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/127124
Daytona 200 winner Kev in Schwantz (34) leads Suzuki tea'mmates Scott Gray (45) and Doug P91eri (23) and Honda pilot John Ashmead (37) early. AMA National Championship Road Race/Camel Pro Series: Round 1/1 Schwantz strikes for Daytona 200 win By Pau l Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams and Daytona International Speedway DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 6 Texan Kevin Schwantz won the biggest race of his life while giving Suzuki its first-ever Dayto na 200 win today, storming to an easy victory a t the famed Daytona International Sp eedway. . The Yoshimura Suzuki ri der dominated the $170000 57-la p , . ' Daytona 200 by Arai, averag- 6 in g 104.393 mph to beat teammate, fell ow T exan and $10,000 Camel Ch all enge winner Doug Po len . Schwa n tz earn ed $18,435 o n th e da y while Po len took hom e $20,820 for hi s efforts . AMA G ra nd Na tional Champion Bubba Shobert ma de it an all-Te xa n winner's circl e as he finished third after flirting wit h di saster on the warm-u p lap. Wh en th e green flag waved , Shobert was nearl y a full lap behind the leaders after pushing hi s stalled Honda VFR750 from turn five to the pits. With the aid of mechanics and AMA MX Nati on al Champion Rick J ohnson , Shobert managed to rest art th e vap o r-locked H onda. What foll owed was a rem arkable ride that saw Sho bert slice th ro ugh th e 78-rider field and into the winner's circle. Fourth p lace wen t to yet another Yoshimura Suzuki, this one in th e hands of Scott Gr ay. The northern Ca li fo rnia n ro de a smoo th a n d cons isten t race to score hi s best-ever Na tional resu lt. Can adi an R u eben McMurter p ilo ted hi s Yamaha FZR750 to a fifth pl ace fin ish , bea tin g a foursom e of Suzukis ridd en by Mike H arth, Dale Quarterl ey, Randy Ren fro w and Scott Ru ssell. Yam aha-m ounted Je ff Farmer rounded ou t th e to p 10. For Schwa ntz the week started o n a sour no te wh en he tossed his 1988 Suzuki GSXR750-based Superbi ke away in th e ch ica ne o n Tuesday. "The bike wasn 't run ning right and I was riding it harder th an usual ," Sch wantz said. " I go t off on the grass o n the in sid e and it- went sideways a nd sp it me off." Schwan tz' lis t of in juries incl uded a bruised right Ie ot , left kn ee and left wrist. It was th e wrist, however, that gave him th e most prob lem s d uring the week. Schwantz was joined on th e list of early week crashers by team ma te Gray, who cras hed his 1987 Suzuki GSX R-based Super bi ke in turn six. " I was tryin g so meth ing new a nd it . didn 't wor k," Gray said. _ The no w leaner-lookin g Gray hurt both ankles in th e cras h, and spent .th e rest of the week looking more com for table riding than hobb ling around the pits. Schwantz was th e qui ckest througho u t practice, turning times in th e I:55-range, but it was Shobert w ho su p p lied th e surprise wh en tim ed qualifying rolled around. In th e first timed session Shobert turned in a 1:55.614 lap for a 110.852 mph avera ge to p ut th e pr essure on Schwantz. The 1987 p o le si tter, however, lived up to the challe nge, p utting a 1:55.110 into the books in th e final sessio n to earn th e pol e position. Sh obert 's tim e was su fficient to put him next to Schwantz on the front ro w. Pol en was third best with a la p of 1:56.921. " My fast time was set on a potential race tire," th e Dun lo p- using Pol en said. "I wo uld be comfortable runn in g that pace for the race." A fourth Yoshi m ura p ilo t J apan 's Yuk iya Ohshima a n d teammate Gray ro unded ou t the front ro w. The second row was made up of Sweden 's Anders Andersso n , Mike Baldwin , McMurter and J ohn Ashmead. Baldw in, th e four- tim e AMA Formula I Champion wh o spe nt the last two seaso ns in th e T eam Lucky Strike Roberts G ra nd Pr ix sq uad, was in itially credited with doing a lap in th e 1:54-range. The error was later correc ted with Baldwin actua lly turning a 1:58.051 on th e George Vin cen si-tuned H onda VFR750. " I think we can go faster," Baldwin said after being credited wi th the .54. "T here's a wind ou t there and we dro pped two teeth." Am ong those with qua lifyi ng problem s were Eddi e Adkins Suzu ki rider Jimmy Filice ("T he clu tch just slips and it doesn' t go anywhere." ) and Vance & Hines Randy R en fro w ("It was a pretty simple crash."). Filice ended up a di sappointing 28th fastest while Renfrow , who is trying to prove to th e world that he can ride