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/126971
Yoshimura Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz won his second National in a row at Road America. Gary Goodfellow (11) leads Dan Ch ivington (5 3 ) and Doug Chandler (10) in their battle for fifth place. AMA/Superbike Road Race Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 5/7 Schwantz wins his secondat Road America By Paul Carruthers Photos by Werner Fritz and Randy Marrs ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 28 It may have taken a while to get the first one, but Nation al win number two came q uickl y for Kevin Schwantz as the Yosh im ura Suzu ki pilot dom inated Superbike 10 action at Road America. The Yoshimura Suzu ki / I Michelin/ Arai-bac ked Texan streaked away at the start, led by turn five and was never headed as he successfully followed up last week's win at Loudon. Once again, it was Team Honda's Wayne Rainey who finished beh ind Schwantz in the National, keep ing his strong hold on both the road race and Camel Pro championship point lead. Third place at Road America went to Kosar Racing's Doug Polen in his best National finish since his similar third place at Daytona in March. Honda's Grand National Cha mpion, Bubba Shobert, finished fourth with Doug "Frequent Flyer" Chandler finishing fifth; Chandler left the Road America facility after the heat races on Saturday, flew to "Lima, Ohio, and finished third in the half mile dirt track National; he then zipped back to Road America for his fifth place finish. Schwantz averaged 101.123 mph during the 15 lap s on Road America's immacu late l-t-turn, four-mile road circuit. Schwantz topped Rainey by 14.550 seconds. . While it was Schwantz who went home with the 20 points, it was Rainey who went home with most of the money. The southern Ca lifornian hel d off Schwantz to capture the $10,000 winner's share of the $17,500, five-lap Camel Challenge. Schwantz took home $4030 for his win in the National plus $2500 for second p lace in the challenge. Thursday's practice saw Schwantz crashing the big Suzuki on the slippery circuit. "I had new tires on with just a couple of laps on 'em and 1 lost the front end," Schwan tz said. "It was a com bination of it being ki nd of cool and having new tires." Schwantz felt he needed extra time to set up the Yoshimura Suzuki, and elected to run the AMAlCCS Endurance race on Saturday afternoon. " I' Il just go out and try some stuff and come in and try some more different stuff," Schwantz said prior to do ing exactly that. Rainey and Team Honda, meanwhile, seemed to be the confident ones at Road America. The track, with its long straightaways, seemed to fit the H onda VFR750 like a glove; Rainey was coo l, calm and relaxed. Road America saw the return of John Ashmead. The Honda p ilo t hadn 't raced since his crash in the Transatlantic Match Race Series in England. " It 's (h is left hand) still pretty sore," Ashmead said. " It starts hurting after about five laps. It gives me tro uble braking and I' m still a little gun shy out there. " Wh ile Ashmead returned, Yamaha's J immy Filice had departed. Xrays on his injured hand from Loudon showed he had broken a finger. Filice's Yamaha stayed in th e back of h is truck and Filice stayed home in Cal ifornia. Heat race number one was a Rain ey benefit. The H o nda ace nailed the start on his Sparky Edmonston/ Rob Muzzy-prepared, Dunlop-clad VFR750 and was neve r threatened. As lap one came to an un dramatic close, Rainey held a l ar~e lead over a battle between Da n Chivin gto n, Chandler, Shobert, Jeff Farmer and the Kawasaki of Larry Shorts. On lap two , Chandler held second with Shobert also moving past Ch ivington to take over third. O n la p three it was Shobert in th e runner-up slot and that's how if stayed to the finish. Chandler held for third with Chivington fourth and Shorts fifth. Rainey beat Shobert b) more than 16 seconds. H ea t two saw New Zea landtransplant Gary Goodfellow grabbing the ho leshot with Schwanu fourth into turn one. At the end of one, however, it was Schwantz leading Polen, Goodfellow, Rueben McMurter and Ashmead. Schwantz broke clear from th e pack, taking Pol en with h im. The two held o n for a comfortable onetwo finish , with Schwantz winning by almost six seconds. Goodfello w finished third with McMurter and Ashmead rounding out the top five. Nobody expected Schwantz' heal race to be quicker than Rainey's but it was - j ust. Schwantz had turned in his five laps in II mi nutes, 58.9 seconds wh ile Rain ey did the same in II minu tes , 59. 1 seconds. A difference of .2 of a second. Who turned the fastest lap? Well, that depends on whose watch you want to believe. Bo th had, however, put together times in the low 2:22ยท ra nge. Pol en was q uite p leased with his heat race result, stressing how irnportant it was for him to stay within the factory bikes' draft. "We've got to make this interesting," he said. "So far they've o nly been two -rider races." Chandler was back in Wisconsin o n Sunda y mo rn ing after finis hin g