Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Rid ing w itft an injured knee, pinned as a result of a crash at Sears Point, Georgian Scott Russell won the Suzuki GSXR750 Cup Final, f inished fourth on a GSXR11 00 and fifth on a Katana for a total payday of $7750 . Texa n Dou g Pol en (23) came from the 23rd ro w in t he second wave to fim sh eig hth in t he GSXR750 Final, and won the 11 OOcc race. Here he passes Zoomin' Humans Ray Yoder (5 2) and Andy Fenwick (747) . Suzuki National Cup Series Final Three .races, three winners! By Brian Catterson Photos by Tom Grant and Mike Church BRAS ELT O N , GA , NOV. 5-6 i Scott R u ssell, David Sadowski and Doug Polen each took home a win and a chunk of the $55,000 Suzuki contingincies at the 3rd Annual Suzuki , National 'Cu p Series Fi n al , h el d in co nj u n ctio n wi th th e WE RA G ra n d ' N a u· o ria I F In a I s at R oa d Atlanta Racewa y. 6 In addi tion to th e Suzuki money. associa te sponsors D u nl o p , EB C , Kal- Gard and Kus hitani a lso posted co nt ingen cies. bri ngi n g th e to ta l ava ila ble p urse closer to $70.000. With that much loo t up for grabs. , man y o f America 's to p road racers, plus a co u p le o f Ca na d ia ns a nd a Mex ican , mad e su re th ey qualifi ed to co m pe te. T his yea r, Suzuki added . a third class to th e program, one for th eir 600cc Ka tana models (p revious years feat u red tw o <;Iass.es Io r G SX R 750s a nd I I O Os). Five riders In ea c h o f th e thr ee di spl a cem ent ca tegories from eac h o f n in e regi ons, plus th e top five Na tiona l 600cc a nd 750cc Su persport riders o n Suzu kis, ' qual ified wi th heat race grid positions determined by points. T he biggest surprise was tha t Pol en didn't ma ke a clean sw eep. The 28-year-o ld , Den ton , T exas, resi dent was th e odds-on favorit e since he'd wo n both Suzuki Cup ti tles the las t two years, and this yea r h ad clinch ed bo th AMA/CCS Super- David Sadowski (4) leads Pau l Bray (11) Jamie James (58) and Britt Turkington (2 8 0) on his way to the Suzuki 600cc Katana Cup win. sp o rt Cham p ions h ips o n similar Suzu ki eq u ip men t. But Pol en h ad a n o n -a nd-o ff weekend, wi n n ing th e I IOOcc race o n a bike provi ded by S uzu k i o f Corp u s C hri st i , th en su ffering mech a n ica l problems in th e Ka ta na ra ce a nd fin ishing eig h th in th e 750cc fin a l a fter sta rt ing a t th e rear o f the grid: Perha p s it sho u ld n't be too su rp risi ng, since of a ll th e tracks that Pol en has wo n a t, Road Atl anta has proved the most elus ive. Pol en ha s yet to win a 600cc Su pe rspan race a t the Georg ia faci lity, suffering hi s o n ly loss a t th e hands o f T homas Stevens here in 1987, an d losing to both Mi ke Sm ith a nd Paul Bra y in '88. Pol en has tasted victo ry here, h o wever, swee p ing th e Suzuki Cup races in '86 a nd win ni ng the 750cc Supersport racethis pa st Au g ust. Pol en had troub le even be fo re the racing began wi th a Sa turda y morning practi ce cras h o n h is Kat ana. Asked what happened a fter h e had h itch ed a ride to the p its o n th e back o f Russell 's bi ke, Pol en sai d th a t he " ma de a n er ro r in jud g em ent," cra sh in g in turn five wh en he lost the rear en d an d h igh -sided . T h e bike su ffered o n ly a broken bra ke lever, but Pol en too k b lows to bot h feet. Sa turday afternoo n 's first fo ur-la p heat race for Kat anas sta rte d with Cra ig Trinder g ra bbing th e h ol eshot, b ut he ran wide o nto the ga tor teeth a t the exit of turn I I a llow ing Bra y to sq ueeze past. Da vid Deveau held third wi th Bill Loomis fo u rt h . T rinder d iced w i th Br a y w hi le Deveau raced wi th Loomis, eac h pai r of riders swa p pi ng positions but th e results remain in g th e sa me. T ri n der snatched th e lead o n th e final circu it, bu t repea ted hi s fir st-la p m iscu e a nd Bra y sn uck by. Ca l Ra ybo rn III wo rked hi s wa y up to fifth a t th e fin ish. Smith, wh o tu rn ed in suc h an exce lle nt perfo rmance the previo us weekend a t Dayto na 's Race of Champi ons, rode a n ai li ng Ka ta na , slow even before it broke th e sh ift lin kage, a nd li mped ho me in 16th p lace . T he second Ka tan a heat race, held u nd er increasingly threat ening skies, saw Pol en tak e th e lead at the star t w ith Sadows ki mov in g past before th e en d o f la p o ne. Human Race Team's Ku rt H all held thi rd with T eam Su zu ki Endu ra nce teammat es J a m ie James a nd M ike H ar th fighting over fo urt h and fi ft h . Bri tt Turkington a nd Scott R ussell ga ve chase. Pol en spent th e first few la ps relearning how to ride with hi s injured feet , an d res u med th e lead o n th e fro nt strai g h t on lap three, never to be headed . Turki ngton sho wed the form tha t would pa y off later , disposing of H a rt h a nd H all and sna tch ing third place from J ames, who 'd a lso gotte n arou n d H al l. T he finish sa w Pol en wi n fo llowed by Sadowski , Turkingt o n , J a mes, H all , R u ssell a nd H arth . The seco nd heat was faster th an th e fir st , so Pol en would si t o n the pole in th e final. Bray, 23, from U n ion City, Georgia, said that his hea t was slower beca use he o n ly went as fast as he had to : "No rea son to p us h it. " Polen, o n th e o the r hand, sa id tha t wi th the lack o f horsepower co m pared to hi s Superb ike, th e pole was a ll- im porta n t. J u st as th e seco nd h eat race ended, th e sky o pe ne d u p , flooding the tra ck and turn in g the surroundi ng red G eorgi a clay to mud . With vio lent wind an d ligh tn in g sigh ted in the area , and elec trica l power to the to wer kn ocked o u t, ra cing ' wa s p u t o n h old for o ver a n hou r. Just as su dde n ly as th e sto rm started, i t stopped , wi th su nsh ine co m in g out for th e remain der of th e day. Racing resu med o n the wet tra ck wi th th e fir st 750cc h eat ra ce. H all took th e ea rl y lead fro m hi s seco ndrow g rid positio n a nd was followed across th e stripe by Scott Zarnpach. P ol en 's teamm ate Sco tt Gra y, Sad owski and Turkingt on. The term " wa ter u nder,the bridge" took o n a li tera l m eaning o n the fir st la p wh en Co lo radoan R icky O rl a ndo a nd New H a m psh ireman J eff H eino crashe d a fter hitting a puddle u nde r th e Ni ssan pedestrian bridge spa n ni ng th e track a t the crest of turn II. Wheth er it was sta ndi ng wa ter o r co nde nsa tio n d ripping off o f th e brid ge itself is unclear, but i t wou ld play a major ro le in th e hea t race o utcomes . Gray, riding o n Mi chelin Hi-Sp ort radials, had sta rte d nea r th e back a nd was working hi s way th rough th e pack li ke th e proverbial hot knife th rough butter. By th e end of lap two, he led , ta king th e chec kered flag firs t w i th a fo u r-s eco nd margin. Sado wski took seco nd, with lampac h th ird , H all fourth and T urkingto n fifth. . T he seco nd 7~Occ heat sa w Raybo rn lead in to tu rn o ne wi th Po len passing for th e lea d going up to turn two. Po len led th e first la p unti l he, too , cra she d under th e bridge. With Po len gone, R u ssell assumed the lead. Th e Georgia n was riding with an in jured right knee, pinned '

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