Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Suzuki'. Kevin Schwantz was the fastest rider on the track a. he led for 34 laps; here the Texan Ieltd. Rainey early in the race. Schwantz led by 13.2 second. on lap 34 when he tried to go around the outside of a lapped rider in the chicane end lost the front end. cold tires as he charged off towards the International Horseshoe with a lead over Schwantz with Shobert third. As the pack entered the banking for the fust time it was Rainey leading Schwantz, Shobert, McMurter, Tsujimoto, Goodfellow, Chivington, AnderssOn, Marshall and Michel Mercier. Schwantz dove hard into turn one at the start of lap lWO, but he couldn't get by Rainey; the first runnin~ lap time had been a 1:57.5 for Ramey. Shobert, meanwhile, was staying close as those three began to put dislance on the field. Tsujimoto found a way around McMurter 'to take over fourth. Filice was out with an engine that, "vibrated so bad my feet wouldn't Slay on the pegs." Schwantz took over to lead at the end of two laps and after a trip through the infield, held a six bike length lead over Rainey. Shoben was working hard in third and struggling to keep pace as a heart-stopping slide on the exit from turn six displayed The leading duo began to pull clear from the Grand National Champion. Lap three saw Chivington disappear from the fray with a blown motor as McMurter was a clear fourth and ahead of a heated battle between Mercier. Marshall, Ashmead, Andersson and Goodfellow; Polen, meanwhile, was on the move and was catching the dicing group in front of him. On lap four Shobert was in the chicane kicking dirt on his burning VFR. "I got in too hard, used too much front brake and lost'the front end," Shobert said. '''1 didn't even hit the hay bales, but the bike caught on fire. It's a real bummer. You spend all these weeks here and then crash; it's my fault and it's a real letdown for everybody." . Shobert's crash moved Tsujimoto into a safe third ahead of McMurter, who also felt secure. Polen had joined the battle for fifth with Marshall, Andersson, Ashmead, Goodfellow and himseH changing positions all over the racetrack; Mercier had crashed himseH out of the race. By the sixth lap, however, Marshall had broken free and was now challenging McMurter for fourth place. Schwantz turned identical 1.57.6-minute laps on the sixth and seventh go-arounds. The Schwantz/Rainey battle unfolded on lap eight when the duo encountered traffic for the first time. Schwantz got aggressive, attacking the lapped riders as if his life depended on it. The hard charge paid dividends as Schwantz suddenly broke clear from the more reserved Rainey. As they took to the banking on lap eight, the Texan led the CaliIornian by U seconds. On lap nine it was 1.5, on lap 10 it had increased to 2.9 and on lap 11 the gap between the two was 3.2 seconds. Schwanu was clear and Rainey seemed content to let him go. Meanwhile, Tsujimoto trailed Rainey by over 20 seconds and still farther back was the racing battle ·that now consisted of Polen, McMuner, Marshall and Andersson with Goodfellow and Ashmead dropping slightly off the pace. . On the 15th lap, Schwanu turned a 1.57.7 lap as he continued to lead Rainey by over three seconds. On lap 18, Rainey got a scare as a lapper was tossed into a giant slide in turn six, right in front of Rainey's Honda. Schwanu led by 4.6 seconds. The first scheduled pit stops started with both Schwantz and Rainey entering pit road on lap 19. Schwanu got gas, Rainey got gas and tires and Schwantz was suddenly 15 seconds ahead of his rival. By lap 21, the gas stops changed the order to read Schwantz, Rainey, Tsujimoto, Andersson, Goodfellow, Marshall, Polen, Jeff Farmer, Mike Harth, McMwter and Ashmead. Schwanu continued to pull away and on lap 27 led Rainey by 16.8 seconds. Polen had moved into fourth with a good lead over Marshall; by this time Schwantz had lapped up to ~ixth placed McMurter. 'Lap 28 'sifw Schwantz run wide in turn six, almost running off the track before coming to a near stop and turning the Suzuki back to the desired westerly direction. Marshall dropped out on lap 31 with a blown engine on the Skoal Bandit Suzuki. With 33 laps under his belt and a 13.2-second lead, it seemed that Schwanu would firtally get the evergrowing monkey named Crash off his back and would cruise to that long-awaited, all-important win. He had shown he was the fastest on the track and now the only question seemed to be if the Suzuki would last. But suddenly on the 34th lap, number 34 crashed in the chicane while trying to pass a backmarker. Eyewitness reports indicate that Schwantz was ~sing the lapper around the outsIde when he lost the front end; the 22-year-old was taken to the hospital with a badly cut right hand. Lap 36 saw Andersson end his day with a first turn crash; the Swede lost the front end. The entire race suddenly changed as Rainey was in command. The Californian held a 28.9-second lead over Tsujimoto on lap 41, after both had added fuel and new tires (Rainey on lap 38 and Tsujimoto on lap 40)~ and had already lapped the thirdplaced Polen. McMurter held fourth with Ashmead and Goodfellow. struggling over fifth. Goodfellow took over fifth for good on lap 53; Harth was seventh on the track, but would later be penalized a lap for a start line infraction. The order held to the finish. "The only problem I had was running off the track in turn one early," Polen said. "It was a lot of fun out there. I enjoyed that big battle." Polen had also worn through his left boot after catching his foot between the peg and the pavement while traveling at 160 mph on the banking. "The biggest problem was wind," Rainey said "It was getting real bad. I wasn't as aggressive in traffic as he (Schwantz) was. I knew I could catch him and it might have worked on him knowing that I was catching him. I didn't need to go that pace after he crashed It's hard to back down, but I did." Fourth-placed McMuner's Yamaha broke something in the clutch mechanism before the first gas stop and the bike locked the rear wheel entering pit lane, causing him to skid to a stop. "It cost us 43 seconds in the pits, so it cost us third place, but we're pleased." "Our problem was no power," Goodfellow said. "We were about five mph down, but we just went for it and tried to be conservative." The provisional results released on Sunday afternoon caused inslant protests and plenty of them. At presstime on Monday, March 9, the AMA only had the top 14 postions resolved The chan~ in the top 14 were Larry Shorts m ninth instead of his initial posting of 18th, and din ·tracker Rodney Farris in 14th, not 24th. . • Results CAMEL CHALlENGE: 1. W..,..,. Reiney (Hont 2. KllYin Schwentz (Suzt 3. S810shi Tsuji...(Suzl: 4. Roger Mershell (Suzl; 5. John Ashmeed (Hon); 6. Rueben McMurter (yem). 200 fINAl: 1. W..,..,. Rainey (Hcint 2. ~ Tlujimoto (Suzt 3. Doug Polen (Suz); 4. R _ McMurter (Vemt 5. Gery Goodfellow (Suzl; 6. John Ashmead (Hont 7. Scott Cantrell (Suz); 8. lIInce Jones (Yemt 9. lIIrry Shorts (Suzt 10. Trevor Nlltion (Yem); 11. GlIOIf fowle< (Yemt 12. Keith HUllWlln(Yemt 13. R.....I Peulk(Suz); 14. Rodney Ferril (Vem) 15. Doug Chendler (Hon t 16. Brill TurkingtOn (Suzt 17. Dnid Strobel (Suzl; 18. MiIl8 Herth (Suz); 19. Jell fermer (Yemt 20. Oevid Kieffer (Hon); 21. Ricky Grehem (Kew); 22. Doug Renfrow (Suzt 23. Kevin Rantzell (S"uz); 24. Carry Andrew (Honl; 25 JeIIrey Atwell (Suz); 26. St_ Nerdiello (Yem); 27. KllYin Bleil (Kew): 28. Jim Sherrill (Yem); 29. Peul Schwemmer (Hon); 30. Deiter lIIne (Yem). AMAICAMEL PRO ROAD RACE STANDINGS: 1. Weyne Reiney (20); 2. Setoshi TlujimOlo (16t 3. Doug Polen (13t 4. R_n McMurter (II); 5. Gery Goodfellow (10); 6. John Ashmeed (9); 7. Scott Cantrell (Bt B. lIInce Jones (71; 9. Shorts (81; 10. R.....II Peulk (51: 11. Douq Chend (41; 12. Rodney ferris (31; 13. 8ritt TurkIngton (2 14. Devid Strobel (1). TIME OF RACE: One hour. 53 minutes. 18.86f _. AVERAGE SPEED: 106.827 mph. MARGIN OF VlCTORV: 17.209-'

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