Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Doug Polen (23) and Bubba Shobert (1) were this close for the majority of the Loudon Superbike race; Polen took the w in for his first National. David Sadowski (3 9 ) and Randy Renfrow (5) battled over fourth place for the entire race; the vetera n Renf ro w edged out the Loudon local. Doug Chandler rode a smooth race to fin ish third . It was the dirt t racker's second straight third place finish on t he ex-Rainey Honda VFR750. AMA Superbike Series/Camel Pro Series: Rounds 3/5 Polen wins his first National ·at Loudon By Pau l Carruthers Phot os by Henny Ray Abrams LACONIA, NH, JUNE19 Yoshimura Su zu ki 's Dou g Polen rode an im macu la te race to win his first-ever AMA ~ a tion al, top pin g Team H on da 's Bubba Shober t in a thrilling race-long du el a t Brya r Mo torsport Park. Along with his first I ' h S N · I .au ona :v m caf!le t e uperb i ke Senes p om t lead fo r 10 Polen. T he Texan took over in the back a nd forth tuss le wi th Sho bert over the Superbike National Cha mpionship, and now lead s, 52-49. Shobert's seco nd p lace, however, was enough to mai ntai n hi s lead over the.d irt tra ck/road race fra ternity in the Cam el P ro Series titl e chase . Shobert leads Pol en , 71-52, with dirt track er Steve Mor ehead th ird at 40. The th rilling Suzuki vs. H onda, Dunlop vs. Mich elin, Pol en vs. Shobert brawl lasted for the entire 3 8 1~ ps on th e 1.6-mile Loud on track. Third pl ace went to Su pertrapp Honda nder Do ug Ch andler with Van ce & Hines' Randy Renfrow and loca l David Sadowski ro und ing out the top five. Polen 's first National win, p lacing him in th e record boo ks as th e 155th man .to win an AMA Nationa l, was made even sweeter wh en he started th e day by winning th e $ I0,000 winner's share of the $17,500 Camel Challenge. Again, Po len managed to barely ho ld off Shobert in taking the win . Pol en 's win in th e Superbike final netted the Texan $6640; Loudon's $48,000 Superbike purse being the largest payout since Daytona. Combine th at with hi s Camel Challen ge money a nd the 28-year-old walked a way from New Hampsh ire with $16,640. Shobert ea rn ed $4425 for seco nd and Chandler too k home 3 135 for third. The Superbike series came to Lo udon after an almost one-month layoff since the second ro und at Road Atla nta in May. Loudon 's short a nd technicall O-turn circu it is known for prod uc ing close racing a nd th is weekend was no exception. Superbike ac tio n go t under way w it h loca l fa vori te Dal e Quarterley squeezing th e Loc khart Suzu ki int o the lead in th e first 24-rider, five-la p heat race. The Rockland, Massach usetts, resident, who teac hes road racing stu dents a t Loudon , cou ld n 't h old o rr th e charging Shobert, however , and the T exan took co ntro l before the end of the first lap . Sh obert led the rest of the way, turning lap times in the low I:08s. Pol en's Yoshimura teammate Scott Gray, o n h is backu p b ike after dem olishing his "good" bike during th e Camel Challenge at R oa d Atlanta, held o n for second with Quarterley third. Mike Harth nipped Sad owski for fourth. Larry Shorts cras hed his Kawasa ki hard on th e exit of turn eig ht on the third lap, hurting h is fee t, a nd putting himself out of the Natio nal. Form er S uperb ike Natio n al Ch ampion Wes Cooley returned to Superbike raci ng for th e first time since his horri fic cras h a t Sears Po int in 1985, and finis hed eigh th in the hea t race on h is George Vincens itun ed Gee -Vee R a cin g H onda VFR750. Cooley was taki ng his tim e, ge tting used to National-l evel co rnpeti tion after a three-year layoff. " T he bike's runn ing good," he said followi ng the heat race. " I just need to get back into it. Before when I raced there used to be three or four guys go ing fast, now th ere's 10. I think the technique is still there, it's j ust getting used to rid ing with them. If everything works o ut, the tentative plan is to ru n the rest of them wi th George (Vincensi) excep t for Sears Po int ; I'll never race at Sears Point aga in. " Coo ley had cras hed exiting turn six the Saturday prior to th e Nati onal during a clu b race practice session . "This place always bites me," Cooley said. " I th ink I' ve cras hed in every turn here." Sho bert a nd hi s Mich elin radialclad H onda VFR 750 were cloc ked a t 5:45. 799 for a n average speed of 83.285 mph for the first five-lap heat race. Finis h ing 13th in th e first heat was m ulti -time World Cha mpion Kork Ballington in h is fir st AMA Su per. bike o uting. Ball ingt on was aboard th e seco nd Gee-Vee Racin g H onda VFR750. The So ut h African would later cras h in th e Castrol250cc Grand Prix class, and wou ld no t be a sta rter in th e Na tional. In the second of the two heat races, Po len shot ou t front immediately and held on for th e win. The Texan tu rned times in the high 1:07s and low I:08s to record a hea t race time tha t was 1.880 seco nds faste r than Shobert's. Pol en circu la ted the five laps in 5:43.9 19 for an average speed of 83.740 mph. Chandler held second ea rl y in the heat, but later gave way to J ohn Ashmead . Bedford, Massachusetts ' Mark Bougas fin ish ed fourth with Ren frow fourth on the 1988 Vance & H in es Suzu ki GS XR 750. It was Renfro wn 's fir st o u ti ng o n th e 1988 _ model. "The 1988 bik e feels like a sma ller mo torcycle," Renf row said. " It's just easier for me to turn. The 1987 is Iaster though." Multi-time Nationa l Road Race Ch ampion Mike Baldwin was back for his seco nd outing on the o ther Vance & H in es Suzuki , a 1987GSXR , bu t was having problem s getting the

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