foxl Yoshimura GXSR750. Suzuki GSXRs c9mpletely dominated the A and B Production classes. In the A Production Expert race the top five riders were GSXRIIOOmounted and in the B Production Expert class the first 14 riders were on GSXR750s. The Yamaha FZs that dominated these classes so completely last year were few and far between. The concentration on the riders' faces was evident at the start o[ the B Production race. As many as eight riders had a very good chance of winning the race, all being within a second of each others' lap times during the practice sessions. As the green flag dropped, Polen got the jump and led into turn one with the rest of the pack breathing down his neck. Polen helda very slim lead over a dicing group that consisted of Ron Ewerth, Greg Tysor, Gray, Harth and Jeff Dean, mainly in that order. Tysor's brakes locked up on him coming into turn onerightin front of four other riders. Gray started making his move and overtook Polen by lap three. Thomas Stevens is used to being in contention fonhe win but he dropped out early with a badly fading shock on his GSXR. Gray set a blazing pace setting a new track re!:~rd for produc- tion bikes at 1:IS.7 during the race. Unfortunately for Gray, the compound selection on hi Dunlop radial proved to be too soft and the tires started going away by lap five. Polen, Harth and Ewerth slipped by Gray as the race came down to the wire. On the la t lap it was Polen, Harth and Ewerth separated by inches. Harth's experience at Roebling paid off as he set up Polen for the pass on turn five going low into the left handel', causing Polen to pull upjust enough for Harth to get by. On the last corner, it was Ewerth's turn to use his strategy and he drafted by Polen in the high-speed turn. At the checkered flag it was Harth by a bikelength over Ewerth (second) and Polen (third). Gray held on for fourth and Jeff Dean finished fifth. After the race the 29-year-old Harth commented "Us old men can still beat these kids. This was my first race on the uzuki and each lap I was gettingabeuer [eel for the bike. I was following Gray for a while, then his tire started to go. After I got by Gray I knew I could get by Polen; his inexperience here hurt him." In the process of getting by Polen on the last lap, Harth matched Gray's early lap of I: IS.7. The Suzuki train kept right on rolling along in the A Production race. This time it was the GSXRlloo's turn to show its capability. A light rain started as the big production bike~ rolled 0[[ the line and it was to have a definite effect later in the ra e. Bart Petersen, Polen and Doug' Chancey quickly separated themselves from the field early in the contest. By lap five of Ihe 10-lap race, Chancey begalJ to fade, but the Polen, Peterson duel was just heating up. The two traded the lead several times but on the white flag lap it was Polen by two bikelengths. Petersen started to go around Polen on !he last turn but he pushed just a bit too hard on the slightly wet track and got completely sideways, allowing Polen to win by a one-second • • • • L.J • • • • • • • • • • Piekos, Browne lock up Loon Lake ice titles By Linda Blum ANTIOCH, IL, MAR. 9 margin. Polen took home 1250 from Suzuki for his work on the big and bigger GSXR. Polen talked afterwards on the comparisons between the 750 and the 1100 G XRs. "At this track the 1100 is about a half second faster. You can tell the 1100's weight in the corners. It loads up the suspension a bit more and you 10 e a little ground clearance. But it makes up for thaton the straight: this thing really flies." Speaking of flying, no bikeat Roebling accelerated out of the corners quite like the 1100 Honda uperbike of Dean Swims. wims went virtually unchallenged in the Formula One race. In the A Superbike race, however, Stewart Edenfield made Swims work [or the victory as he challenged Swims until the last two lap when Swims finally made his getaway. Greg Tysor went home $700 richer thanks to his win in the Honda 500 Interceptor race. This makes two in a row for Tysor, who won the first Interceptor race at Talladega in February. Scott Gray rashed his bike in that race but got back on and finished eighth. Ron Ewerth finished a close second behind Tysor, followed by Donnie Rowe (fourth) and Chip Terrell (fifth), who also had a race long ballie. • Results A PROD EX: 1. Douglas Polen (Suz): 2. Bart Petersen (GSXR); 3. Doug Chancey (Suz). A PROD NOV; 1. Glenn Kamphausen; 2. Nathan Carft (Han). B PROD EX: 1. Mike Harth (Suz); 2. Ron Ewerth (Suz): 3. Douglas Polen (Suz). B PROD NOV: 1. Dave Despain (Suz); 2. David Dearing (Kaw); 3. Clem Kemphauaen. C PROD EX: 1. Bart Peterson (Yam); 2. Tim Wilson (Yam); 3. Ron Ewerth (Yam). C PROD NOV: 1. David Dearing (Kaw); 2. Russell Maffitt (Han); 3. Pet Chandler (Yam). o PROD; 1. Thebaut Dutton (Yam); 2. Mike Hicl

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