Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

, Suzuki; all butending his hopes for the championship with a 13th place finish overall. So what was Sh obert doing all this time? Just playing it cool. The Texan-turned-Carmel Valley, California, resident rushed through the pack slower than Rainey in both segments, but he didn't overcook his rear tire. He wasn't turning lap times as quickly as Schwantz, but he didn't crash. What Shobert did do was win i his second-ever National road race. "He's crazy ; ' Shobert told the large crowd in regard to Rainey's slice through traffic. "I knew what I had to do and what I was cap able of doing. " , Going into Sunday 's final, it would have been hard to find someone th at would bet against Schwantz. The T exan had been the fastest in practice and had set th e fastest heat race tim e. Combine tha t with Rai, ney's appear ance o n the back row,. and things were looking bri ght for th e Suzuki star. , Most th ought th at Ra iney would carve thro ugh th e pack and give Schwa ntz a run, but few would have given Shober t th e credit he lat er showed he deserved. But this was a different Shobert than th e one that has been two seco nds off th e Schwan tz/Rain ey pace at th e previous five ro unds of the Superbike series. The difference appeared to be tires. Dunlop's Peter Ingley flew into Laguna Seca from En gland with a n ew 17-inch radial front tire for ' Rainey, Shobert an d 250cc pilot J ohn Kocinski. The tire is like the one Randy Mamola has been using on hi s Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yam aha YZR500 in th e World GPs~ Shobert took an i mmediate liking to th e 17-inch fron t radial, and his lap times showed it. The T exan was no longer off th e pa ce, but ins tead began turning lap times in th e 1:08-09range. , " With the bias-ply there was a round one (tread profile) and a more angled one," Shobert said. " O ne ' seem ed lik e it would put it on it' s side easy but felt harder to get it back wh ile th e o ther one was harder to ge t to turn. This one feels like a good co mpromise between th e two, but th e traction feels 'abo u t the same. But wh en this one (the radial) starts to go it feels more controlla ble." Rainey was taking longer to co me to grips with th e new radial , but still turned hi s best tim es o n th e tire and opted to use it in th e race. " I' ve done m y best tim e on it," Rainey said o n' Sunday morning. " Bu t it' s (the total s setup) still not quite right. The next session sho uld be better." The fir st Superbike heat sa w Goodfell ow grabbing th e hol esh ot while leading Rainey, Dan Chivington and Shobert into turn one. Rainey and Shobert, however, had jumped the gun. " H e (the flagman) held it so long, " Shobert said. " I went then I stopped, then I went, agai n . I thought everyone did it." . The race continued with Rainey leading Shobert while Fil ice, Goodfellow, Chivington and Kawa sakimounted Larry Shorts were in tow. The order held to the fini sh despite Shobert's last turn attempt at passing his teammate. I Shobert dove up th e inside into turn nine, but couldn't get a drive out as Rainey beat him to the flag . " He was still tu cked in when he went past me, " Ra iney said. " I was just hoping he was going too fast and he was." What about starting from th~ back? ''I'm going to have to get a hell of a start because Kevin will get away," Rainey said. " It will be fun," Shobert said. " Dangerous, but fun. " I Team Honda's Bubba Shobert put together 3-2 segment finishes towin his 27th career National. Jimmy Filice (17) rode his Yamaha to a second place finish; here he leads Doug Polen (23) who crashed while second in the second segment. AMA Superbike Road Race Series: Round 6 Shobe'rt surprises 'at Laguna Seca By Paul Carruthers Photos by Flyin' Past Photos' Mike & Dennis Scully MONTEREY, CA, J ULY 12 While the rest of the dirt track fraternity did battle in Hagerstown" Maryland, dirt tracker extraordinaire Bubba Shobert battled and beat a field of 53 road racers to win a suspense-filled Nissan 200 at Laguna Seca Raceway. , Team Honda s Shobert was there when he had to be , 12 combin ing hi s third place finish in the first 100 kilometer segment with his second place finish in the second portion of the event. The National win, Shobert's second of the season, put him in a tie with Joe Leonard fo~ f~urt~ on the all-time N.;ltional wmhstwlth27; theTexantraIisBa!t Markel by one, Kenn y Roberts by SI X and all-time leader J ay Sp ringsteen by 13. , T eam Yamaha's - Jimmy Filice helped wash away the memories of a luckless season by putting together a 4-3 tally to capture second place overall on his Yamaha FZR750;' his first finish of the season. Third place fell to N ew Zeal ander- turn edCa nada resid ent Gary Goodfell ow o n his Suzuki GSXR750 with a 54 tally. Northern California 's Scott Gray an d T eam H onda 's Wa yne Rainey ro unded out th e top five overall. It was a weekend of stra nge circumstances th at saw Shobert become th e first man other than Rainey and Kevin Sch wa n tz to win a Supe rbike Nation al in 1987. , T he suspense sta rted during Saturday's heat race number one as both Rainey and Shobert jumped th e start a nd were penalized a lap. T he two T eam H onda r iders mad e th e Na tio nal via the promo ter's option, but were for ced to start each segme nt from th e back row. In the first segme n t, Rainey, who had battled all th e way up to second beh in d firs t leg winner Schwantz, pulled into the pits o n lap 23 with a badl y blistered rear Dunlop radial. With hi s team unprepared for a tire cha nge, Rain ey rejoined th e fray , with a new tire, a lap down on Schwa n tz and the others. Then caine th e red flag and con tro versy as both Keith Pinkstaff and Dale Zlock crashed heavily in turn seven o n the 24th lap. Arguments started over wh ether or no t the race shou ld be res tarted; it was decided by th e AMA th at th e segment would be called co mplete aft er a meeting with tir e co mpany representatives. The result : Schwant z had th e first heat win while Rainey had worked back up to fin ish 12th. Clearl y, it seemed, th e' Superbike Championshi p pendulum had swung towards the Yoshimura Suzuki-mounted Schwantz, , That trend changed quickly, however, in th e second segment. In , a situation almost identical to Daytona, Schwantz proved on ce again hi s ab ili ty to snatch defeat from th e j aw s of vic to ry. The 23-year-old Texan was easily beating the backrow-starting Rainey by close to eight seconds when he crashed exiting turn nine on the II th lap. Ra iney inherited the lead that would eventually give him fifth place oeerall while Schwantz was forced to park the rl

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