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/126978
Wayne Rainey (6) took a short-l ived lead over Kevin Schwann (34), Doug Polen (23), Bubba Shobert (67), Jimmy Filice (17) and Larry Shorts (20). and Bubba wo u ld 've smoked 'em into it," Chandler said. O n the 13th la p , Shobert pas sed Rainey for second with P olen sneaking by a lso. Fil ice he ld fifth as Chandler cracked the to p 10. Bu t by th e halfway point, Ra in ey was back in the runner-up spot.: " T h ere were guys drafting me in th e first p art of th e race a nd it ca us ed th e bike to overhea t," Ra iney sa id. "I letBubba and P ol en by a nd backed off a nd th e temperature dropped 10°. I did it again a few laps lat er a n d made m y break." Fi lice was also having a problem on the fro nt .straight bu t it wasn ' t with the draft. "The h eal was n 't that bad, I just cou ld n 't stay with them on the straigh t. Whe n we were a ll together early in th e race I co u ld stay in th eir draft, bu t it wa s fru strating o nce the y got away. They pulled h a lf a seco nd, a seco nd a lap on me. T here was no use me try in g too hard a n d th en cras h ing," th e Yam aha ride r sa id. Schwan tz, with a 10-second-p lu s lead, had backed o ff hi s lap times after th e halfwa y m ark . Shobert was back past Ra in ey o n the 26th lap, but on ly for a lap. Chivin gt o n had mov ed into six th with Chand ler no w seventh a head of th e fading Farmer. After retaking seco nd , Ra in ey used his savvy in tra ffi c to lea ve h is teammate behind for good. " We came up o n a gr o u p of ba ckmarkers and he pa ssed all four o f th em at onc e. I only go t by two ," . Sh ob ert lamented. Ex cept for an off-trac k exc ursio n by Shobert a few laps from the en d an d a crash in front of Rainey in th e final switch back, th er e was little exci teme nt as th e ra ce wore inevitab ly down. Schwantz punctuated his fin al lap with wheelies and crossed th e finish line with a raised fist. Rainey was a lmost seven seco n ds up on Shobert who had a co m forta ble six seconds on Pol en . Fil ice , in fifth , was the final rid er to finish on the same lap as Schwantz. Chandler, in six th, was his last victim to be lapped. Chivington , who Chandler passed two laps from the en d, held on for seventh ahead of Farmer, Quarterley, and Sadowski. " I knew that if Kevin got away I couldn't stay with him and m y motor wa s he ating up. Bubba an d I had a good clean race and when we got in traffic I 'didn 't see Bubba any more and 1 didn 't know what happened. I was hot but co m fo rta b le. My best lap was my 31st a 1:07.9. A lot of those guys wer e getting hot. They Honda teammates Wayne Rainey and Bubba Shobert rounded out the place and show positions in Memphis. Rainey leads the AMA Superbike point standings, while Shobert tops the Camel Pro Series standings . were wa y off li ne. 1 made su re to follow th em th rough th e turns a nd pass them coming out," Rainey said . About traffic, Shobert a greed . " Yo u couldn't just zap th em in a couple of places. You had to wait an d once I got -too far beh ind Wayne 1 wasn 't concentrating a s wei r I wa s p aying too much attention to th e traffi c. We both have championships o n the line a nd th e fir st time so me thing happens yo u back off." " I wa s so far ah ead of Jimmy an d 1 knew 1 co u ldn ' t catch Bubba so I just stayed in fourth," Polen said . Echoing Polen 's com p la int, Fil ice sa id, "T h ey could gain a second a lap o n m e on th e front straight. It wasn't any good to try to push a nd ca tch them. They could also ' drive a little better fro m the las I right-hand corner and it wo uld carry them down the straigh t. • Results 1. Kevin Schwanl2(Sult 2. Wayne Rainey (Hon); 3. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 4. Doug Polen (SOl); 5. Jim Fil ice (Yam); 6. Doug Chandler (Hon); 7. Dan Chivington (Honl; 8. J eff Farmer (Yam); 9. Dale Quarterly (Hon); 10 . David Sadowski (Sull; 11 . John Ashmead (Hon); 12. Larry Shorts (Kaw); 13 . Tommy Sloan (Yamt 14. David Kieffer (Honl : Schwantz celebrates in the winner's circle while third-place Shobert and Miss Camel Pro, Galia Gomez, look on. AMA SUPERBIKEPOINT STANDINGS : 1. Wayne Rainey (134); 2. Kevin Schwanl2 (114 ): 3. Bubba Shobert (94); 4 . Doug Polen (71 ); 5. Dan Chivinglon (54); 6. Doug Chandler (52t 7. Gary Goodfellow (SOl; 8. (TIE) Rueben McMurter/J im Filice (39); 10 . Larry Shorts (31) AMAICAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (136); 2. Wayne Rainey (124); 3. Kevin Schwantz (112); 4 . Doug Chandler (10 5); 5. Doug Polen (67 ); 6. Dan Chivington 1 ; 7. Scon 541 Parker (5 2); 8. Ricky Graham 1 9); 9 . Gary 3 Goodfellow (37); 10. Chris Carr (36). II