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/127182
Jeff Farmer (86) and Rich Schlach ter (7) battle; Farmer broke. Sch lachter ran as high as fourth before pitting late in the race afte r blistering a tire. Canadian Gary Goodfellow was leading the 200 until he crashed in oil at the entrance to the chicane . 8 Grand Pri x on the same bike, but Hop perstad was' hospitalized wi th a fr act u red a nk le and sep a ra te d shoulder. Both riders fell at the tum one exi t 'a nd co rnerworkers took some time to in spect the area before again unl eashing th e pack. Arnaiz rocke ted in to the lead wh en the race finally go t underway wit h Goo dfellow and Ashmead hot o n his heels . Sadowski quickl y assumed the fi ft h p o si t ion w i th P o len a n d McMurter trail ing. Polen wasted no time p layin g his hand and moved into secon d on lap two . One lap la ter saw Polen with th e lead, but a lap further and he was history, pulling off in turn two wi th a suspected fue l lin e probl em . It didn' t matter, however, since he had already qualifi ed o n the pole. With Pol en go ne, the focus shifted to Sadowski a nd Goodfellow who were locked in a battl e for the lead. Arna iz chased the m valiantly, but couldn 't close th e ga p. At th e end of 15 laps it was Sadowski with a 7.31-seco nd marg in of victory over Goodfellow, Arn aiz, McMurter and the returning fo rm er National winner Rich Schlachter. Doug Chandler, who had the flu all week, rode a Rob Muzzy-prepared Kawasaki ZX7 to an I I th pl ace fin ish, but comp lai ned of serious handl ing woes: " T hey 're ' like two comp letely different mo torcycles," said Chandler, co m p a r i ng hi s Superspo rt- a n d Su perb ik e-spec Kawasaki s. " T he Superbike shakes its head co mi ng off th e banking, it's scary. Tha t o ne (Su persport) is a dream, this one (Superbike) is a nightmare." Fu rtherm ore, the 'Ka wasaki had had so me mech ani ca l p robl ems earlier in th e week, a brok en valve guide and an oil leak. Mu zzy had cu t and rewelded th e oil sump to clear th e custom four- in to-two-into-one exha ust system, but the weld was leaking, spewi ng oi l o nto th e rear tire. Ch andl er got into a cou ple of full -lock slides before the situa tion was resolved. On t he morn in g o f th e 200, Chandler announced that he would sit the race ou t. ''I' m j ust too sick to th ink ," he apologeticall y told hi s fans over the p ubl ic address system. The second Twin 50 was a Scott Russell benefit as he led teammate J am es from start to fin ish to win by • 2.89-s econds. But Ru ssell 's win wasn't a cakewa lk, as he diced with .Quarterl ey for six laps before the Ducati rider pi tt ed to save h i s equipment for th e 200. Ru ssell h ad ex perienced so m e engine fai lures early in the week, incl uding a cou ple of bad rods , but th e Yoshimura bi ke sou nded good and Scott was ready for the final. Ro undin g out the top five behi nd th e Yosh imura du o were Farmer, Chi n and Wimmer. , Springsteen ran as high as seventh . and was leading a four-way bat tle wh en he threw it awa y big tim e in th e infield dogleg. Smoke poured off both tires and the bi ke cartwheeled its wa y to destr uction , bu t the resili ent three-time Grand Na tional Champion was uninjured. " T h e on ly thing left was the front whee l," he said. Springs teen 's crew worked through the weekend to repair the bike in time for Su nday's main even t. Daytona 200 The first attempt at a start resu lted in h istory's shortest Daytona 200 as a collision involving ,Ru ssell and Mark Bougas caused th e race to be red-flagged barely two turns into the even t. As th e green flag dropped, Russell sta lled the motor and raised hi s hand to signa l h is situa tio n to fo llo w i n g r ide rs , bu t Bougas co u ld n 't avoid R ussell and th e two went down in a heap. With the bikes pi led on top of each other on the pit straigh t, AMA officials wisel y held th e second and third waves on the gr id and regri dde d the riders who 'd already started. Bougas hurt his wri st and was complaining of leg and a bdo men pains, but Russell was uninjur ed and the crew ma de hasty repairs so he could restart th e race. The rear wheel had bent, ca usi ng the tire to lose air. A chain adjuster was al so da maged, but it went undetected until Russell p itted with problems later. The restart saw Goodfellow lead in to th e infield wit h Arnaiz, Q uarterl ey and Polen hot in pursu it . Cro ssing th e stripe for the first time, they were stacked four hi gh on the banking. Pol en led into the infield and would gradua lly leave the field behind, turning 1:58s and better, followed by Russell , who a ppeared unfazed by his sta rting line incident. ' Bu t on lap four Russell slowed, and would have to p ush his bike all the way from the chicane to th e p its with the afore men tio ned cha in adjuster probl em . McMu rter started a charge that would bri ng him to thi rd place, but on la p six the pace car was brought out. Canadian Kathleen Cob urn 's motor had blown o n t he b ack straig ht, dropp ing oil at the en tra nce to th e chicane. .This resulted in a number of riders goi ng down including second-place Goodfello w, ninthp lace Chin a nd Ducati-mounted , R a n d y Shemwell. Go odfellow's machine slid down the track and hi t