Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

bike to work on th e tight track. The Darien, Connecticut, rider , who finished fourth a t Road Atlanta, ended up a miserable 15th in th e h eat after starting on the back row, H e , would later pull out o f th e National after onl y two laps. The six riders transfering from th e heats to th e $17,500 Camel Chall en ge were P ol en , Sh obert, Ashmea d , Gra y, Chandler a n d Quarterley. Chandler wou ld use th e Challen ge to experiment with a soft-co mpou nd Dunlop rad ial. " In th e h ea t I used a medium like we'll use in the final , but it didn 't co me in un til th e third lap," he said. ''I'll use a soft o ne for th e Challen ge; no o ne 's used one h ere yet. Bu t it's a freebi e race, so I might as well try it." It wa s Shobert, how ever , nailing the holeshot in th e Camel Challenge, leading Polen into tum one and delivering th e fir st blow in a da y o f many between th e two . The fir st lap was a 1:08.85, the second a 1:08.49. O n the third lap, Polen went under Shobert in turn six , turning a 1:08.76 in the process, and taking over the lead. O n the fin al lap , Shobert outbraked Polen going into the banked, left -hand turn eigh t, but the Honda p ilo t couldn't get the bike turned in tim e and was forced to run wide on the exit. Polen kept th e Suzuki on the inside and sn uck underneath. H e then h eld Shobert off to th e finish. Gray, m eanwhile, got stuck in th e pack di cing for third, but eventually broke cl ear. Quarterley fini shed fourth w ith Ash m ead h oldin g Chandler for fifth. "That (tu rn eig ht) was the o nly place I could pass him," Shob ert sai d later. " T he back whee l was off th e ground and 1 co u ldn 't ge t it turned. " "I got a lousy start, " third-placed Gray said. " I' ve got 190 pounds to get o ff th e start line agains t th ese little guys. 1 wa s behind J ohn (Ash m ead) and h e was go ing good en ou gh to stay right th ere. I fin ally got p ast, but sl id h ere (tu rn 10) an d backed off th e p ace. 1 got to within a half seco n d , bu t that was it." Gra y u sed a so ft co m p o u n d Michelin radial ; Sh ob ert's was a medium co m pou n d Mich eli n. " His (Shobert's VFR750) che ws up the soft ones, " Gray said. " An d th e m ed iu m works good on th e H onda. " " I sa w wh ere I knew 1 could get him," Po len said o f his turn six p ass. 'T he H onda 's got more torque ou t )f th e co mers a nd u p th e h ill. 1 ipexed it (tu m four) an d got a good lrive up th e h ill. " Wa s Pol en 's a soft or medium Dunl op radi al ? " Kin d o f in ietween." h e said with a smile. " We' ll see what kind of p ace Bubba's willing to go today," Polen sa i d co n fi de ntl y p r ior to the National . ''I'm rea dy." Read y in deed. As th e fla g dropped for th e 38-la p fin al , Pol en shot into the lead with Sh ob ert h ot on hi s heels. Quart erl ey was nex t, chased by a p a ck i ncl u ding ' As hm ead, Cha nd ler , Sadowski, G r a y and Renfro w. By th e second lap, Po len and Sh ob ert were p u lling clear of the pack a n d G ra y was closing rapidly . on Qua rt erley. Wi th the leading duo circu la ti ng in th e 1:08s a nd 'lea vin g th e res t behind , Gray ca ught Quarterl ey on th e fourth lap and passed him o n th e fifth go aro un d . By this time, Baldwin h ad given up on tryin g to ge t th e Suzu ki to perform an d parked the bi ke in the pits. . . A grea t battle was sha pi ng up for fifth with Chandl er, Ashm ead , Sadowski, Ren fro w, Scott Russell , Mike Bougas and Rueben McMurter, on his Ro th ma ns Honda sans logos, 00 00 O"l ....... The f ive-lap Camel Challenge gets underway; Polen (closest to the stands) took hom e the win and the $10,000. excha n gin g blows eac h a nd every ' lap. . By th e 10th lap, it was P olen/ Sh ob ert, turning times in th e low to h igh 1:08s, foll owed some eight secon ds ba ck by Gra y and then Quarterley/ C h a n d ler , Ashmead/ S ad ow sk i / R en Cr ow / R u s s e II / McM urter/ Bo u ga s. Shobert was sh owin g P olen a whee l h ere an d a whee l th ere, bu t n ever made a p ass. The two co ntinued to tu rn tim es in th e h igh 1:08s, even drifting into th e 9s pe riodically, while p erpetually stre tch in g a large .lead over th e battles beh ind. At th e start o f th e 16th lap, Gray tosse d th e secon d Yoshimura Suzuki . a way entering turn one. "The front end just tu cked in ," he sai d lat er. " Sa m e tire, sa me thing as Roa d Atlanta. 1 don' t think I'll be using that tire a ny more." Chandler inherited th ird pl ace aft er shaking free from Q uarterl ey. Four laps later , on lap 20, it was Quarterl ey tossing it awa y in tu rn four, handing fou rt h pl ace to th e b a ck-and-f orth tu ssle betwee n Sadowski and Ren fro w , who in turn had broken clear of th e battle beh in d th em, co nsis tin g of McMun er, Bougas, Ashmead an d Russell. P ol en br ok e free from Sh ob ert in traffic on lap 24, but the T exanturn ed-Cal if orn ia res ident soon closed again . On lap 29 Shobert ma de h is move, and took th e lead for the first time. On lap 34, however , four la ps from the flag, Shober t drifted wide in tu rn two an d Polen went underneath. The Suzuki ace held firm , eventu ally pulling away to a 1.63-second win in th e fin al two laps. During th eir duel, th e pair had lapped all th e way up to the fourth place ba ttl e between Ren frow and Sadowski. A battle wh ich saw th e ve teran R enfrow fo llowing Sadowski for most of the race before edgin g p ast on ly a few laps before th e fi n ish a nd h oldin g o n for fou rt h . Chandler , m eanwhile, had a lonely stroll home in th ird . Th e b attl e fo r s ix t h went to McMuner in' his first outing in th e U.S. on his Honda VFR750. Russell Geo rg ia's Scott Russe ll (1 2 1 ) finished seventh; here he leads local M ike Bo ugas (105). Bougas ended up finishing eighth. was ne x t followed by Bougas, Ashmead an d T om Kipp. Pol en had co m p le ted th e 38 laps in 43 m inutes, 43.250 seco n ds for a n average speed of 83.438 mph. " I thin k h e ra n m y pace for mo st of the race ," a fres h -looki ng Po len , who wore a battery operated ai rco nd itio ned AGV helmet used by FO ne car drive r Nelson Piqu et, sa id. " We were doing 8.5s a nd 8.6s, a nd 1 th in k h e wa s waiting for me to make a m istake. 1just wanted to keep riding at a good p ace. The tires were getting gr eas y, a nd we were both keep ing it safe. After h e got past, he dr ifted wi de in two , 1 squared it off and d ucked under him. 1 saw th e opportu nity to get some of th e traffic when he co u ldn 't a nd then I didn ' t hear hi s engine an ym ore, so 1 kn ew 1 was clear. 1 never looked back th e whole race , 1 just 'watched th e pit boa rd." . Sh obert was exha us ted after battling both Pol en a nd the h umid weather estimated to be in th e low 90s. " I was riding pretty fa st a nd seei ng whe re 1 co uld gain on him ," Shobert said. " I came up on traffic (in turn two ) and lost m y momen tum. H e drove under me." " O n th is track, from halfwa y o n it 's just keeping it on two wh eel s," sa id Chandler, w ho finished third for the seco nd roa d race in a row. "T h e brak es went ea rly a nd a fter th at I j ust • took it ea sy." Results SUPERBIKE: 1. Doug Polen (SUl ); 2. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 3. Doug Chandl er (Hon); 4. Randy Renfrow (SUl ); 5. David Sadows ki (SUl); 6. Rueben McMurter (Han); 7. Seon Russell (Suz); B. Mar k Bougas (SUl); 9. Joh n Ashme ed (Hon!; 1D. Tom Kipp (Yam); 11. W es Cooley (Suz); 12. Russ Paulk (SUl ); 13. Paul MacM ill an (Sull; 14 . Rick Shaw (Yaml; 15. Carry Andr ew (SUl). AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES POINT STANDINGS: , . Doug Polen (521; 2. Bubba Shobert (4 9); 3. (TIE) Ruebon McMurter/ Randy Renfrow (27); 5. Doug • Cha ndler (26); 6. Kevin Schwantl (20 ); 7. John Ashmead (161; 8. (TIE) Dale Quarterley/David Sadowsk i (15); 10 . Scott Russell (141. AMA CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (71); 2. Doug Polen (52); 3. Steve Morehead (40 ); 4 . (TIE) Rueben McMuner/Randy Renfrow/Doug Chandler (26 ); 7. (TIE) Scoll Par ker /Rodney Farris (22); 9 . (TIE) Kevin SchwantzlTerry Poovey/Jay Springsteen (20). 11

• Cover