Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Honda 's Bubba Shobert (1) and Yoshimura Suzuki's Doug Polen were this close tt)roughout the National . Doug Chandler and John Ashmead battle for fourth place; Chandler later caught and passed Mike Baldwin to.finish third; Ashmead was fifth. AMA Superbike Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 2/2 Shobert storms to Road Atlanta win By Paul Carruthers Photos by Randy Marrs BRASELTON, GA, MAY 15 Team Honda's Bubba' hobert took advantage of a last lap off-track excursion by Yoshimura Suzuki's Doug Polen t~ win his th ird career National road race today at scenic Road Atlanta. Shobert and Polen diced for I wasentire 24 when but thewent the laps, race decided Polen into turn li on the 12-turn road course too fast, taking to th e red Georgia clay on the exit, and allowing Shobertto coast u n moles ted to the finish line. Third pl ace went to SuperTrapp Honda-mou nted Doug Chandler, who in th e p rocess equaled h is bes t-ever road race result. Shoben took th e $3900 win ner's share of the $30, 000 Superb ike p urse with P ol en ea rni ng $2600 an d Chandler ta king $1840. Fourth p lace went to last-m inute entry, multi-time Nationa l road race champion Mi ke Baldwin. Ba ld wi n surprised many by jo in ing Randy Ren fro w on Terry Va nce's Team Vance & H in es Suzu kis, a nd the Darien, Co nnecticut, rider ro de a smooth , a lbe it eventful, race to fin ish fourth. Fifth pl ace we nt to H onda -mo u n ted j o h n Ashmead with Renfrow , R u eben McMuner, Dal e Q uarterley, R ic k Shaw and Da vid Sadows ki roundi ng out the top 10 finishers. Shobert's victory in th e National was his 34th, moving him out of a tie with two-time Grand National a nd three-time Wo rld Cha m pion Ken ny R ob erts and p lacing h im only six wins behind a ll- time Na tio nal win leader jay Springsteen. Going into the final, however , most would have placed their bets on Polen . The Suzuki facto ry rider was the fastes t during p ra ct ice and th e q uali fying heats, an d h e also stormed to vic tory in th e $17,500 Camel Challen ge, held p rio r to th e Na tional. Polen , who dipped into th e 1:27 range. during practice, com pared to Shobe rt's best laps i n th e 1:29s, topped his fellow T exan i n th e fivelap Ch allenge by 3. 16 seconds. T h ird pl ace in the das h for cash went to Ash mead with Chan dl er .fo urth a nd Quaneri ey fifth . ,!fh e Camel Challenge turned into a nigh tm ar e for Polen 's Yoshimura Suzuki tea m m a te Scott Gray when th e Californian crashed th e 1987 GSXR750 Superbike in turn lion ~ .. . ( !- . the final lap. G ra y, who was try ing to beat Shobert to the flag, lost the fro nt end, sen ding the Suzuki end over end in to a frame-breaking heap . Th e Yo shimura mecha nics, according to Gray, stripped the bike a n d a d ded . the components to a nother fra me, but AMA off icials would not let G ra y race because the bike was no t th e sa me o ne h e had used ea rlier to qualify. " Team H onda was allowed to run a nother bik e when they broke a fra me twi ce before," G ra y sai d after m issing the Na tional. " We changed the for ks and everything an d put the engine back in, but th ey wo u ldn ' t let us ride." . The first Su perbi ke heat race on Sa turday saw Pol en run away and hide from th e res t of the field. The 27-year-old grabbed th e lead off th e line, led i n to turn one an d ended u p beating Gray by 4.78 seco nds. Taki ng th ird pl ace, a nd earnin g a spot in th e Camel Challen ge, wa s Lockh art's Suzu ki -mou nted Quarterley a fte r a b att le with Kawa saki-. m ounted Larry Sh ort s. Cycle Co ncep ts Ra cing 's Sado wski rounded o ut th e to p five fini sh ers on h is Su zuki. Pol en , u sing Dunlop radia ls o n l7 -in ch front a nd l 8- i n ch rear wheels, comp lete d th e five lap s in 7:21.189 for an ave rage speed on the 2.5-mi le tra ck of 102.8 13 mph. The seco nd hea t saw Ash mea d lead in g early over Sho bert a nd Chandler , but on lap three the threetime Gra n d Na ti onal Champion took over. T he 26-year-old Texas native led to the fla g with Ashmead a nd Chandler taki ng th e transfers to the Camel Challe nge. Vance & Hines teamma tes Renfrow and Baldwin ro u nded o u t the top five w it h Baldwi n fighting through from th e back row. Baldwin, who la st rode a Suzuki in 1978 for Pops Yosh imura a t the Su zu ka 8-Hour en d urance ra ce in j apan , was co m ing to gri ps with a GS XR 750 he had never ridde n . " It 's better th an th e Yamaha I rode in 1986 (an FZ750 a t Daytona), but I'm not as co m fortab le o n it as I am on th e H onda ," Baldwin said. " It's co m ing arou n d quickly, but these guys (Va nce & H ines), like most, don 't h ave access to th e good parts. I don' t .want.to ride a bi ke that's too much slower th an Polen an d Bu bba 's, th e g uys I want to race wi th; that's as king for troub le. If anyo ne ca n 'get th ese th ings go ing, it 's th ese guys." He also exp lained how the Vance & H ines deal ca me together, "Terry (Va nce) sa id at Daytona that h e'd like me to try his bikes," sai d Baldwin. " I was tryi ng to get a deal wi th G eorge (Vince n zi, th e . owner of the H onda Baldwin rode a t Daytona ) an d some sponsors, but no thing really ca me togeth er. Noone was too keen a fter I crash ed at Dayto na ." Shobert 's h ea t race win was 13.09 seco nds slo wer th an Polen's, The T eam H onda pi lo t, whose H onda's 17-inch .wheel s were fitted w ith Michel in ra d ia ls, averaged 99.85 mph for th e five-lap heat. The Camel Cha llenge got underway with Shobert, Pol en , Ashmead a nd Gray leadi ng the fray o ut of tum one an d up th e hi ll. By th e time the pack rea ppeared, however, it was Pol en in front. On the third go-aro u nd thejuzuki pilo tturned a 1:27.69 to open a small, bu t timely gap on Shobert, who was bein g chased down by G ra y. Sudden ly, a ll h ell bro ke loose as th ey came out from u nder the bridge on th e final lap ; Po len exited with a comfortable lead: Sh ob ert was next followed by a cloud of red dust and a tumbling G ray.

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