Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kevin Schwantz (34) and Wayne Rainey (6) led the American team to an easy victory over the British. Gary Goodfellow surprised many with his third place finish in the individual standings; he was only topped by Schwantz and Rainey. 17th Annual Transatlantic Challenge England no match 'for United States By Dave Despain Photos By Henny Ray Abrams LONDON, ENGLAND, APR ll-13 A team of ION orth American road racers scored a stunning upset in the nine-race, 17th Annual Shell Oils Transatlantic Challenge, held Easter weekend at two of England's most famous tracks. The Americans we-re led by factory Superbike stars Wayne Rainey, on a Dunlop-shod 8 Honda VFR750, and Kevin chwantz, piloting a Michelin- equipped Suzuki GSXR750. They staged an often-spectacular, some~imes. acri~oniou~ battle for the mdivldual hlgh-pomthonors, WOrLh $5000 British pound (roughly 8500). The visitors had won only five times in 16 previous meetings, but their 1987 rider roster featured more depth than ever before. Camel Pro Series champ Bubba Shobert's Honda made it three fully factorybacked entries at the top of the order. Then came a solid line-up of privateers, including the third-throughsixth-place finishers in the Daytona 200; Doug Polen (Team Kosar/ Dunlop Suzuki), Rueben McMurter (Yamaha Canada/Dunlop Yamaha), Gary Goodfellow (Suzuki Canada/ Dunlop Suzuki) and John Ashmead (Peter Brady/Michelin Honda). Rounding out the line-up were Dan Chivington (GeeVee/Michelin Honda), making his third match race appearance; Michel Mercier (Suzuki Canada/Dunlop Suzuki), who raTlked third among American scorers and eighth overall in last year's loss to the British, and Ottis L;ince (Team Kosar/Dunlop Suzuki), who joined Goodfellow, Shobert and Polen as the series newcomers. The British, meanwhile, failed to assemble a top-flight effort. Team managers have not forgotten 1984, when Freddie Spencer crashed at the match races and hurt his foot. Generally speaking, GP campaigners have since been forbidden to ride and that took a quartet of hot young Brits - Roger Burnett, Kenny Irons, Niall Mackenzie and Rob McElnea - right out of the '87 picture. What's more, the Formula One TT Championship Series opened at Misani>, Italy, over the Easter weekend, occupying '86 match racer (and Misano winner) Paul Iddon, Isle of Man legend Joey Dunlop, and longtime match race star and Donington lap record nolder Roger Marshall. So the Brits were left with just one established tar, 10-year Tran atlantic veteran Ron Haslam. Released by the Elf Grand Prix team to ride.a Honda UK-prepared VFR and cocaptain the British squad, "Rocket Ron" suffered handling, from brake, motor and motivation problems and was no factor in the outcome. Behind him were an arrayed group of names known only to the most serious followers of British racing. For example, Daytona watchers may recall Trevor Nation, Geoff Fowler and Keith Huewen, who rode Yamahas to 10th, 11th. and 12th spots, respectively, in this year's 200. But they've probably forgotten Roger Hurst's ride to 57th place in the American classic. And if the name Jamie Whitham is not familiar, it's because the British 80cc pavement championship is not big stateside news! Whitham, who won that title last year, had ridden a 750 only twice prior to his match race starts, but he's a protoge of one of Britain's all-time greats, the now-retired team cocaptain Mick Grant. The man who proved to be "best of the British" wasn't even scheduled to be on the team. New Zealander Richard Scott is slated for the 500cc GPs this year on a Honda prepared by his countryman Ron Grant, former star of American racing who rode the match races for the U.S. team in 1972 and '73. Scott was a last-minute replacement for one Simon Buckmaster, whose ouster caused a great flap in the British press, and the new man led his team by finishing fourth overall. If the English riders were of lesser stature than the Americans, so too were their bikes inferior. American Superbikes, improved through 10 years of championships in this country, are built to more liberal rules with significantly more sophisticated parts than the so-called "superstocks" ridden by many of the British. And finally, the new scoring system also aided the Americans. The orisinal plan called for the top 10 firushers from each team to score points, but as attrittion whittled away at the U.S. side, the British generously gave away the only advantage they had, that of numbers. For example, only seven U.S. team members started the last three races, so the British quite sportingly counted only their best seven men as well. One highlight of the weekend was the series' return to its roots. In 1971, the famed Brands Hatch circuit, 30 miles southeast. of London, hosted the first Anglo-American match races. The Americans, led by Dick Mann, Donnie Castro and Dave Aldana, went down to a 183-137 defeat. Brands Hatch has not hosted the Transatlantic the past three years, but returned to the schedule with three 2o-mile races on Good Friday. And in the very first round there, the Americans threw a KO punch, sweeping nine of the first 10 positions and effectively ending the team competition. On Thursday, three 30-minute Transatlantic practice sessions provided early indications of American supremacy. Schwantz lapped the 1.2 mile circuit in 50 seconds £lat, then Rainey retaliated with a 49.9. Asked if the opposition seemed more at home on the tight Brands Hatch course, Polen smiled and said. "All I've seen is rear ends sliding, front ends diving and they're still doin' 52s!" Late in the day, a local rider lost a drain plug and streamed oil directly on the racing line for a half mile up the front straight and through the already-difficult Paddock Hill Bend. That slick would soon take it's toll. Friday Shobert became the first American casualty before the rubber was even warmed up in race day practice.

• Cover