Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Hammer Supersport Support rider Jamie James took a second, a third and a fourth, just missing out on his goal of three rostrum placings. (Left to right) Cal Rayborn III , David Sadowski and Scott Russell smile in t he GSXR750 w inner 's circle. Sadowski won the most cash. $9000. 8 as a result o f a n endurance race crash a t Sea rs Po int o n October I , on the clockwise, mostly right-hand turn track, a nd was unable to ho ld. o ff a determined Harth. Russell settled for second with Ma rk Bo ugas third, Rayborn fourth and Cam Roos fift h - three ou t of th e la p five Georgians. Amazingly, Harth had borrowed a street bike motor (wi th 3000 miles on it) after his blew up on th e long straightaw ay during Saturday morn ing practice. Desp ite th e p rod u ction ra cing status and manda tory use of DOTa p p ro ved stree t tir es, rubber compounds pl a yed a key role. Interestingly, Po len chose bias-ply Du n lop K591s while R ussell went with K700 a nd K701 radials , a nd H arth us ed Mich elin H i-Spo rt ra dials. There was some spec u la tio n that Po len had started on unscrubbed rubber, which would easily exp lain his crash, bu t Dunlop tir e technician Jim Allen quick ly di smissed this, saying that the tires did indeed have a few laps on them . Rayb orn lamented that he didn't hav e a ny wet-com pou nd tires and had to use regular dr y tires. " If it 's dr y in th e fina l, we'll be okay, " he said. Once ag ain Smith struck trouble wh en th e throttle of his bik e st uck open u nder the bridge. He pulled in th e clu tch a nd pegged the tach , in the process bendi ng so me valves. Combined wi th h is poor Ka tana fini sh , he 'd be a spectator on Su nd ay. T he seco nd heat wa s some 10 seconds faster than the, first, largely because of a drying tra ck, so H arth would sit o n th e pole. Polen , by co ntrast, wo uld be coming from th e, rear of the grid . . . in the second wave! T he one -and -only GS XR 1100 heat race saw Sado wski lead u nt il the last lap wh en H arth sn uck by for the win. " He sho wed me a wh eel goi ng down the back stra ig h t so I moved over to th e rig ht to bl ock him ," said Ski, " Bu t he 'ba nza ied' righ t by o n the inside." Sadowski too k second with J ames co m i n g fro m behind to fi nis h third. Po len was seco nd b u t faded to fourth at the flag, wi th J oe P ittma n of Oak Harbor, Wash ingto n , (who qua lified for a ll three cla sses from th e T h west division aft er cli nchort ing the number one p late in bo th O MRRA a n d WMRRA) lea d in g R ussell for fift h . " T ha t's my class," sa id local resid ent Harth who, surprisi ngly, doesn't cla im Road Atla nta as hi s ho me tra ck. (He's been living in the area for three years.jHe was feeling good abo u t the 1l 00cc Final , though with his slow 750cc motor he was p ra ying for addit io nal rain. It was no t to be, however , as Su nday daw ned co ld but sunny. The fir st 12-la p Suzu ki Cu p event was th e I I0 0cc Final. H art h immedia tely jumped o ut to the lead , with Polen second fro m hi s seco nd -row start and Sadowski ho ldi ng th ird. Bray was fourth on th e first goro und, but Sad owski slammed the door on h im in turn on e and Bray had to sla m on the brak es. As a result he ra n wide, dro p p in g to 16th. , Pol en passed H art h for the lead on lap th ree, which he opened up to over four seco nds at the flag, whi le Ru ssell got by Sadowski fo r th ird. James had starte d o n th e ou tside o f th e fir st row, but initially ra n fifth . H e worked hard to pass Sad ow ski, Russell and H art h for seco nd p lace a t th e checke rs , w i th all save Sado wski cross ing the lin e with in in ch es. H arth go t held up by tra ffic to -finish thi rd with R ussell fourth a nd Sad owki fifth. Pittman , Zampac h , Turkingt on, Scott Cavness and Bra y ro u nded out th e top 10. Pol en pi cked up a cool $5000 paych eck for hi s win, wi th J ames mak ing 3000, H arth $2000, Russell $1500 a nd Ski $1000. Guillermo Vill arreal , a.k.a. "El Ronco " , failed to mak e th e long trip fro m Mexi co City worthwh ile, as he finish ed ou t of th e money in 13th place (the II00cc ra ce pays back to 10th ; 600cc and 750cc to 20th). Nex t was the Katana fina l. Pol en got a n excelle nt start fro m th e pol e, moving over on neighbors Bra y and Sadowski as th ey approach ed turn o ne. Sad ow ski was second a t th e start with Bra y third. Turkington came arou nd th e first time in fo urth pl ace, b ut would move up to second by th e finish. Devea u ended his race on la p o ne with a first-la p crash, th e resul t of runnin g over George Fox's bik e when th e latter high-sided in fro nt of hi m in turn five. Fo x suffered a n injured a n kle and shoulder in the incident. Pol en 's ra ce ca me to a n end in tu rn seven on lap three. H e exp lained tha t th e banjo bolt a t the front brake mas ter cylinde r had co me loo se, causi ng the bra kes to lose pressure gra d ua lly until he was left with virtua lly no brakes. " I went th ro ugh turn six real fast!," he said, add ing th at it would be too dangerous to co n ti n ue . " It wasn't wo rt h that much; I' ve got bigger and bett er things to do!" H e parked it in turn seven. With Pol en o u t, Sadowski cruised to th e win a nd th e $5000 paycheck. Turkin gton, James and Bray had a dogfig ht for second w i th Tur k eventua lly pulling it off. J am es was thi rd with Bray fourth and Russell fifth . H all , Craig Trinder, Loomis, Ra yborn and H arth co mpleted the top 10. Sa do wski, who rece n tly moved fro m New Engla nd to Georgia, is sponsored by Vance & Hin es, Dunlop , H arry's Mach in e Sh op, Bel-Ray, Fra m- Au tolite, EBC, Fox, Sh oei, Bates a n d St reet & Com p etition Cycle. There was some dram a a t Su nday eve n i n g' s m and a to r y techn ic al inspection when Kevi n Cameron discovered th at Turkingto n 's charging system didn ' t work. H owever , it turned ou t to be a fault y a lterna to r rat her th an a n illega l modification a nd Turking ton's p lacing stood. In fact, there were no disqualifications in an y class. The GS XR750 Final took a few attempts to get sta rted, as first stray dogs delayed the start after the warmu p lap, forci ng a len gt h y pa use and an additio na l wa rm-u p lap, and the n Roos crashed on the thi rd lap of th e race causing a red flag. T eammat e Gray had started from th e midd le of the fro nt row, bu t had fa llen o n la p two . Gray has earned " reputatio n as a crashe r th is season, a and for many of the pit pessimists it was not so m uch a matter of " if" G ray wou ld fall as " where" and "when." Ap peasi ng the doorn sa yers, th e " Icema n " took a soil sam p le in tu rn one whi le holding down fourth pl ace. " T h is time it wasn 't m y fault," sa id G ray, hin tin g at a mecha ni ca l p ro blem but decli ning to explain it in detail. A number o f riders chose to change rear tir es duri ng the de lay , not ably Russell , J am es a nd H all. Hall had other prob lems as well; before the first sta rt , hi s number two carburetor started leaking out the overflo w, and he was for ced to p us h it o ff to th e side o f the track to mak e hasty repairs. He'd retire o n th e fourth lap. The field re-gr idded from their orig inal posi tions for a comp lete restart wit h a ll 12 laps to be run as if th e first few ha d never happen ed. The com p lete restart was fortunate for o ne T ommy Lyn ch ; the 16-yearo ld n ew Yos hi m u ra recruit had jumped the first start a nd wo uld ha ve been docked a la p ; in stead , he wo ul d finis h 14th. All eyes focused on Pol en as the 750cc Fina l gridded for the resta rt. Polen sat o n th e ro w matching his rac ing n u m ber - 23 - and he wo uld have to put on th e ride of his life to ca tch th e leaders. On th e first start, he'd crossed the lin e j us t insi de the top 20; where would he be this tim e? At th e restart, H arth cu t a mean I tr ail , lea d in g R ussell , Sa do ws ki, Zarnpach , H all and Bray a t the end of la p o ne. Pol en was up to 24th, and would lie 19th th e next tim e aro und. His p rogr ess after tha t was no t qui te as ra p id, a nd he event ua lly closed to just eig h th p lace, some distance back fro m the leaders. " I was just cruising," he sa id. " I kne w I cou ld n 't ca tch th em ." H e sti ll took ho me a to ta l o f $5800 in Suzuki contingi ncies for h is efforts. R ussel I sto le the show on lap three, while Ha rt h gr adua lly fell back to sevent h , victim of his underpowered borrowed mo tor. Rayborn was co ming back from a bad start and wou ld event ua lly fini sh third. After a season spent mostly in California, Ra yborn was a n xio us to sho w th e rest of th e cou ntry wh at they'd been mi ssing . "T hey were o u t for th e mo ney and the blood ," sa id Rayborn . The top three were a ll o n Du nlop K591 s in the final. James worked up from his eigh trow gridding to fini s h fourt h , outbraking both Bray a nd Zampach under th e bridge a nd j ust mi ssing hi s goa l of th ree rost rum placing s. " Hall's bike was bl ow in g oil; it covered m y faceshield, " sa id th e New O rlea ns, Lou isian a , resident. "T ha t was my best ride o f th e year. It was kinda scarey, but I li ked it!" J ames, who wo n a to ta l o f $6500 from Suzuki, is spo nsored by Dun lop, Ara i, T subaki , Fox, Dynoj et, BelRay, EMG O, Cycle Concepts Racing and T ea m H ammer. Zampach took fifth wi th Bra y . six th, Harth seventh, Polen eig h th , Turking ton n inth a n d P ittman tenth. " It's h urting a little bit," said R ussell in refere nce to his in ju red - kn ee. " I was praying for the white flag." " No t ba d for a cr ipple," sa id Russell 's tuner Vic "The Differen ce" Fasola. R ussell , who pocketed a tota l of 7750, is spo nsored by Cindy Bowen , Du nl o p , EBC , RK, D&D, Fox , Ka l-Ga rd , AGV, Vanson and T eam H ammer. Sadowski , wh o won $9000, the mos t of a n y co m pe tito r, voiced his opi nion in th e winner 's circl e: " T his p ro ved to me that th e Suzuki Cup is the most c ompetitive class." • Results 600: 1. David Sadows ki; 2. Britt Turkington; 3. Jam ie James; 4. Paul Bray; 5 . Scott Russell; 6 . Kurt Hall; 7. Craig Trinder; 8 . Bill Loomis; 9. Calvin Rayborn III; 10 . Mi ke Hanh; 11. Dan Turner ; 12. Rick Kir k; 13 . David Clyde; 14 . J ed Kimla; 15. Jo hn Eidenberger; 16 . Ol iver Billing sley; 17. Greg Tysor; 18. Pet er Wenslofl ; 19. Kirk Hill ; 20. Alan Smith. 750 : 1. Scott Russell: 2. David Sadowsk i; 3. Calvi n Rayborn III; 4 . Jamie Jam es; 5 . Scott Za mpach; 6. Paul Bray; 7 . M ike Harth ; 8. Doug Polen; 9 . Britt Tur kington; 10 . Joe Pittm an; 11 . John Eidenberger; 12 . Craig Trinder; 13. Jeff Heino; 14 . Tom Lynch; 15 . Craig Gleason; 16. Shaw n Nicoloff; 17. Chris Martone; 18 . A ndy Fenw ick; 19. Danny Roberts; 20. Ricky Orlando. - 11 00: 1. Doug Polen ; 2 . Jamie Jam es; 3 . M ike Hart h, 4 . Scott Russell ; 5. David Sadows ki; 6. Joe Pittm an; 7 . Scott Zampach; 8 . Britt Turkington; 9 . Scott Cavness; 10. Paul Bray.

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