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/127146
Bubba Shobert (1) and Doug Polen (23) battled for most of the Mid-Ohio National until Polen crashed . Californian ~cott Gray had his best Superbike finish to date with a second place at Mid-Ohio; Jimmy Adamo's Ducati lies broken against the Armco. AMA Camel Pro/Superbike Series: Rounds 9/6 Shobert takes over after Mid-Ohio thriller By Paul Carruthers Phot os by Bert Shepard LEXINGTON, OH , AUG. 7 Just when i t looked as though Doug Polen was abou t to firmly slam the door shut on any hopes Bubba Shobert .h ad of winnin g the AMA Superbike Championship, th e Yoshim u r a Suzuki rider opened the door and put out · .the welcome mat, c~a~ h mg half a lap from the finish at 6 the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and all but handing the title to his Team Honda rival. It was a dramatic day indeed at the 2.4·mile Mid-Ohio SPOTtS Car Course on the outskirts of Lexington as Shobert and Po len battl.ed throughout the 25-lap , 60-mIle National with the championship clearly resting on the outcome. Polen led for the first time on the 22nd lap, sneaking past race-long leader. Shobert in traffic. Two laps later, however, disaster struck for Polen. As the two raced to the flag, . the Texan lost the front end of his Suzuki GSXR750 Superbike in a right-hander onl y half a lap from the finish. As Polen struggled to get the Suzuki clear from the gravel, Shobert cruised to his third Superbike win of th e season, taking, in the process, a giant step towards his first-ever Superbike National Championship. Polen managed to remount, get the Suzuki started and finished sixth, but Shobert now leads the title chase by eight points, 105-97, with only one round remaining at Sears Point in early October. The win was Shobert's 37th National victory, putting him on ly three wins behind all-time leader Jay Springsteen. The win also gives Shobert a commanding lead in the overall Camel Pro Series championship with ' his 143 points; Polen is next at 81, but with the majority of the races left on the schedule being dirt tracks, Shobert's biggest concern is the nex t dirt tracker in points, Steve Morehead, at 63 points. Second place, seven seconds in arrears, went to Polen 's Yoshimura ' Suzuki teammate' Scott Gray in his best Superbike finish to date. Third place went to SuperTrapp Honda's Doug Chandler. Lockhart's Da le Quarterley and Peter Brady Racing's John Ashmead rounded out the top five finishers. Things appeared to be ~oing Polen's way on Sunday as disaster struck Team Honda during the morning practice session when Shobert destroyed his VFR750 in a high-speed crash. Luckily, the threetime Grand National Champion escaped unhurt. The bike was quickly rebuilt from th e ground up in time for the Camel Challenge after AMA referee Darrel Dovel gave the approval to substitute frames for safety 's sake. This approval was later protested by Gray, who faced similar, -a lbeit slightly different, circumstances at Road Atlanta, but was not allowed to use a rebuilt bike for the National. More bad news for the Honda squad and a further confidence builder for Polen came in the Camel Challenge as Shobert's Honda mysteriously went on two cylinders, causing him to drop out of the race , and thus handing the $10 ,000 winner's share of the $17,500 Camel Challange purse to Polen; it was the Texan's fifth straight Camel Challenge win, keeping his perfect streak alive and his wallet bulging. It was also one of Polen 's five ra ces on the ho t and sunny day (600cc Supersport heat race, 750cc Su persport final , Camel Challenge, 600cc Supersport final and the National), a point many will bring up as to why Polen may have crashed in the National. , Despite the setbacks in the Camel Challenge, T eam Honda mechanics, however, responded by getting the VFR750 to run perfectly for the National. Shobert's effort in the National earned him $4400 of the $34,000 Superbike purse; Gray took home $2960 with Chandler pocketi ng $2095. Saturday's heat races were held under cloudy skies and cooling temperatures, and it , was Polen winning the first and fastest of the two, five-lap affairs. The Suzuki pilot took over from teammate Gray on the second lap and held on ' to ' fin ish 7.96 seconds ahead of him. T hird p lace went to Quarterley on the Lockhart Suzuki after he stuffed it past Randy Renfrow and the Vance & Hines Suzuki on the final goaround. " I should have come in on hi m, but I'm a nice guy, " Ren fro w said later; his nice guy approach cos ting him a spot in the Camel Challenge and a position on the front row of the grid. An ever-improving Wes Cooley had his best ride since beginning his Superbike comeback, finishing fifth on the Ge e Vee Racing Honda VFR750 . " Everyth ing is getting better," , Cooley said. " La gu na was kind of a bummer because I didn't have the good stuff, but now I'm back on it (the number one Gee Vee Racing Honda that was ridden by Gary Goodfellow at the Laguna Seca National). I feel good and the bike's rea lly working good. I just have to work 'on getting my cornering speed up." Sam McDonald and Pau l Bra y were eliminated from qualifying when Bray crashed in the righthander at the end of the backstraight, bringing McDonald down in the process. , Polen completed the five la ps in eight minutes, 4.569 seconds for an average speed of 89. 151 mp h. The second heat race saw Shobert and a wheelying Scott Russell lead the pack into the first comer. Shobert led the first lap by over a second and then the field encountered oil left by John Eidenberger in the corner called the Keyhole. The result was a sideways Shobert and Chandler, and a crashing Russell , Kevin Rentzell, Russ Paulk on the second Gee Vee Racing Honda, and Richard Arnaiz. The rest of the heat race was slowed dramatically as the pack was forced to nearly coast through the oil -covered comer every lap. Russell remounted to make the National, finishing 17th. Shobert averaged 87.384 mph in the heat, topping Chandler, Ashmead, Mark Chin and Carry Andrew. " It wasn 't carbureting," Shobert said. "T he first la p the thing was working good, then a guy dropped oil over there and we cooled it , but it j ust wasn't carbureting. It might' be ignition." R ussell described the oil debacle. "Eidenberger decided to change hi s oil, I lost the front and slid down ," he said. "I got up and thought there'd be a red flag because so many of us went down, but I kept going and finished 17th. We're in there, but just barely." Speed gun' times at the end of the relatively short from straight clocked