Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1987 05 27

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126963

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 9 of 75

Chivington leads Shorts and Shobert early in the National. Wayne Rainey (6 ) leads Kevin Schwantz (3 4 ), Dan Chivington (53), Bubba Shobert (67 ), Jeff Farmer (8 6 ) and Larry Shorts (20) during the first lap of the National at Road Atlanta; Rainey took the win . Ra iney and Schwantz were this close all weekend at Road A tlanta . Schwantz won most of the money, but Rainey won the National. AMA Superbike Road Race Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 2/3 Rainey nips Schwantz at.Road Atlanta By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams ' BRASELTON,GA,MAYl7 Like two starving wolves figh tin g for the final piece of raw mea t, T eam Honda 's Wayne Rainey and Yoshimura Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz battled bitterly for the entire distance at R o ad Atla nta . When the ba ttle ended, it was I R a in ey's h u n g er that satisfied. w ~s The Da ytona 200 winn er a nd cu rren t Camel P ro ' Ser ies p oint lead er fought back to pa ss early lead er Schwantz on the 18th o f 24 laps to take the lead and com mand o f the two-race old AMA Superbike Championship Ser ies. . T hird pl ace in the $30,000 race was tak en by Rainey's teammat e, AMA/ Cam el P ro Series cha m p Bubba Shobert. Fourth went to Hondamounted Dan Chivington, with Suzuki-mounted Mik e Harth rounding out the top five. Wh er e yo u ask, wer e Daytona runner -up Satoshi Tsujimoto a nd thi rd -pl ace Daytona finisher Doug Pol en ? . Both were di squalified fo llowing the two heat races for viol ati on of th e 390-pou nd Superbike minimumweig h t rule. Tsuj imoto had fini shed thi rd in the first heat a nd Pol en had wo n th e seco nd when th e AMA pu lled a su rp rise weig h-in. P ol en ' s Ko sar R a cing S u zu k i GSX R750 weighed-in a t a n a norexic 385.5 po u nds whi le th e Yoshimu ra Suzu ki o f T su jimo to tipped th e scales a t 386.5 pounds. Schwantz a nd Randy Renfrow a lso got a scare when the ir Suzukis were recorded a t 389.5 po unds; a half pound light. The heavi er H ondas (Ra iney , 405 pounds) .were not a factor in th e weigh -off that will probab ly become a regular attraction a t AMA road races in 1987. The Suzukis, o n th e o the r hand, ar e weighted with lead on the bottom of th e fram e a nd under th e sea t, obviously som e not as much as o thers. The sca les, however, were found to hav e a flu ctuation , ca used by wind, of ha lf a pound . Therefore, th e AMA decided it cou ldn' t p unis h those riders whose bikes were. only eig h t o un ces under th e l imit. Schwantz and Renfrow were off th e hook; the other two weren 't as fortunate. . "We have to draw the li ne," AMA referee Darrel Dova l told the Kosar .Racing and Yoshimura crews. The lin e was drawn and Po len and T sujiinoto were out. "We as ked th em if we cou ld weigh 'em befor e," Pol en said. "T hey sai d they didn 't hav e 'e m (scales). I'm not going down without a fight. This will cost us a lot over a whole year." Pol en's remarks were made while he awaited a decision on wh ether he could make th e final via the promot or op tio n. After finding o u t there was no wa y aro u nd th e problem , he wa s philosophical reg arding th e situa tion a nd ca lm ly went about his busin ess. T sujimoto wasn 't a t th e facility wh en the decision was handed down , leaving earl ier in the day for the comfort of his hotel. Yoshimura's Su ehiro Watanabe, however , wasn 't a happy man. "Honda a nd Yam aha ar e lucky people," he said. " T hey make such a heavy moto rcycle they don 't hav e to worry abou t .it, We provide such a ligh t, high -performance bike for th e co ns u me r, a nd it's not fair. We ar e not using a n y titanium/parts. We just tak e off th e lights/ and turn signa ls and other parts we don 't use. It 's just not fair. " . Schwantz wa s very co nfi de n t going into Road Atl anta. He sho wed th at co n fi de nce wh en th e fl a g dropped in heat race one. Coming from th e fourth row, th e T exan cha rged hard into tu rn o ne and follow ed o nly Rainey o n th e exit. Schwantz took o ver from the so u thern Californian for good o n lap three after th e duo turned times in th e low, one minute, 28-seco nd ran ge. Over nine seconds back was T su jimot o, foll owed by Van ce & Hinesbacked Renfrow, Sh obert a nd Harth. "Everything is perfect," Schwantz said with a wink aft er th e heat. " I pl ayed it coo l," Rainey said. " He passed me wh en the ambulan ce was th ere, and it 's hard to re-pass on thi s tra ck. " The ambulance was out to pick up a scraped a nd bruised' R ueben McM urter. Jimmy Fi lice's Yamaha was another casua lty , but it was o f the meclianica l kind; the FZR 750 ate two clu tch p lates. Heat two saw Chivington holeshot, but Pol en soon streaked into the lead. The Texan e nd ed u p winning the race by 3.3 seconds wi th Gee- Vee P erf.lMich elin / Castro l/ Shoei/Cam 2/Lectron/Fox/ D.I.Dsponsored Chivington another 13

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's - Cycle News 1987 05 27