Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

and-down season endi ng o n a h igh note as he rode the Yamaha FZR 750R to a fine second place finish in both , the Nationa l and the Camel Challenge, which was won by Shobert. I For Chandler it was his second trip to a road race winner's circle, and his first on a Superbike; the 2l-year. old Salinas, California, resident finished third oil a Formula One bik e back in 1985. Schwarm pocketed $3900 for his win while Filice and Chandler earned $2600 and $1840, respectively, from the $30,000 purse. Shobert still came out th e big money winner as he pocketed the $10,000 winner's share of th e S17,500 Camel Challenge purse. The Special Olympics also benefited from Shobert's win as the Texan donated half of his earnings in the cha llenge to th e organization. The fir st heat ra ce started on a sour note as four riders cra she d hard in turn one. Kevin Rentzell, Richard M09re, Dr. David Kieffer and Fred Eiker went down in a cha in-reac tio n crash with Kieffer the on ly one suffering injury; a dislocated right shoulder and a sore knee and a nk le. T he restarted heat race saw a racelong battle between Rainey and his ever-improving teammate Shobert. The race went to the flag with Rainey winning by a bike length. Fi lice ' cruised in for an easy third p lace -fin ish and a trip to the Camel . Cha llenge. Rainey averaged 84.827 mph for the five-lap heat. The second. heat race saw Schwantz blast away from the start line, to take an easy win over local hero Scott Gray, who came from th e back row, and Doug Polen. Schwantz was penalized a lap, however, for jumping the start and would be p laced on . the back row in . the National via the promoter's option. Thus, Gray was given the win with Po len and John Ashmead rounding out the top th ree and heading to the Camel Challenge. Larry Shorts rode h is Kawasaki to a fourth place finish with Chandler, feeling the effects of a worn out shock, finishing fifth. G ra y's five-lap heat race speed of 85.7 16 mph was faster than that of Ra iney's, and so the Yoshimura Su zuki-h elped priva teer would sit on the pole for the Na tiona l. " Not bad for a thick boy," G ray sa id of his pole position. " I'm sti ll . trying to get used to the bike. Kevin being penalized is no way to get the pole, b ut I think we are going to kick some ass this ....eekend. I have the . right tires, the right team a nd I' m real confident." Camel Challenge Schwantz, who had already pocketed $47,500 in Camel Challenge cash, was out of the Camel Challenge beca use of his one-lap penalty in the heat race, and Rainey opted to sit this one out. With the championship on the line, Rainey had decided not to risk the extra race and he pulled into the pits after the warm-up lap. Ra iney's absence opened up a slot for Shorts and the Kawasaki. Shobert jumped into the lead off the start with Filice in tow, as disaster struck in tum four. Scott " I have no th ing to lose and a hell of a lot to gain" Gray and Shorts crashed in tum four. " He tried late-braking me, he slid out and took me with him," a di sa p po inted Gray said of the incident. "He's four seconds a lap slower an d he 's a n alterna te. It doesn ' t make sense. It 's so stupid, I can't bel ieve it. " Shorts', who suffered a broken right shoulder blade, variation was slightly different. "Scott passed me and went wide," he said. " I put it inside and had a wheel on him. H e brought it down and 1 lost it. I feel Doug Chandler (10) fin ished third on his Honda after holding off John Ash mead (37) and Dale Quarterley. bad that it happened, but that' s racing. " Filrce and Shobert did battle for the full five lap s, until Filice's soft Michelin proved to be too soft. Shobert got away in the final laps and held on for the win. Filice held off Polen who was suffering through transmission problems; he said he only had two gears. Ashmead fin ished fourth in what had become a four-rider field. "I told myself that if 1 won the Camel Challenge, I'd give away half of the money (to the Special Olympics)," Shobert said af ter handing over the $5000. , " I just had th e feeling something would happen in that race," Rainey ' said. "I just didn't want to be involved i n any thi ng like what happened. I decided this morning." National The 24-la p, 60.4-mile Natio na l got u nderway with Shobert leading the fray be hind him. Schwantz was already u p to seven th by the second comer, and was third as the pack completed lap o ne. O n ly Shobert and Gray were ahead of the Yoshimura Suzuki pilot. The order at the end of lap two read: Shobert, Schwantz (who dove under Gray without a fight going into tum II): Gray, Pol en , Filice, anout-of-place Rainey, Chandler, Ashmead, Quarterley and Craig Trinder. By the fourth lap, Schwantz had moved rast Shobert and was pulling clear 0 the pack. Gray held third with Polen and Filice battling over fourth. Rainey was still circulating in sixth, seemingly content with his pace. Things stayed the same until lap seven when Polen crashed hard in tum eight; losing the front end and smashin~ into the hay ba le-protected guard rail, Polen, reportedly, broke an ankle in the mishap. Gray also pitted on this lap with the side cover comi ng off the Suzuki; more hard luck for the loca l hero who was making q uite an impression on his home track. On lap eight, the race was redflagged as Shobert tossed it away in turn 10. He was up and walking as the pack regridded for the start. " I wasn't pushing it beca use the bike wasn't working yet," said Shobert. " I went in there and Boom! - I lost the front end real Team Honda's Wayne Rainey wrapped up his second AMA Superbike National Champ~onshipwith a sixth place f inish at Sears Point. quick. If there was oil, 1 didn't see it." Schwantz, meanwhile, was getting a sore neck trying to figure out if it was Ra iney or Shobert in the hay. "I was looking at the hay bales real hard," Schwantz said with a smile. "Trying to see if it was a 6 or a 67. " C'rnon let's go p lay," Schwantz said to Rainey on the grid, prior to the restart, trying to entice the Honda pilot into taking some risks. " You go have fun," Ra iney replied, keeping his cool. Chandler and his old Honda with a rebuilt shock grabbed the holeshot on the restart, but it was Schwantz leading at the end of the first lap eighth lap, officially). Filice had also moved past Chandler as the top three finishing order was set. Chandler, however, had to survive a race-long battle with Ashmead before finally pulling clear in the final laps. For awhile it was a Chandler / Ashmead/Quarterley ba ttle, but Quarterley faded first a nd ended up fifth . .The next battle was between - rind er. Ra iney, Chivington and T Sam McDona ld, b ut Ra iney eventu- . a lly pulled clear. By the sixth lap of the restart, Schwantz held a 16-second lead on Filice, who in turn was a comfortable . distance ahead of Chandler and Ashmead. By the 10th lap, Schwantz . had it on cruise, learning from his prior mistakes at Dayto na and Laguna Seca. The race ended with Schwantz doing wheelies, standing on the pegs with arms raised in the air. Rainey did some celebrating of his own with the National Championship in his back pocket. "I didn't like to see him (Shobert) in the hay bales," Chandler said. " I hate to gain points like that." "It's been a long day," Rainey said. ''I'm glad it 's over. I was going a Iittl e slower than 1 wanted to. I knew what I had to do. 1 was going four seconds a lap slower than 1 should have been going. It was a long race.'. Results SUPERBIKE: 1. Kevin Schwantz (Suz); 2. Jim Fili ce (Yamt, 3. Doug Chand ler (Hon); 4 . John Ash mead (Hon); 5. Dale Quan erley (Suzt, 6. Way ne Rainey (Hon); 7. Sam McDonald (Yam); B. Dan Ch ivingt on (Hon); 9. Jeff Farmer (Yam); 10 . Richard Moore (Suz); 1 1. Ricky Or lando ISuz); 12 . Kevin Rentzell (Suz); 13 . Jeff J acob (Yam); 14 . Boonie Knott (Suzl; 15. Doug Renfrow (Suzl. FINAL AMA SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS: 1. Wayne Rain ey (143); 2 . Kevin Schwantz (134); 3 . Bubba Shobert (94); 4. Doug Polen (7 1I; 5. Doug Chand ler (65); 6 . Dan Chiv inglo n (61 ); 7. J im Filice (55); 8. Gary Goodfellow 1 50); 9. Rueben McMu n er (391; 10 . Jeff Farmer (32). . AM AICAM EL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS; 1. Bubba Shobert (156); 2. Wayne Rainey (133); 3. Kevin Schw antz (132); 4 . Doug Chandler (11 8); 5. Doug Polen (6n 6. Dan Chivington (61); 7. Scott Parker (60); 8 . Chris Carr (52); 9. Jim Filice (5H 10. Ricky Graham (501. 7

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