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
The first heat race gets underway with Kevin Schwantz (3 4 ). Mike Baldwin (3). Doug Polen (2 3). Richard Moore (8 3) and Jeff Farmer heading for tum one. Schwantz won the heat over Polen while Baldwin was , involved in a horrific crash just prior to entering turn one. By this' time, G oodfellow was begin n ing his day of pit stops and p ro blems, before finally, " packing it . In. " By th e 10th lap th e lea ders were already in heavy traffic, and on lap II Ohsh im a crashed unhurt in turn one, remounted and joined th e field way back. Chandler was another crash victim as he h it th e pavement in th e chica ne and was taken to th e hospital with a su spected broken foot. This moved Gray to third behind Schwantz, wh o now led Polen by almost two seconds. " He got ou t ahead in traffic," Polen said. "I could run the sa me pace as him, but I wasn't gaining anything on him , so I backed it off a not ch and contin ued .to run th at pace." By this point, Baldwin was beginning to suffer a strea k of mechanical ills th at saw him p it numerous times before retiring for good on lap 39. " It starte d running o u t of gas on the l Oth or 11th lap," Baldwin sa id. " I kept com ing in for more gas, but we think it was a pin ch ed fu el line or something." On th e 13th 'Ia p , England 's Roger Bu rn ett crashed in turn on e. "I ca me over here knowing th e bike wouldn 't be com petiti ve," th e former Ro th mans Honda GP rider sa id. " I cam e over to ride a nd to have fun and I'v e done that." Fourth place was held by Andersson as th e pack completed 13 laps; Ashmead led McMurter for fifth and Farmer led Quarterl ey for seven th. Shobert was still out o f the top 20, but was passing severa l riders each lap . H e was I :37 behind Schwan tz a fter 14 laps, proof that although he wasn 't matching the lead er 's pace, he was close. Andersson became th e first of th e front-runners to pit, taking on gas during the 15th lap and dropping from fou rth to sixth. By lap 17, Shobert had ch arged into the top 20 and was running 15th. Gray pitted on la p 18, dropping him from third to fifth , but th e Californian took on only gas and not fresh rubber, a decision he would la ter regret. M ike Harth rode his Suzuki to a sixth place finish in the Daytona 200. beating Dale Quarterley. Randy Renfrow. Scott Russe ll and Jeff Farmer in f illing out the top 10 Superbike racers at Daytona. . " I should ha ve chan ged tires twi ce," G ra y sa id later. " It was slidi ng around like crazy and it made it hard o n my body. It was a tac tica l error on m y part." Schwantz had a IO-second stop o n lap 19, losing th e lead temporarily to Polen and al so only taking on ga s. P o len was in on th e next lap, sufferi ng through a longer-than usual stop wh en the rear axl e didn 't go all the wa y through on the first a ttem p t following a tir e change. " It cost us 10 o r so seconds," Pol en sa id later. One la p la ter, Schwantz held a 24second advantage that would o nly become larger, despite running on his original rear tire until th e next sto p. On lap 22, Shobert came in for hi s gas stop; a quick seven second effort th at put him back onto th e track in ninth pl ace. T he best battle on th e tra ck was occu r ing in th e race for fourth betw een Andersson and McMurter. The two swapped positions repeat-: edly , lap aft er lap. . With 25 laps in th e book, Schwantz . had lapped up to th e 11 th p laced ri der as he continued to set a relentless pace. By th e 33rd lap, Shobert was ready to ba ttl e for fou rt h pla ce as he caugh t Andersson and set his sights o n McMurter. ". G ra y entered p it ro w on the 35th lap to get fresh rear rubber and gas, and he rejoined . the rac e in fourth. Sh ob ert pitted for a new rear tire and gas on la p 36 and dropped to sixth 'p lace. On lap '38, Sch wan tz lapped Shobert , who was lyin g in fifth. Both Schwantz and McMurter had clean pit stops on the .39th lap with Schwantz getting a new Michelin rear tir e. Shobert was now in fourth p lace and closing in o n Gray. On the 44th lap; the T exan blazed by Gray to break up an a ll- Yoshimura Su zuki winner's circle. Wit h 48 laps in the books, Ash -