Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

dra ftin g past th e more experi en ced Rainey on th e fro nt straigh t, but on the fourth lap Ra in ey took over for good, ed g i ng S ho be rt b y . 163 seco nds. J Im Fil ice was th ird the enti re way with K&P Racing 's J eff Farmer fo u rt h ahead . of G ee- Vee Perfo rm an ce's Dan Chivi ngto n on a H onda. Schwantz blistered the seco n d heat, win ning by 6.262 seco nds over fellow Suzu ki pilot Doug Pol en. Cha n dler got the fi nal transfer to th e Ca me l Challe nge in third just ahead o f Larry Shorts. Sa m McDonald was fif th . Schwantz averaged 93.776 mph to wi n th e faste r of the two heats. His heat win was 2.58-seco nds faster than Rain ey's. Camel Challenge Yoshimura Suzuki 's Kevin Schwantz cruised to an easy w in at the first-ever AMC /Camel Pro Series Superbike National held at Memphis Int ern ational Motorsports Park . Yamaha-mounted ;Jim m y Filice (above) fin ished fifth in Me'mphis aboard an FZ750; Kosar Racing's Doug Polen , on a Suzuki, took fourth . AMA/Superbike Road Race Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 8/11 Schwantz cruises in inaugural Memphis National By Henny Ray Abrams 1EMPHIS , TN, AUG. 9 Yoshimura Suzuki 's Kevi n Schwantz wrested the lead from Team Honda 's Wayne Rain ey on the second lap an d cruised to an easy win, h is secon d in a row, in the in au gural runn in g o f th e Superbike Na tional at Memhi I . I p I S n t e r n a tr o n a Motorsp orts Park. 10 T he wi n giv es Schwa ntz 114 p oints to Ra in ey's 134 a nd j ust barely keeps h is hopes o f wi n n ing th e Su perb ike title alive with on ly the final ro u nd at Sears P o ints to be ra ced . If Schwantz wins Sea rs Po int, Ra iney needs to finish 14th or better to ta ke th e title. "It' s sti ll q uite a dis ta nc e ," Sch wa n tz conceded, "b';lt that's two wee ks In a row that 1 ve wo n th e Ca me l Cha llenge and th e race." T he order of fi nish for th e top six in th e Superb ike fina l was identica l to the Ca mel Challenge. Sch wan tz wo n bo th easi ly, by 8.375 seconds in the 34-lap 60.2-m ile Superbike final a nd by 3.966 seconds in the five-lap, 8.85-mile Challenge. The order fol. lowing the Texan was Ra iney, Sho bert . Kosa r Racing 's Do ug Pol en , Ya- rnaha 's j im Fi lic e, and Freddie Spencer/ Su pe r'Tra p p's D o u~ Chan dler. Schwa n tz's 10,000 WIn a lo ng wi th the 3865 he pocketed in th e Superbike final gav e him winnings of 13.865. He's now won 47,500 in Camel Challenge money su rp assin g Rain ey's total of $41,000 . Shobert has collected $3 1,500. Ra in ey's seco nd-p lace sh are of the $30,000 Na tio na l p urse was $2575 , and he ea rned $2500 in the Chall en ge to ta ke home $5075. Shobert co llected $1825 for th ird in the Na tio na l an d 2000 for third in th e Camel Challe nge. Ra in ey a lso cut into tea m mate Shobert 's Camel Pro poi nt lead , n ow tra iling him 124 to 136. Bu t wi th five Camel Pro dirt tracks and j ust o ne . roa d ra ce remai ning , Shobert a p pea r s to have th e a d va n tage. Sch wa n tz passed Chandler to tak e over third 112 to 105. The race wa s th e first ever on the road co u rse, built a ro u nd th e drag strip a t th e Memphis facility and it dr ew decided ly mixed reviews and a sparse cro wd . Most of th e riders found it difficult to pass o n th e 1.77mile lo n g track which features a o nehalf mile-plus front straight that favors brute horsepower. It was clear fro m th e first practice tha t the factory bikes had th e power a nd th e others didnt, Tra ck o ff icia ls es ti m a ted th e cro wd a t arou nd 2500 on a weekend o f unbearably oppressive heat and humidity. The rac e-day temperature was 980 with 50%humid ity and many riders admitted that were they no t co m petin g , they wo uldn ' t be there. For this event to be more successful th e da te would have to be cha nged to. a m ore m od erat e time o f th e year , they fel t. Unofficia l times in pract ice h ad Sc hwa n tz fa st est with a la p o f 1:07.373'averaging 94.8 mph. Ra iney was seco nd a t 1:07.968 (93.75) with Shobert well back at 1:09.720 (91.394 • m ph ). Bu t w he n the flag dr opped o n the first five- lap h eat, Sh obert got the hol esh o t, on ly to be quickl y p assed by hi s teamma te. The trans p la nted Texa n took over o n the third lap, As fast as hi s heat race win was, Sch wantz 's five- la p da sh in the Camel Challen ge was even faster. After sta rt ing p oorl y, Sc h wa ntz accelera ted th e len gth of the front stra ig h t a nd dove under Shobert in the rig h t h and turn o ne. From th en o n it was a q ues tio n of how much h e would win by and wh o would finish seco nd. " I fig u red they' were going to a ll o u t- b ra ke each o ther goi ng into one, " Schwantz sai d of h is maneuver. "I broke away o n the firs t a nd secon d lap an d every th ing went smoo th ly." Pol en was seco nd u ntil the th ird la p whe n Ra in ey moved him back to th ird , then Shobert dro p ped him to fourth. Wit h Filice an d Chandler tra ili ng, th e order wo uldn 't change with Rai ney in n o position to ma ke a run a t Schwantz, H e exp lains: " The first time I put the brakes on I go t sprayed in th e face with gasoline." said Ra in ey. " I don 't think it 's co m ing from the ga s tank, but we h ave to find it because I don 't like getting sprayed wi th gas. " He added, " We were too busy b locki ng eac h ot her to get Kevin. We had a lot of close ca lls an d 34 laps (th e len gth of the Natio na l) is a long way to go." "The first la p I went in an d th e fro nt end wen t under ," Shobert said. " I was seei ng what I co u ld learn for the big race . I forgo t wha t to do in th e first turn. It 's been so long sin ce I've gotten to one first." Schwa ntz ha d served no tice tha t he was ridi ng at a pace that wo u ld ma ke the Na tional a ro mp. " I did a seven fla t (I:07) an d I did n't have to push it. I' m goi ng to be real smoo th a nd rea l steadv and not make any mi stakes. It 's a' long ra ce and I want to get out front and run m y own race, " Schwantz said. H e admitted that having his grandparents wat ch him rac e for the first time gave hi m added ince ntive. In stead o f drilling hol es in h is lea thers, Schwantz drilled a number o f ha lf-inch wide holes in h is wi ndscreen in an effort to get so me fres h air. National By th e seco n d lap of the 34-la p Nationa l, Schwantz had a ll the fres h air h e needed with no o ne in fro nt of h im. The next ti me he'd see a motorcycle, he'd be lap p in g it j us t seven laps into the race. By th en he was running low I :07's an d had a four-second lead o n Rainey and Shob ert wh o were running as one. Pol en a n d Fi lice were ' well adrift wi th L arry Farm er lea di n g th e bottom half of the top 10. Dal e Quarterl ey wa s seven th with Larry Shorts eigh th, Da ve Sadowski n inth, and Dan Ch ivin gt on 10th . Farther ba ck was Do ug Chandler trying to atone for a bad sta rt. " I had clu tch problem s in th e Challen ge. At th e start th ey grabbed harder th an I thou gh t. If that first tu rn would've been a left-h an der m e

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