Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 0') ..... David Sadowski (4) leads the 750cc Superspo~ race, as eventual winner Doug Polen (2 3 ) sits in mid-pack. AMA/Supersport by Vance & Hines 600 Series: Round 5 Goodfellow dominates at Laguna Seca By Tyrone van Hooydonk Phot os by Mike and Dennis Scully MONTERE Y, CA, J ULY 10 Canadian G ary Goodfellow took a runaway win in the 600cc Supersport event at Laguna Seca, topping series point-leader Doug Polen and John Ashmead. 12 Goo d fellow w a s clea r of th e fi e ld b y lap th ree and p u lled a way to a 4 .2-second margin ' did thi desni o f VICtory. He I this esp ite running on the same tires he used to win hi s heat race tht; previous ~ay. By th e end o,f the fin al.. the SIdes of Goodfellow s .front ttr~ look ed more. hke deep-pile carpe tt ng th an an y ki nd of tread. . It was o nly the seco,?d lim e t1~at Goodfellow had ~aced III the sen~s - his first lim e being ~ t Daytona i n March, where he finis hed a close se~~>nd. , ... Those ~uys don t scare me, .said th e occa sio n al Supersport rider. " (But) I didn 't expect to leave them th e way I did." Goodfellow practiced his disappearing act during the second 600cc heat race on Saturday. As in the final, he broke away from the pack on lap three. Following were Ashmead, Calvin Rayborn III , a nd a surprising Englishman Chris Knigh t, wh o was battli ng transmiss ion troub les. In th e first and fastest heat, it was Po len all th e way, taking a 7.93seco nd win in th e five-lap race. Behind him cam e Scott Russell and Phil Kress, riding his first 600cc Su persport race, o n a borrowed Honda Pole~ stea med off th e po le position to lead th e pack into the firs t turn of th e fin al. T rail ing wer e Ru ssell , Da vid Sadows ki a n d Ashmead. Kni gh t, wh o hail s from Lou~hb o ro ugh , England, shined bri efly III the o pe n ing laps, but his well-worn H onda lost fifth gear and he began fading to a n event ua l seven th. Kress su ffered even more, getting a bad star t, running off the track, and struggling with ca r buret io n problems . Goodfellow was rushing through th e field and joined Pol en a nd Ru ssell on lap two . On th e n ext lap , Goodf ello w turned it into a race fo r seco nd betw een Polen Russell and Ash mead . Shortly after , six th-qua lifying Rayborn low-sid ed in turn three a nd sent his bik e end over end. He wo und up sti ll fit eno ugh to rid e in the ' Superbike race la ter o n: R ussell began dropping back , settling into fourth spo t for good, ahead of Sadowski. Before th e race, Russell said he had troub le setting up the suspensio n a nd o uld be happy to finish in th e top three. Goodfel~ow wa s superb as th e leaders sa iled through the backmarkers, as was Ash mead , wh o grabbed second on lap 10.. He m.anaged tl? ho ld off Pol en until th e ume when II counted. . At the check er ed fla g , It wa s Goodfellow first and nearl y o ut of SIgh t of the second-place con tend~rs, ~olen an,d AS,~mead crossed t~e hne side-by-side with Pol en sq uea kmg by fO:,th e runner-up trophy. " H e g~t the b~t.ter of us today, Pol en said, p raismg Goodfell o w. ''I' m still in th.e points lead ? o w a,?d even by more If Gary doesn t run . III any of these races. So II loo ks Itke we'll be looking p,retty good by the en d of the seaso n. . Goodf ell ow said he raced in the 600 class to ge t some added track ti me on th e revised La guna Seca circ uit. He brough t his close-to-stock H onda down from Canada with the inten tion of racing it if it was competi tive. Goodfellow almost lost the compe titive edge because th e Avon tires he brought were of th e wrong compound. H e couldn 't ge t a harder compou nd for th e race and had to use.his heat-race tire. "This is what I'v e been using in Canada and it 's colder there. It's actually too hot here for this tire and you as can see, it went off," said Goodfellow in regards to his ragged fron t tread . • Results 600cc SS: 1. Gary Goodfell ow (Han); 2. Doug Polen ' (Suz); 3. John Ashmead (Han); 4 . Scan Russell (Suz); 5. David Sadows ki (Hon~ 6. Br itt Turk inglon (Han); 7. Chris Knight (Han); B. Larry Schwarzbach (Han); 9. Doug Toland (Suz~ 10. Phil Kress (Han). 600 SS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Doug Polen (81) ; 2. John A shmead (7 1); 3. Dav id Sadows ki (63): 4. Britt Turk ing ton (29); 5. Mike Smrth (281 . . AMA/Supersport by Vance & Hines 750 Series: Round 5 Polen takes Laguna 75055 win By Tyrone van Hooydonk Photo s by Mike & De n nis S cully MONTEREY, CA, JULY 9 Y oshimura S u zuki's D ou g Polen bea t a determined Scott R u s s e ll and clo s ed w hat a p peared to b e an i m p ossi b le gap to ca tch David Sadowski in winning the 750cc Supersport race a t Laguna Seca. Midwa y th rough the even t.T'olen seemed headed for a co m forta ble wi n. But a crash red flagged the race and he was left on the lin e at the restart. . In the clo sing la ps, Polen seemed destined for third, behind Sad owski a nd Ru ssell. But Sad o wski ran o ut of gas and Polen sneak ed by R ussell to win hi s second 750 race of the season, by a margi n of .28 seconds. " I'd hav e to say that was proba bly one of th e most interesting races I' ve been in - just the drama of it. H ow it a ll ca me out," Po len said. The race sta rted well for the T exan, who was on th e pole. He follo wed Sadowski into th e first tum with Russell Pa ulk and th e rest of the all-Suzuki GSXR750 field in tow. By th e start of lap two, Polen was ah ead, closely trailed by Sadowski. Jonesboro, Georgia-resident R ussell moved into third art the corkscrew. P olen stre tched o ut a small lead a nd left Sado wski to deal with a closing Ru ssell , wh o claimed second a t the top of th e cor kscrew. Sado wski dropped three seconds back as Polen and Ru ssell began slicing th rough back markers. Calvin Ra yborn III , who started on th e · seven th ro w, had worked up 10 sevent h position. Polen then settl ed into a comfortable lead , but it was short-lived. The red flag came o ut after six -p lace qualifi er Morgan Murphy fell hard in turn two, a nd lay still in the midd le of the track. (He was knocked un conscio us but later pronounced fit eno ug h to race th e next day.) Not every rider had comp leted half of the l-t-lap race, so a restart was staged. Ri ders were gridded in the positions th ey were in o n lap six. Du r ing th e dela y, Sadowsk i changed his rea r tire. Pol en and Russell feared it would take too long to scu ff in new tires and stuck with what th ey had . Sadowski mad e th e right decision. On th e resta rt , he nailed the holeshot and rod e away to a seven-second lead. Polen wa s far back, stuck in fifth position. " I couldn 't sh ift into second," he said. "( My mechanics) were telling me that th e clutch was starting to drag a little bit." Russell held second with Rayborn third, now a contender thanks to a better grid position on the restart. With seven laps to go, Polen had moved to forth. A lap later, he closed on Rayborn and slid by him in tum four. But Polen was still three seconds behind Russell, and Rayborn wasn't giving away the third spot. Russell then took a long detour, 15 feet off the course and into the soil outside turn three. Polen said he was reluctant to pass , fearing R ussell would slip and fall on his dirty tires . But Pol en closed the gap within th e next two laps as Rayborn dropped ba ck. On th e back section uphill, R ussell nearly took th e scenic route again , riding o n the edgeofthetrack. Pol en didn 't waste th e opportunity this time and passed Russell into tum seven . But by the tim e th e white flag was sh own, it was Ru ssell back in second. " I go t sidewa ys in turn nine and he passed me down th e hill," Polen said. He was back in third a nd looking o u t of th e hunt for a wi n, L uc k and skill p ut Polen back in it. A slowing Sadowski was shaking his bike back a nd fo rth, tr yin g franti cally to help every remaining ounce of fue l reach th e carburetors. Then, a fter dispatching a no th er backmarker, Pole n ca ught a nd repassed Russell between turns four an d five. At t he finis h line, Po len led Ru ssell across , just ba rely . Sado wski crossed ov er · wi t h a sp u tter i ng machine a nd stopped dead a nd dry only a few ya rds past the chec kered flag, settli ng for a hea rtbreaking th ird p lace, Ra yborn a nd Paulk rou nded o ut the top five. "T ha t's what they wanted - close racing," sai d Pol en , abou t the AMA's Supersport class . "Tha t's what you got. " Russell felt tha t the 750 class was the most important race for h im over the weekend , since he was third in . the point standings co mi ng into Lagu na Seca. But after his off-road excursion, he said he was happy just to be sta nding on his feet. Sadowski wasn 't happy at al l. H e guessed right about tires d ur ing th e red- flag dela y, but o pted not to add any gaso line af ter chec king th e level himself. " I think th at 's o ne of the hardest let-downs I'v e ever had ," he sa id. "If there's a gas com pa ny ou t th ere that would like to sponsor me, I'd be willing to take them on. " • Results 750 SS: 1. Doug Polen (Suzl; 2. Scott Russell (Suz); 3. David Sadows ki (Suz); 4. Cal Rayborn III (Suz); 5. Russell Paulk (Suz); 6. Sleven Dick (Suzl; 7. Ricky Orlando (Suz); 8. Craig Trin der (Suz); 9. Paul Bray (Suzl; 10. Tommy Lynch J r. (Suz). 750 SS SERIES POINT STANDINGS; 1. Doug Polen (B2); 2. David Sadows ki (75); 3. Scott Russe ll (74); 4 . Russell Paulk (38).

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