Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Quarterley (Continued from page JO) . it wh iz by and thinking to myself - man thi s is fast. At that point I just let go ... I was goin g abo u t 120 (mph) wh en I la id it down on the tar. I'm gla d I had m y back p rotecto r o n," he co ncluded with a smi le. The hat-tri ck to Quart erley's 'SS season was his respectable seventhpl ace overa ll finish in th e AMA/ Ca mel Pro Superbike Series . Quarterl ey's exper ie nce in . Am eri ca 's premier road racing class is indicative o f th e d isparity th a t exists between the equ ipme nt. His pa ir of fourth-p lace finishes late in th e season at Mid -O hio and Sears Point proved that he had th e talent to be com pe titive. H ow ever , with out the necessary cap ital to purch ase exo tic engine a nd suspe ns io n compone nts, a top three finish wa s hi ghl y unlikel y. . The Suzuki GSXR750 Superbike cam pa ig ned by Quarterl ey at Daytona was com p letely built a nd su pported by Lockhart with a ll th e necessary spares a nd mechanics. Foll owing his seven th- p lace Daytona finish , Quarterley was a llowed to use the bik e as long as he p rovi ded for its ma inten an ce a nd transporta tio n. Wit h sponso rsh ip fro m Lock hart, Suzuki, Miche li n, Fas t By Ferracci, RK Chai n, Cam-2, Per for mance Ma ch in e, AGV a nd PBI Sprockets, Q uarterley set ou t to ca tch Bu bba Shobert, Doug Pol en a nd Doug Cha nd ler. Although he hired Stu Tho rne to assis t with the wrenches, Quart erley co u ld no t catch the top th ree. Wh en his mo tor fa iled at Elkhart La ke and Laguna Seca , he decided to tak e act io n. He brought th e Suzu ki 750 powerpla nt to T wi ns harke -r Fnratci ami said , "Hen'. build th is mot o r. I don' t care wha t it cos ts an d I don't care wha t you need to or der." It was Ferracci's motor that a llowed Q uart erley to finish fourth a t both Mid-Ohio a nd Sears. "I also ra n the Ca mel Ch al lenge a t Sea rs a nd led four o ut o f five la ps," he recall s. " Bu t I j us t d idn ' t have eno ugh mo to r to hold th em o ff for th e last lap."· Althou gh Quarterley's Superbike is well spo nsored from a product standpo in t, it 's no compar ison with ei ther Pol en's or Scott Gray' s Suzu ki. "They don 't even have th e sa me bik e as I do ," he admits. " T hey ha ve front ends tha t are $ 10,000 pe r set. They have p ro gressive dampening a nd pro gress iv e reboundin g whi ch a llows th em to set it u p n ice a nd pi ush for the little bumps a nd still hav e the spri ng su p port to keep from bottomin/? o u t in th e deep turns. Mo to r -Wise th ey h a ve $ 10, 000 rna/-;lIesilll1l-bodied, flat -slide Kr-ihi n carb uretors, whe re I have a $300 set of Mikun is. They a lso ha ve a lon g er s tro ke m o to r . . . whic h makes more low end power. So between the longer stroke mo tor, th e tri ck $ 1500 ti tan iu m exhaust, th e $ 10,000 forks and carbs, I'm o ff a seco nd a lap. My mot or cycle cos ts $ 15,000 to build. You ca n' t even bu y th eir for ks a nd carbs for wh a t it cos ts to build m y (entire) bike." With two Superbike fourth-place fini shes, Quarterl ey is kn ocking o n rostrum 's door. H e is aware that it tak es more tha n eq u ip me nt to tak e off th at last half-second to become a wo rld class rid er. He also knows wha t it tak es to get a top three Su pe rbike fini sh . " All I need to beat Cha nd ler for third, is to get my bik e to run under 10,000 (rp m). Ferracci has only had two tri es at it. Wh en I come o u t of a turn it will run a t eigh t, but it doesn 't go any whe re until it gets to 10,000. And from 10 to '12-five it's a retro-rocket. Polen 's bike probably runs from 7500 and it probably has power at SOOO. It has ' linear power from eight to l2 -five. It just has power, more power, more power , more power. Bubba's bike is th e sa e way, and so is Ch andler 's, because they still have CV (consta nt velocity) style carburetor s. They can get on th e gas much soo tier because th ey'r e gett ing o n the gas with .60 or 70 horsepower. My bike is not like that. r. get o n th e gas at SOOO a nd have no power. Wh en it gets to 10,000, I have abo ut 105 horse. So when m y bike comes o n, I may be halfway through th e turn wi th 105 hor se which is too much power for th e a mo u nt o f tra cti on I have. So I have to wai t until m y traction level meets my 105 horse before I can rea lly get o n the gas . Wh ere they ge t me is th at th ey ha ve power a t 8000. And SOOO. even 0 11 Pol en's bi ke, is on ly SO h orse. Well SO ho r se vers us traction is 20 or 30 feet befor e me. T hey've got th e momentum going and when th ey get to th eir real power, the y're read y to meet 100 level of competition between the Superbike and Twins classes? "The Superbike riders are a ll pretty good becaus e they 're full -out ra cers. They'll out-run you for whatever yo u're wo rt h. If yo u stuff th em , they'll stuff yo u. If you pass th em on th e o u tside th ey'll do the same. If you're clea n with the m, they're clean wi th yo u. They're a lways go ing as fast as they can. It 's not lik e the Twins class. wh ere I co uld get a lead and slo w so meone do wn. Superbike rac ing is full -ou t rac ing." Like every Superbi ke race r, Quarterl ey has very defin ite opi n io ns o n how the class coul d be structured to provide tigh ter com pe ti tion. H is overa ll approach is to keep equipment affordab le. T he form ula is as fo llows: " Whateverthe bi ke comes wi th for forks, you sho uld have to run . You should be able to bu y sp rings and da m p ing kit s and th at 's it. Swi ngarms sho uld rem ain th e same butbracing sho u ld be a llowed . You sho uldn ' t be abl e to change triple clamps because it involves in 'S3 by winning four class championships with a total of 33 firstplace finishes. In 'S4, his first full professional season, Quarterley finished seven th in th e Superbike race at Da ytona. He went o n to finish fifth a t Ri verside, th ird a t Sears and fourth a t Elkhart La ke a fter winning the pole posi tio n the re. The Su perbi ke heat race a t Loud on p ro vided Quarterl.ey wi th his fines t mo ment in racing. " I won the heat race by doing th is out-driving Fredd ie Merkel move in tu rn 1O,"he says wi th enth usiasm. " We came down into the turn side by side with me on th e insid e. I drove h im into th e turn a littl e late, sla m med o n the bra kes, go t behind him a nd dri fted u p to the wa ll, kn ow in g that he -wasn ' t go ing to make it a t the speed we were going. Just as he drifted ou t I dove u nder hi m and crosse d th e finish line." Quarterl ey went on to lead 32 laps of th e Loudon fin al in 'S4 until a cam brok e. " T ha t was the end of my career," he confesses. " For wh atever In addition to his Pro Twins title, Quarter'ey finished seventh in the Superbi/(e lJOillts and thirdin Endurance racing. horse a t I00 percent tractio n and keep going. " We ll I do n't ha ve th a t, " he cont in ues. " I lost that 20 feet o u t o f ('v,'ry turn . and every turn is twoten ths of a second . Sears (for exa mple) has I I turns a nd I'm losin g a second a nd a half per lap. You can watch it o n the race track. I can stay wi th them do wn the straigh t and throug h the tu rn , but as soo n as we have to turn o n the throttle - if I try to stay wit h th em - su re as he ll, my rear-end is comi ng o ut. It 's a lmos t past me. An d there's no th ing I can do abo u t it. I can ' t cha nge m y ridi ng style and I can't get on the gas a ny soo ner because my th rottle is over-running m y traction." It 's obvio us th at Dale Quarterl ey enjoys rac ing Superbi kes a nd hopes to co nti n ue, provided he ca n o bta in co m pe ti ti ve eq u ip me n t. " We ' re trying to ge t Du cat i to give us a bike for the Superbike class," he says. " My Du cati was o nly off th e pace abo u t a second at every track. A second is probably an' additiona l six or seven hor sepow er wh ich I thi n k we can get o u t o f it . .. If I was o n eq ua l machinery I cou ld deal with th ein (the top three Superbike rid ers)," H ow does Quarterley com pa re th e geo me try which the new guys don 't understand. Yo u shou ld be able to change brakes a nd wh eels because p rod uction cas t wh eels are so hard that th ey could blow a pa rt and ca use a serious crash," Co ncern ing Superb ik e mo to rs, Quarterl ey a lso has so me suggestio ns. " Yo u shouldn' t be a llowed to p lay wit h cra n ks, cha nge the stroke or change the tra ns m issio n. Yosh im ura and Bubba (Shobert) both have the abi lity to cha nge gea r ra tios to ma tch a pa rt icu lar trac k. I can't do that. Su perbikes should be mo re on the Su persport level , but you sho uld be able to cha nge ca ms, p istons, and rods - j ust for safety, no ti tanium. Ca rb ure to rs sho uld be a p proved. If com panies want to bu ild special carbs, th ey should build th em to certa in specifica tio ns. You have to give the privateers a chance a nd not let a few bik es dom inate the cla ss." (T he AMA will require homologatio n o f carbu re tors and cams hafts for the 19S9 seaso n.) Quarterley's six years o f motorcycle roa d racing have produced it s share of ups a nd downs. This season was ac tua lly a comebac k year for the 27-year-old wh o stands six-feet, twoinc hes tall. H e burst ont o th e scene reason, from th en o n everything wa~ a problem." His biggest problem came a t La guna Seca where many .will recall th e o ld turn seven crash which th e telev ision ca me ras so vividl y cap tured. • " I was riding it a t 105 percent trying to ca tch th e lead ers," he recalls. " I was havin g some p roblems in turn seven so I decided to try th eir (the leaders ) line a nd found it to be . wo rse. I lost the rea r at first and just as I go t it back, the fro nt-en d sta rted tan k slapping . I just co uldn' t save it. My hand was tra p ped under the bar wh ich brok e m y little fin ger and wra p ped it aro u nd the side of my hand. " Quarterl ey tak es a co lor photo fro m a box o f mem or abilia which graph icall y sho ws hi s severely damaged finger. T he first and last quarter inch of that finger is con nec ted by wh at appears to be a sq uashed grape, Despite th e resulting amputation, the resil ient Quarter ley raced in th e Formula One event the next da y. "I was running 10th ," he recalls, " bu t pulled in wh en I began to get light-headed. Once I broke.at Loudon, th e rest of the year was terrible." Despite the " bad year, " he managed to finish seventh overall in th e

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