Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.. c-r ....... .... V ...0 o ..... U David Sadowski (39). Dale Quarterley (32) and Richard Arnaiz (27) had a race-long battle for fourth place; Quarterley topped the other two. 0 Bub.ba Shob~rt won the Camel Challenge and f inished second in the National, takmg the Superbike Championship in the process. One of th e " guys going good " was Ch andler. "T h is is th e best it's been ," the Salinas, California resident said of his ex- Way ne Rainey Honda VFR7 50. " It's still dragging a li ttl e bit, but we're just going up , and up . with It. " Camel Challenge Some of Polen 's hopes of help died on the firs t lap of th e Cam el Ch allenge wh en Gray flicked the Suzuki down the road in the fastest comer on the race track, turn nine. Shobert had gotten th e holeshot, bringing Gray with h im. through the esses. Then havoc set in as Gray lost th e fron tend ·i n an horrific -looking crash. . Gray again proved to many that if you bet your house on him making a crucial err or at a crucial time, you wouldn 't have to worry about not having a roof o ver your head . " I was th e fastest through the back section," he explained later. " Bubba was holding me up and I was right on him in nine, and th at 's a good place to set someone up for 10. I don 't kn ow if it was th e cra p on the track or wh at , but it (the front tir e) just' let go. It knocked me o u t for two minutes. " The race was red-flagged a n d · Quarterley, who had seen the crash from his van tage spot in third place, said: "I was just trying to avoid the gas tank, battery, lead weights and whatever. else the y have on those things." _ The scene didn't faze Quarterley as he grabbed a massive holeshot on the restart. He led Chandler, Shobert, Sadowski and Po len out of turn . three. Shobert, however, sho t p ast Chandler going into turn II on the first go-around and did li kewise to Quar terl ey the next lap. The start of lap two saw another rider Polen was cou nt ing on for help fall by. the wa yside as Sadowsk i cras hed in the tu rn one chicane. " Chandler got o n th e brakes real hard to avoid something tha t was h a ppenin g in fro nt o f him, " Sadowski said later. " I tried to get on the gas and go aro und the m , but it slid and I was go ne over the bars." Polen was on the move, passing Ch andler and Quarterl ey to hold down second pl ace. . Polen took over th e lead fro m Shobert on th e third lap going in to turn seven, a slow ri ght- hander that leads th e way through th e esses. A lap lat er, Sh obert returned the favor going into turn six. H e held on for the win ~nd the 10 grand. Chandler, meanwhile, managed to get past Quarterley for third pl ace. Many were surprised wit h Shobert riding hard enough to win the Challenge. " Winni ng th at Camel C.hall enge P3:Ys m~re than the Superbi ke Ch ampionship," Shobert said. End of surpri se. . National The final Na tional road race of th e 1988 . seaso n began with Ch andler nailin~ the start and leading th e 29rider held up th e hill towards turn two. Chandler held on to lead th e pack across th e start/ finish line at th e comp letion of lap one, followed by Polen, Shobert, Quar terley, Arnaiz and Sadowski. . As the y cro ssed the stripe a lap later, however, it was Polen leadin g Sh obert with Chandler third . What followed was a rather dull procession. With Shobert a non-challenged secorid behind Polen , championship su spense .wa s non -exi st ent. The th ree-ti me AMA Grand Na tional Champion put the H onda on cruise control, a nd settled in to finish second behind Polen . There was nothing the Suzuki rider could do but win the r ac e and win i t convincingly. Polen led Shobert by 3.7 seconds after five laps, 9.7 seconds aft er 10, 13.5 seconds after 15 and 15 seconds after 20. Chandler, too , was unchallenged and he coasted unmolested to the finish. The real racing would be left to the battle for fourth , a Quarterle y/ Sadowski!Arnaiz tu ssle th at sa w each take a turn a t leading th e o ther two. Quarterley would lead la ps one through six, th e battered Sadowski 's tu rn wo uld come on la ps seven through nine. It was again Quarterley's tum on laps 10 th rough 19 when Arnaiz took over for a single lap. It .was back to Quarterl ey on lap 2~ and 22 with Sadow ski takin g over on lap 23. Quarterley saw a bik e-wid th hole between Sadow ski and the inside of the track going in to th e carosel on · the final lap, so he " ran in to h im;' a nd go t by." Arnaiz' big moment came o n lap 22 in turn six. T he Yam aha pilo t go t sideways and had to take a brief, albeit costly, trip to the dirt. " After th at , it took it ou t of me," Arn aiz said. " I ra n into a littl e traffic and I co uldn' t get back up there with them. I go t into a few sm all o nes (~rom left to right) Chandler. Polen and Shobert celebrate in the winner's Circle; these three also took the top spots in the championship. - (slides) but that one took it out of me." Behind Arnaiz came Domay, th e WSMA Formula USA Champion, th en Pittman who had worked up from ou t of th e top 15 in th e early stages of the race. Next came Pinkstaff and Ra yborn, riding on th e same Dunlop K591 street tires that he used to win the 750cc Supersports class earlier in the day . ~ ' I kn ew I had to get second or third," the new Superb ike Champion Shobert said. "I raced wit h Doug Ch andler some and th en go t going. I go t lap tim es at th e beginning and th ey were pretty good . I tho ugh t, 'I'd better slow down.''' Polen had no p roblems with hi s . Du nlop radial-shod Suzuki, and he too is likely to retu rn to ra ce in the U.S. in 1989. " I' d li ke to try and race here and some in J apan next year . That will make everybody happy ." Chandler, again, ended up thi rd and sounded a li ttle disappointed with the result. ''I'd li ke to do better," he said. " Bu t you 've got to tak e what you can get. It's hard when you just have one mechanic. It 's hard on the mech anic and on th e rider.. We'll need to change something for next year. " Sadowski , who had su ffe re d through two crashes on the da y and was hurting on his entire left side , said. "I had trouble with left/right transitions. I couldn' t put much weight on m y leg. Dale and Arnaiz got by going into one on one lap, and I smas hed m y shoulder on that tire (the marker for the chica ne). I passed 'em ' both bac k, bu t Dal e stuffed me in th e Caro u sel. I was gun shy and cou ldn 't get back aro und." . Results SUPERBIKENAT'L: 1. Doug Polen (Suz): 2. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 3. Doug Chandl er (Hon); 4 . Dale Quarterley (Suz); 5. David Sadowski (Suz)' 6 Richard Arnaiz (Yam); 7. James Domay (Suz); 8: Jo e Pittman (Suz); 9. Keith Pinkstaff (Suz)' 10 Calvin Rayborn III (Suz); 11 . Donald Jacks (5 uz): 12. Carry Andrew (Suz); 13. Ricky Or lando (Suz)' 14. Larry Shorts (Kaw); 15. Jim Jepsen (Suz). • FINAL AMA SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (121 ); 2. Doug Polen (117); 3. Doug Chand ler (65); 4. Scan Gray (48); 5. Randy Renfrow (47 ); 6. J ohn As hmead (3B); 7. Dale Quarter ley (37); B. David Sadows ki (32); 9. Reuben McMurter (27 ); 10. Scan Russell (22 ); 11. Mark Chin (21); 12. Kevin Schwantz (20 ); 13. Richard Arn aiz (18); 14. Mike Harth (15); 15. Wes Cooley (14); 16. (TIE) Mi ke Baldwin/Gary Goodfe llow (11); 18. (TIE) Tom K,pp/Carry Andrew (10); 20 . Calvin Rayborn 111 19). AMA/CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bubba Shobert (212); 2. Scon Parker (120 ); 3. Doug Polen (101); 4 .:Chris Carr (1 DO) 5. (TIE) Steve ; Mo rehead /Doug Chandler (99 ); 7. Terry Poovey (72); 8. Dan Ingram (61); 9. Keith Day (48); 10. Ra n ~y Renfrow (47). 7

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