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/126987
l""""l e-r 0..; v ..0 o .... u o Doug Polen (1) leads David Sadowski (39). Cra ig Trinder (7 ) and lain Pero (23) around turn seven during the opening laps of the Suzuki GSXR 11 00 final at Riverside International Raceway; Polen took the win. Dave Sadowski f inished second in the 11 OOcc race and third in the 750cc event. earn ing $8000. . uzuki GSXR750/1100 National Cup Series S and Yamaha Western 600 Series Road Race Finals " , Polen, Rayborn win big at Riverside By Pau l Carruthers Photos by'Kinney Jones RIVERSIDE, CA, OCT. II Breaking both an kles only 42 days earlier at the Sears Point AMA National didn't stop Doug Polen from dominating the Suzu ki GSXR finals for the second year in a row. 6 The Denton, Texas, resident won the GSXRll O Ofinal Sun - I day morning at R i versid e Interna tional Raceway and was declared me 750cc winner based on his heat race performance a day earlier when the feature race was cancelled due · to a downpour on Sunday afternoon. Po len headed back to Texas with $15,000 in Suzuki contin/?ency money. Calvin Rayborn III turned in a heroic performance in the rainsodden Yamaha Western 600 final when he crashed in turn six while lead in g, remounted, and passed Richa rd Moore on the final lap to win the race. Ra yborn collected $5000 from Yamaha for his efforts. Second place in the Suzuki GSXRllOOcc event went to New Hampshire's David Sadowski, who won a battle for the runner-up spot over New Zea lander lain Pero, Californian's Scott Gray and Chris Steward rounded out the top five. The 750cc race ended in controversy without even starting. With a late afternoon downpour moving through southern California on Sunday, the 2.5-mile Riverside facility turned into a mess'. Muddy rivers flowed across several sections of the tra ck, causing me AFM and track officials to declare the track unsafe for racing. When R iver side officia ls announced that Audi had the track booked for Monday and mere was no way of ho lding the race over, there was talk of possibly hol ding tlie 750cc final at Daytona when me AMA/CCS finals are scheduled to run later in me year. Willow Springs . was also mentioned with the thought of holding the race at me southern Ca lifornia high-desert facility on Monday. Suzuki finally made me decision to cancel the event and pay me $30,000 purse according to heat race . results from the previous day . Those who did well on Saturday agreed, those who didn 't fare as well complained. Po len was declared the wi nner because he won me fastes t of the two heats, Pero took second with his heat · race number two win and Sadowski was credited with third place for finishing second in me fast heat behind Po len. Based on practice, heat race times and the Il oocc final, those three would more than likely have made up the winner's circle' anyhow. Jeff Heino and Gray finished fourth and fifth, respectively. "It's a shame it had to end th is way, but I feel it's a good decision," Po len said. " You can't please everybody and the outcome didn't please everybody, but it's an outcome." Tires were to be a major facto r at -R iverside as Dunlop K591 ri ders dominated both Suzuki races and me Yamaha event. Gray, who is contracted to Michelin, realized ear ly that the H i-Sports could not match the K591 for more than five laps. This fact was further enhanced when both Sadowski and Mike Harth jumped camps to use Dunlops. "The new Michelin radials we have are for a four-and-a-half-inch rim and it pinches too much on our four-inch rims," Gray said. "We will stay with the Hi-Sports and tough it OUL" Saturday's action began with me llOOcc heat races. With the track breaking up in a section of tum six due to gas spillage when me Norm.... Shore endurance bike crashed earl ier in the day, 10 riders headed into tum one and the awaiting esses at Riverside. Leading the way on lap one was Australian transplant Craig Trinder, followed by Pero, Gray and Ricky Orlando. Scott Russell, riding wi th a badly -broken co llarbone, was circulating in last place. Pero got past Trinder going into the left-hand tum one to start the third lap with Gray right on the battling duo. As the pack completed lap three, however, Gray was way back in sixth place. " There's one line thro ugh the bac k section and I was trying to outbrake them going into ' seven," Gray later said. " I went inside where mere's more of a lip and there was no way I was going to make the comer. " .Pew and Trinder con'tiilUed to battle up front with Pero eventually grabbing the advan tage. Orlando wound up third with Gray battling back to finish fourth. Steward crossed me line in fifth place. The second heat was all Mr. Polen. The Texan grabbed the holeshot and after the second lap came to a close, led the field by 5.7 seconds. Mike Minning gave chase early before being passed by Sadowski. Polen's third lap saw him move into me 1:27 bracket which was announced as a new lap record; stating that it broke a record held by Eddie Lawson on a Kawasaki 1000. Lawson, however, says he never