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/127130
00 00 0') ...... Americans Scott Gray, Bubba Shobert and Doug Polen w ere the top scorers in the Eurolantic Cha llenge. American Team Captain Shobert (1 ) leads British Tea m Capta in Ron Haslam (0 ) t hro ugh the Donington Park ch icane. Eurolantic Challenge Yanks win battles, lose war in England By Julian Ryder Photos by Richard Francis/Action-Plus BRANDS HATCH/DONINGTON PA RK, ENGLAND, AP R. 1-4 Those of us who thought the traditional Ma tch Races between the United Kingdom and the United States of America were all but dead were pleasantly surprised this 12 Easter weekend. A strong U.S. team sluggeditoutwitha U.K. .• h d b G d team strengt ene y ran Prix man Ron H aslam and Roger B~.rnett! out to .prove a point after 10 s1Og his GP r~de. For onc~, the overall result was 10 doubt until the last of the six races - three at Brands Hatch on Friday, three at Doni ngto n Park o n Monday - but the domi na nt perso na lities wer e America n: Doug Pol en a nd Bubba Shobert went handl ebar -to -h andlebar for th e majority of the races. If what we sa w was a foreta ste of what Am eri can fans will see in the AMA Camel Pro S u perb ike ro u nds, you ar e in fo r a trea t. To add interest, th e o rga n izers made this year's even t a four-wa y fig ht by incl ud ing a British pr ivat eer tea m a nd a sq ua d from Europe th us th e Eu rol ant ic Chall en g e. How ever, the event's prob lems still· remai n. T he Am erican team - half Ca na d ia n in cid ent ly - wa s running in to severe ma chinery prob lem s by th e end o f th e weekend as well as runnin g short of riders. The di sparity o f ma chiner y was a lso troub lesom e. T he Yoshimura S u zu k is running th eir Da yt on a mot ors an d Shobert's facto ry Honda were p lai n ly fa ster th an th e brand new Honda RC30s or th e Suzu ki GS X R 750Js th at h a ve o n ly j ust reached Europe. Kenny Irons, last year's works Suzuki G P rider , was o n an RC30 th at still wor e its air filter a nd ~ co m p letely prod uc tio n mo tor. Da ytona Pro -Tw in s winner Roger Marsh all sti ll had sta nda rd co m p ressio n a nd sta nda rd gears in hi s Suzu ki. Maybe it just proves that motorcycle ra cing just ca n ' t be a team sport. Burnett and Irons were desp er a te to ' im p ress in eve ry ra ce, Ha slam d idn 't want LO do a ny th in g stu p id that would hamper hi s GP cam paig n, Fred Merk el made it quite clear th at th e Euro lantic wa s just practi ce for th e World Championsh ip Superbike .Se ries round on Sunday, and the Europeari team didn 't even have a language in com mo n ! . As Bubba Shobert said, "This isn' t a footba ll game. T here's only o ne p lay. To win." Round 1 : Brands Hatch The U.S. team got into the groove from the green flag with a convincing clean sweep of the rostrum positions in th e fir st of three l6-lap races. From the start, Shobert pulled a slight lead ona frenetic dice featuri ng Scott G ra y, Haslam an d Marshall , with a slow-starti ng Gary G oodfell ow scra tch ing hard to ge t in to uc h. Once everyo ne h ad warmed u p th eir tires, Goodfell ow , a New Zeal ander who now lives in Canada, looked to be th e fastest man o n th e trac k. The U.S . team trio of Shobert , G ray a n d Good fe llo w g rad ua lly managed to p u ll a way fro m a n a llBritish four -ma n br awl in which Burnett , o n a rare-kiued RC30. and young J amie Whitham joined teammat es Ha slam a nd Marshall. Th e U.S. team lost a n important poin ts sco re r w he n Fred Merkel pulled in a t th e en d o f lap five, unhappy with hi s tires a nd th e fact his factory-supplied RC30 had gotten very hot o n th e grid a nd hadn't coo led down. No wa y was Merk el going to do anything to jeopardize his cha nces in th e first World Champi onship Su perbike Series round two da ys lat er. The lead ing trio was now fighting a m o n g th em selv es, a ll o win g th e pursuin g pack to clos e on th em. Gray wa s close eno ugh to Shobert to think a bo u t slips trea m ing him down the start -finish' strai gh t int o Brands' fearsome blind, downhill Paddock Bend. bu t it was Goodfellow wh o en livened th e middle o f th e 16-1 <1 1' ra ce by takin g seco nd a t Paddock Bend from Cray and the very next rime ro un d tak in g th e lead fro m Sho bert goi ng int o th e Druids Bend ha irpin. Unfo rt u na tely for Goodfell ow, he lost the fro nt end two bends lat er in a sto rm o f gra ss cu tt in g s. Fortunatel y, h e didn 't aggravate a ny of th e dreadful injuries he su ffered in that star ring lin e acci de nt last vear o r add lO h is list o f wo u nds . T lie crash caused Shobert to " kn ock it back