Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

: . ~ ~ .. , Gary Goodfe llow had his best outing of the season to f in ish third beh ind Shobert and Filice; the New Zealand Suzuki pilot ta llied a 5-4. - 'The o fficia l order for hea t ra ce o ne was Fili ce, Goodfellow, Chivingt on, Gray and Australia n Craig T ri nder. Rainey and Shobert were' credi ted with 19th a n d 20t h. H eat : num ber two was a ll Sch wa n tz as he cleared away from the ' pack ·an d wo n easi ly, beatin g Kosar Raci ng 's Doug Pol en by seven seco nds. Ran dy Renfrow rode h is Vance & H in es Suzuki to third with R u eben McMurter fourth and Rich ard Arna iz fifth. In the fina l practice session on Sunday, Ren fro w jo ined Kosa r Ra cing's Ottis Lance on th e d isab led list as he crashed th e Suzuki in tum seven, dis locating his right sh ou lder. La nce, who crashed hard in tu m eigh t on Friday, br ok e hi s right femur in six p laces . National T he first 33-lap, 100-ki lometer segmen t got underw a y with Schwantz ge tting a flyer and leadi n g into tu rn one a head o f Fili ce an d Po len. Whe n the p ack en ded the first lap it was Schwantz, Fil ice, Po len , Goodfellow, Chi vin~ton , T ri n der and , u n believably, Ramey. Schwantz d ip ped d irectl y into th e I:08s to pull clear from th e p ack; Ra in ey m oved into fifth after la p two and wa s 4. 17 seco nds d o w n o n Sch wa ntz . Shobert, meanwhile, was charging at a less-dra ma tic pace a nd was 12th after the seco nd lap . By th e fourth la p Rainey was by Pol en a nd by la p five he wa s past Filice. H e was n ' t, however, gai ning o n Schwantz a nd after five lap s th e Texa n led b y 5.62 seco nds, after turning a 1:08.18. The lead con ti n ued to grow as Ra in ey started feeling th e probl ems associated with a deteriorating rear tire ; by th e 12th lap Schwantz led by 8.55 seconds. Meanwhile, Pol en had gotten by Fili ce and Shobert had passed Goodfellow to move into fifth; Chivington had become a vict im of th e co rkscre w. On lap II , Shobert zapped Filice and sta rted a ch arge on Pol en. Goodfel low wa s comfortable 'in sixth with Gray h o ldi ng down seventh. . By the 19th la p , Schwantz had slowed the pace, fall ing into the 1:09ra nge wh ile sti ll pulli ng clear from Rain ey. As the pack co m p leted la p 22, Ra in ey ca me by th e start/finis h lin e a t a slow pace, sitti n g up th rough turns two an d three an d ridi ng th e VFR750 ba ck to th e p its. His rear tire featu red a fis t-sized bubb le o n th e tread , ca us i ng a vibratio n th at a t first Ra in ey thought was a loosen in g en gin e. H e then looked down to see the tire " co m in g apart" a nd decided enough was . enough. After a tire cha nge, the so uth ern Cal i forn ia residen t wa s back in th e fra y, bu t a la p behind. Shobert wa s ga in in g on Polen in what wa s to be the la st lap but h e hit neutral go ing into turn four a nd " j us t coasted through." It wa s lucky for Pol en th a t h e did because th e Suzuki pilot a lmost cras hed in th e corkscrew , went o ff and over th e co nc rete area and returned to th e tr ack , sti ll h o ld in g down secon d pl ace. A dram atic cras h in tu rn seven saw P inksta ff lyin g in th e m iddle o f th e track, halfway dow n th e h ill to ward tu rn eight. The red -flag was th ro wn with Schwa ntz taking the wi n over Po len, Shobert, Fi lice, Goodfellow and Gray. Controversy then started in th e pits. Most were ha ving tir e wear problems and u n li ke the factory H on da a nd Suzu ki teams. most didn 't have spare whee ls. T he AMA decided it wo u ld be unsafe to restart the race a nd th e firs t segment became o fficia l. Schwa n tz an d Pol en ga ined the most o u t o f th e o rdeal with Shobert a n d Ra in ey losing o ut. Shobert, with fresh rubber, wou ld p robably h ave beat en Pol en o n th e restart, a n d Ra in ey wo u ld have ended up bett er th an 12th. " Look a t th e front tire, it's gone," Pol en sa id o f his soft Dunlop 639 , co m pou n d tire. " I guara n tee I en d u p third if they restart it." " We ll , a lrig h t, " was Pol en 's reacti on to th e news th at th e race would n ot be restart ed. " T h ey sai d th e tir e guys said it was unsafe," a dejected Ra in ey sai d . " I did n ' t see m y guys up th ere, bu t th ey sai d th ey were. If we' ve (Du n lo p) got th at b ig of a prob lem, why a m l ou t here?" R a in e y 's tire prob lem was exp la ined by Peter In gl ey. "There wa s a m uch h igher track tem perature than we've seen a ll week. We did q u it e a bi t o f testi ng a nd th e riders li ke a particular combination. T h e left hand shoulder just basically overhea ted and cooked. T he left side ta kes a real beating h ere. The heat m akes it like a sponge and it pumped up like an egg." Shobert's rear Dunlo p was identica l to th e one Ra in ey had used, but the T exan wa s a p parently a little easier o n it. T h e seco nd segment go t underw ay i n simi lar fas hio n . Sch wa ntz sp ri nt ed a wa y from th e field and led Pol en , Fil ice, Goodfe llow and, yes, Ra in ey. Shobert was taking it eas ier th an he di d in the first race, and was way back at th e end of th e fir st la p.' By th e seco nd la p , Sch wantz had 3.2 1 seco nds o n th e fou rth-placed Rain ey. By la p five Rain ey wa s in seco n d pl ace, but fallin g 4.5 seco n ds behi nd hi s riva l Schwantz. Mea n w hi le, Pol en led a close Fi lice/ Goodfell o w battle with Gray, Shobert and Arna iz fo llo wing. Richard Arnaiz (27) leads Scott Gray (258) through the famous corkscrew early in the f irst segment; Gray finished fourth with Arnaiz sevent h , On la p six, Schwantz turned a I:08.08 while co ntin u ing to p u ll clea r o f Rainey. O n lap I I, T exa s/ Su zu ki led California /Honda by 7.45 seco n ds with Pol en lead in g Fil ice and Goodfellow; Shobert was gain . ing about a seco nd a lap. At th e en d of lap I I, Sch wantz h it th e deck in th e first gea r turn ni n e. " I lost the front end, so I go t o n the gas to ge t th e rear to slide ," a depressed Schwa n tz sa id. " I got the back end sliding like I wa nted a nd th en it h ooked up. I was just cru ising. If I go a ny slower I don' t feel right a nd I start screw ing u p th e co rne rs:" Ra iney was surprised 'wh en he exited tu rn n in e and saw the n u m ber 34 Suzuki o n it s side. " It just goes to show that a nythi ng ca n happen in ra cing, " Rainey said. " I co u ldn ' t beli eve it. I kn ew he was n't getti ng away, but when I saw th e bike I didn 't know wh o it was. I sa w th e number wh en I went b y." All eyes th en focused o n th e battle for seco nd because wh oev er took th a t ' spot would en d up being th e overall winner . Po len held it o n lap 16 with Fi lice still ho ldin g o ff Sh obert . O n lap 16, Filice hit th e o n/off ig nition switch goin g past th e start / fin ish line and Sh obert flew past. Filice realized what had happened , flicked th e switch back o n and too k o ff a fter Sh o bert, who t houg h t F i l ice 's Yam aha had blown u p. Ra in ey led Polen by m ore than 10 secon d s o n la p 17 wi th Shobert sta rt in g to reel-in the Kosar Racing pi lot. On the 18th la p , Po len ran into Da ve Em de goinz through tu m seven , sen d ing Emde to th e ha y bal es ' a nd himself to th e d irt. Pol en wa s unhurt a nd Emde wa s taken to th e ho spital. " I went o n th e in side o f two lapped riders ," Po len sai d. " We to uched an d it stood both of us up. I got it turned as much as I co u ld a n d was h ea din g toward th e bal es. I turned it into a fu ll-lock slideon th e dirt a nd g la nced o ff th e h ay bal es. T he n I got into so me deep sa nd a nd it d umped over." T he race for th e win was now betw een Shobert a nd Fi lice as Fi lice sta rte d gain ing o n Shobert. O n lap 30 th e di stan ce bet ween the two was 1.6 seco nds but that d windl ed to o n ly bike len gths at th e checkered flag. Shobert held on for seco nd behind Rainey to ta ke th e overa ll wi n. Fi lice , G ood fell o w, Tom Walther , Gray and Arnaiz followed . " I th ou gh t J im bo (Fi lice) h ad blo wn a n engi ne," Shobert said. " I didn 't kn ow who it was behi nd me. I had th e tire problem (Way ne 's ) on m y m ind and I lost the cus h ion that I had. I saw cras hes all over th e place right in front of me. You don 't like to win 'em like this, but I' ve lost 'em lik e th is." " I wa nted to beat h im ," Filice sa id. " Bu t I didn 't want to do a ny th ing stu p id - it 's m y first fin ish this yea r. " " I had to stay in h is (Fili ce' s) slipstream because h is bike reall y pu lls m e," G oodfell ow sa id . " We hit some traffi c a nd he got th rough it a little bett er. Then I just cruised to th e finish." Results SUPERBIKE: 1. Bubba Shoben (Han); 2. J im my Fili ce (Yam); 3. Gary Go odf ell ow (Suz); 4 . Scott Gray (Suz); 5. W ayne Rain ey (Han); 6. Tom W alt her (Han); 7. Richard Arnaiz (Yam); 8. Sam McDonald (Yam); 9. Larr y Short s (Kaw); 1D. Rueben McMuner (Yam); 11. Doug Polen (Suz); 12. Russell Paulk (Suz); 13. Kevin Schwantz (Suz); 14. Carry Andrew (Suz); 15. Ricky Orl ando (Han); 16. J eff Hagan (Suz); 17. St even Dick (Ho n); 18 . David Kieffer (Han ); 19 . Stephan Crevier (Yam); 20 . Douglas Gere (Yam). AMA SUPERBIKE POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Wayn e Rain ey (10 2); 2. Kevin Schwantz (14 ); 3. Bubba Shob en (70); 4 . Doug Polen (51); 5. Gary Good · fellow (4 1); 6. Dan Chiv ingto n (39); 7 . Rueben McMuner (37); 8. Doug Chand ler (33); 9. Larry Shon s (22); 10. Tom Wa lth er (2 1); 1 1. (TIE) J immy Filice /Satosh i Tsujimoto/Onis Lance (16); 14. Jeff Farmer (14); 15. Doug Brauneck (13). 13

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