Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

went into the books. Behind him came Ashmead on his now-famous three-year-old Honda Interceptor, followed by Pittman, Chin and McM:urter. PinkstaH had already £allen back to sixth. A lap later, Ashmead led with Chin up to second as Quarterley raised his hand signaling mechanical problems; he'd soldier on to finish 22nd. McMurter displaced Pittman for third, as Pittman began a gradual fall through the ranks to finish seventh, one position ahead of fellow Northwesterner Pinkstaff. Canadian Steve Crevier was putting on a charge from back in the pack and worked his Yoshimuraequipped Frank Ciampini Suzuki into fourth place, hounded by Jeff Farmer on a potent Yamaha which the Yoshimura duo of James and Russell said pulled them down the Long back straight and which Sadowski later labeled "a bullet." Chin passed Ashmead on the final lap while Farmer came through to take third ahead of the Canadian duo of McMuner and Crevier. Scott Zampach took sixth ahead of the Zlock Racing pair, with Lee Shierts and Ricky Orlando rounding out the top 10. The start of the second heat race saw Russell lead until teammate James passed him on lap three. Arnaiz held third until lap four when he was passed by Sadowski, who was playing catch-up, the top four riders all circulating closely on the raceway. Doug Chandler put the Rob Muzzy-built Kawasaki ZX7 into fifth place after disposing of privateer Mike Harth. John Eidenberger took . seventh behind Harth, with veteran Richard Schlachter, youngster Donald Jacks and Tom Kipp filling in the remaining top-10 placings. National The first attempt at a start ?aw a massive first-turn pileup which began when Shierts tagged Orlando's rear wheel and fell to the ground, triggering a chain reaction which claimed a host of competitors including Jeff Rheaume, Wink Price, Kirk Hoeppner, Dieter Lane, Danny Roberts and Tommy Sloan. Sloan adjourned to the pits to replace his Yamaha's shift lever and Lane also made hasty repairs to his Suzuki. Hoeppner would make the restart on his now less-than-pretty, fairingless, Supersport-spec Kawasaki ZX7, but the rest were unable to make the restart. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Chin also took advantage of the downtime, having realized that his front wheel was installed backwards and taking the time to turn it around the right way before the restart. The second start saw a much more cautious approach to turn one, with Chin leading Chandler followed by Crevier and Arnaiz. But Chandler got a better drive off the first comer and motored up the hill to turn two at the front of the tightly-knit pack. Coming around to complete lap one Chandler still led, but quickly raised his hand and pulled off the racing line, retiring from the race with mechanical problems. "Something let go on the straight," said Chandler. ''I'm really disappointed. I looked back coming out of turn seven and I had a huge lead. We really had the Kawasaki working well." Farmer now led on his Greg Kvitkauskas-tuned Yamaha, pursued by Chin, Crevier, Russell and Ashmead. Russell wasted no time, using his home track advantage to claim the second spot by the end of lap two. Chin was fighting off the Yoshimura Suzuki's Scott Russell won his first-ever AMA National road race at his home track, Road Atlanta, in front of a cheering crowd of 20,000 friends and neighbors. It was the Georgian's biggest win to date. advances of Sadowski for third, with James now around Crevier and running fifth. Schlachter's race didn't last long at all as he retired with an upset stomach on lap three. Apparently, Schlachter's tuner George Vicensi's daughter was ill, and since the team had shared a hotel, Vicensi speculated that Schlachter may also have contracted the illness - a pity after "The Schlach's" eighth-place Daytona placing after a three-year layoff. Russell pressured Farmer for the lead, pulling alongside the Floridian on the front straight to begin lap five. Sadowski was now up to third, but would drop to fourth as he was passed by James, with both riders disposing of Farmer. "Farmer was really holding me up," said Sadowski later. "I kind of had to push him away from me as I went past to say, 'Hey, get out of my way'''' • Russell, meanwhile, was pulling away from James at a rate of about a second per lap, as Sadowski looked for a way around James. Sadowski saw his opportunity on lap eight, passing James to assume second place. At this point Russell led by over six seconds, but Sadowski targeted the leader, only to realize that there was no way to catch the fleeing Russell and settling for second. James cruised the rest of the way, opting to finish a secure third and take the points lead. Ashmead was the next rider to fall by the wayside, retiring on lap 14 with mechanical problems. Chin dropped to sixth behind Crevi.er, and was feeling the pressure of the coming-from-behind Quarterley. Quarterley had lined up on the outside of row 10 after experiencing heat race mechanical difficulties, the Ducati having been repaired by fitting the electrical system from his crashed Pro Twins bike. Quarterley went under Chin in turn one to begin lap five,and would turn some very competitive lap times before blowing his engine and crashing in his own oil on lap II. Chin, too, fell in the sl,ippery fluid, while McMurter took evasive action, the first of two such incidents during the course of his race. Quarterley was again basically okay, bruising his palms and. fote- head after using his helmet to the - fullest, but Chin suffered a suspected broken forearm and artkle. With the rostrum positions already cemented, Farmer held a . lonely fourth until the Yamaha be~ to slow, finally locking up and spming him off under the Nissan bridge just five laps from the end. Quarterley, Crevier, Arnaiz, Chin and McMurter had all run together on the race track, with Arnaiz working his way past Quarterley shortly before his fall. McMurter chased Arnaiz, but was balked both by the Quarterley incident and, later, by Crevier's exploding Suzuki. Surviving these incidents, McMurter caught up to Arnaiz only to blow his passing attempt by running wide coming out of tum 11. "It was kind of a bummer after catching up to him three times," said McMuner, who's sponsored by Rothmans Honda, Castrol, Shoei, Treen, NGK, Michelin and Wiseco. Like McMurter, Arnaiz was frustrated with his fourth-place firtish. "I should have been more aggressive in traffic," he said. "I ran off the track a couple of times trying to pass lapped riders, so I was being too careful. If you got behind them (lappees) in the esses, you were stuck there until you got to turn five." Arnaiz is sponsored by Castrol, Tsubaki, Michelin, Kushitani, Yamaha and his dad, Gene. Behind Arnaiz and McMurter came a lone, sixth-placed Kipp, trailed by raging battles between Jacks and Harth as well as Eidenberger and Pinkstaff. Harth got around Jacks to finish seventh, impressive considering he was running DOT tires and stock cylinder heads and carburetors from his Supersport bike. Eidenberger managed to'hold off Pinkstaff for ninth position. "The tires started to chatter so I just laid back,I, said James, who's sponsored by Yoshimura, Mich~lin, Motul and the Wax Shop. "The Vance & Hines bike was probably the fastest bike on the track," remarked Sadowski about his Ken Funkhauser-tuned machine. "I just need some more upper body strength," he continued, explaining that his right wrist pumped up due to the high-effort twist grip of his Suzuki. Russell also won the new $1000 Camel Smooth Move Award. "That's exactly what I needed to do," Russell told the assembled crowd of hooting and hollering spectators. "I had to get out by myself - I feel I ride better that way." Russell is sponsored by Yoshimura, AGV, EBC, Kushitani, Michelin and Motul. •. Results 24-LAP NATIONAL: 1. Scott Russell (SUl); 2. David Sadowski (SUl); 3. Jamie James (Suz); 4. Richard Arnail (Yam); 5. Rueben McMuner (Honl; 6. Tom Kipp (Yam); 7. Mike Hanh ISuzl; 8. Donald Jacks (Suz); 9. John Eidenberger (SUl); 10. Keith Pinkstaff (Suz); 11. Scott Zampach (Suz); 12. Charles Pittman (Suz); 13. Otis Lance (Suzl; 14. Ricky Orlando (Suz); 15. Carry Andrew ISuz). AMA NATIONAL SUPER81KE SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jamie James (29); 2. (TIE) John Ashmead/Scott Russell (20); 4. Mike Hanh (18); 5. David Sadowski 116); 6. (TIE) Kevin Renlzell/ Otis Lance/Keith Pinkstaff (13); 9. Richard Arnail (11); 10. (TIE) John Eidenberger/Rueben McMurter (10). f 7

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