(Above) Wayne Rainey leads Kevin Schwenn and Bubba Shobert early in the Daytona 200; Rainey won while Schwann and Shobert both crashed in the
chicane. (Below) Rainey and Honda engine builder Rob Muzzy celebrate in vfctory circle.
.
AMA/Camel Pro Road Race Series:
Round 1.
If's 'Rainey's way in
Daytona 200
By Paul Carruthers
Photos by Henny Ray Abrams
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 8
Team Honda's
the. inaugur~l
spnnt race In
.International
Wayne Rainey dominatedfive-lap Camel Challenge
the morning at Daytona
Speedway and then led
the only laps that counted to
win the Daytona 200 by Arai .
.
d b ak'
£ h'
In r«:cor
re Ing as IOn
later: 10 the afternoon.
Rainey's two wins plus his heat
race victory gave him the lion's share
of the $165,000 purse and he walked
away with over $30,000.
"I came here to ride my own race
and to do what Wayne Rainey
wanted to do," the 27-year-old
Californian said "I've watched this
race a lot of times and you have to
finish Daytona to win Daytona"
Finish he did. After trailing Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz for 33 laps,
Rainey took over' the lead when the
Texan crashed. The former Superbike champ never looked back as he
went on to score the biggest win of
his career, lapping the field up to
second place while breaking 1986
winner Eddie Lawson's. race record;
Rainey completed. the 200 miles in
one hour, 53 minutes, 46.269
seconds. Seco~d place went to
Schwantz' conSIstem and smooth
Suzuki teammate Satoshi Tsujimoto; the Japanese rider finished
17.2 seconds behind Rainey. Texan
Doug PoLen completed the top three
aboard a Kosar Racin~ Suzuki
GSXR750 in his best-ever National
performance.
. Rueben McMurter rode his clutchless, Yamaha Canada-sponsored
Yamaha FZR750 to a fourth place
finish with fellow Canada-resident
Gary Goodfellow rounding out the
top five. John Ashmead rode his
Honda VFR750 to sixth place and
was the final rider to complete 56
laps in the 57-lap event. Rainey
lapped the rest of the field at least
twice with Scott Cantrell, Lance
Jones, Larry Shorts and England's
Trevor Nation rounding out the top
10 while completing 55 Laps.
The return of three-time World
