Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jimmy Adamo won Supertwins after leader Kurt Liebman broke. Multi-class winner Doug Polen (23) leads Robert Willis (56). David Sadowski (4) and Jamie James (12). Mark Chin led early in the Heavyweight Sliperbike class but ended up finishinqthird behind Rueben McMurter and winner Doug Polen . AMA/CCS National Sprint s Polen dominates Cycle Week opener By Randy Marrs DAYTONA, FL , FEB.27-28 Texan Doug Polen opened Cycle Week 1988 with a clean sweep of the AMA/CCS sprint races at Daytona International Speedway. Polen was the only multiple class winner, taking wi ns in Middleweight . an d H eavy weig.h t .Superspor t . Io n~ wit h a wlfol 10 th e H eaa vyweight Superbike class. Pol- 26 en's wins o n hi s Yo shimu r a su p ported Su zukis were by wid e margins in the seven -la p, 25-mile sprint final s. T he weekend was marred by th e practice cras h and death of Novice roa d racer Randall W. Gl enn, 38, of St. Aug usti ne, Fl orida. Gl enn cras hed in th e infield porti on heading up on to th e west banking and was pronounced dead at the in field ~a:e .center from apparent head m juries. T h e f' h . irst 0 f PI en ' s tree wins 0 ca me in Sa tu rda y's H eavyweigh t Superspo rt race w it h Norcross, Georgia 's Greg T ysor sitti ng o n th e pol e. The start of th e race was delayed one lap wh en Mik e H arth and another n der collided o n the warm-up lap in th e chicane. T he field took an extra warm -up lap with T ysor again getti ng th e holeshot and leadin g the field into tu rn one aboard his Continen tal T ires-sp onso red Suzuki GSXR750. Pol en , who started from the mid- die of row six, had the lead by th e completion of la p three and proceeded to leave the field beh in d. T ysor and Scott R ussell , riding the Vic Fasola/Cycle Mart-sponsored Suzuki GSXR750, hooked up -in a two-bike draft wi th Jamie James and Dave Sadowski , also ridi ng GSX Rs, racin g for fourth and fifth . . Polen con tin ued to extend his lead wi th T ysor and R ussell pulling away from Jam es and Sadowski. By lap four, Don ald Jacks on th e Mit ch Marqu i-run ed , Cycl e R idersspo nso re d Suzuki and R icky Orlando joined J ames and Sad owski in the fight for fourth in a four-wa y draft. At th e checkers, Polen had his first win, followed by Tysor and Russell. Jacks took fourt h , dropping J am es to fifth , and Sadows ki to six th. Polen 's second win cam e o n Sunday with Tysor again sitting on the pol e and Pol en sta rti ng near th e middle of the grid on th e o uts ide of row seven. Fayettevill e, Pennsylvania 's Doug Tosten , who sta rted th e race next to Tysor, took th e lead from Tysor before th e end of th e first lap, getti ng past o n the west banking. Pol en , however, blitzed the field and had the lead on" the next lap. Once in th e lead , he again pulled out a huge mar gin on the balance of the field. T osten and Scott Ru ssell , mean while, diced fo r second a nd t hi rd . Ru ssell wo u ld ou tbra ke Tosten going int o the chicane o nly to lose the spot again when Tosten wou ld re-pass in th e in field. By lap five, Polen was uncatchable. Tosten finally shook Russell , who in tum had a good lead on Sadowski. As h me ad, J acks, a n d Ballard tra iled. At th e chec kers Ball ard passed Ash mea d with th e front five positions remaini ng the same. The big cha nge in the sta ndi ngs came in th e man datory tea rdown. Tosten's second place fin ish, h is best fin ish to da te, was take n away wh en it was discovered his H onda had no charging system, a modif ic at ion no t . allowed in th e rules. Ashmead 's fifth pl ace fin ish was al so disallowed wh en he refu sed to have h is H onda torn down. "The wind pi cked up on th e back straig h t and made things a little hard ," Polen said . " It was fun racing with Doug (T osten) for awhil e. We're just trying to see how well we' ll ma tch up against th e Hondas .in the Supersport race nex t week." The H eavyweight Su perbike class waJ an earl y indication of what the upcoming Daytona 200 would be like with severa l of th e top professio na ls takin g adva ntage o f the op po rt un ity to run in the Expert Superbike. Tyso r once aga in led from th e pol e, on ly to lose it the next la p to Mark Ch in . One lap later it was Pol en out fron t wit h C hi n, Can a d ian Ru eb en McMurter, who started from ro w 8, Ashmead, arrd T ysor foll owin g. Pol en o nce again began to stre tch acommanding lead, cu tting a quick I:58.87 la p time on the fifth trip arou nd the tra ck. Chin held o n to second until the white flag lap when McMurter got past. Ashmead also had his sights set o n Ch in , bu t go t hel d up by a slower rider. At th e check ers it was Polen ta king his third win , with McMurter seco nd, Ch in third and Ashmead fourth. Vance & H ines-spo nso red Randy Ren fro w finis hed fifth after sta rti ng from the last row of the grid. " Things worked out pretty good," Pol en said. " We're gett ing th in gs set up for th e 200. The wind on the back straigh t slowed me down, but yo u . ge t a tai l wind on th e front stra igh t so it sort of evens th in gs ou t." " J o h n (Ash m ea d ) a n d I were playing around o ut th ere," McMurter said. "John go t caugh t up by a slower rider and I go t aw ay." Ducati-m ounted J imm y Adamo too k a runaw ay win in th e Supertwins class after ear ly leader Kurt Liebm ann brok e. Bobb y Griffiths took second, Pete J ohnson th ird, Eric Phillipe fourt h , and Dennis Liebrech t fifth . Winfried H opp won the Novice portion of th e Supertwins cla ss. . . In o ther spri nt race action , Donald J acks wo n th e Middlewe ight Superbike race for Experts and finished seco nd to Roger R iem an in the Middl eweigh t GP di vision. • Results uw S IB EX: 1. Mike Sm ith (Yam); 2. Mart< Foster (yam); 3 . Michael Spradlin (Yam'. U W S IB NY: 1. Randy Gaddey (Hon); 2. Stephane Bergeron (Hon); 3. Mark See (Hon). . MIW S IB EX: 1. Donald Jacks (Hon); 2. Danny Walker (Hon); 3. Steve Saaborn (Hen). MIW S IB NY: 1. Mika Bonn (Hon): 2. Mart< See (Hon); 3. Igor Del Haya (Hon). HIW S IB EX: 1. Doug Polen (Suz); 2. Rueben McMurter (Yam); 3. Mark Chin (Yam). HIW S IB NY: 1. James Blackwell (SOl); 2. Carl Harm s (SOl); 3. Jo hn Costa (Suz). MIW S IS EX: 1. Doug Polen (Suz); 2. Scon Russell (Suz): 3. David Sadowsk i (Suz). MIW S IS NY: 1. Patrick J ohnson (Hon); 2. Mike Bonn (Hon); 3. Paul Youngman (Han ). HIW S IS EX: 1. Doug Polen (Suz); 2. Greg Tysor (Suz); 3. Scon Russell (Suz). HIW S IS NY: 1. Nathan Donohew(Vam); 2. John Cox (Vam); 3. James Niebrzydowski (Suz). UNLTD S IS EX: 1. Mike Harth (Suz); 2. Scon Russell (Suz); 3. Paul Gray (Suz). UW GP EX: 1. Pat D'Leary (Vam); 2. Mike Smith (Vam); 3. Cam Roos (Yam). UW GP NY: 1. Joe Cole (Hon); 2. Randy Gaddey (Hon); 3. Steven Siegfried (Suz). MIW GP EX: 1. Roger Reiman (H·D); 2. Donald , Jacks (Hon t 3. Cam Roos (Hon). MIW GP NY: 1; Bob Rose (Vam): 2. Mike Bonn (Hon); 3. Mart< See (Hon). UNLID GP EX: 1. Rueben McMurter (Vamt 2. Rick Shaw (Yam); 3. Mark Chin (Yam). SUPERlWINS: 1. J immv Adamo (Duc); 2. Robert Griffiths (M-G); 3. Pete Johnson (Duc).

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