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/127193
Earnhart, Eisenacher take two at Talladega RR By C indy Bowen T AL LA D EG A, AL . MAY 20-2 1 Mik e Ear nhard t a nd Bill y Eisenac her eac h won two classes at the \VER A Na tion al Sprint . races a t T all ad ega Gran Pri x Racewa y. wh ile AMA Su pe rbi ke Pros J am ie J a mes, Scott Ru ssell a nd Dave Sad ows ki eac h wnn a Suzuki Natio na l Cu p cla ss with Russell setti ng ano the r trac k record. Th is was a mos t dramat ic ra ce weekend wi th an unusual amount of cras hes and T fla gs. ed Saturday's pra ctice ended with hea vy ra ins and win ds. so the sch eduled heat races were cancelled. Heal races for th e Suzuki"Cup races were run o n Saturday afternoon a fter th e rains had passed. Billy Eisen ach er was extremely pl eased as he is the onl y non-Pro racer th at has been able 10 defeat Ru ssell this year. Eisenach er , o n hi s Yam aha FZR600, top ped Ru ssell in the Formu la USA even t, with Ru ssell o n his ne w la p reco rd-sw ing Suzuki GSXR 750, Eisenac her led a t th e start o n ly to be passed by Russell on lap two, bu t Russell ra n off the tra ck. re-enteri n g th e track ill last p lace 17 seconds behind Eisenacbe r. Russell pus hed his 750 to make up two to three seco nds pe r lap. Eisen acher sensed th e clos ing Russell , sta ti ng lat er that he, " Co u ld h ear him co m ing" , and pushed h is 600 even harder . Ru ssell dosed th e ga p drama tica lly and took seco nd- p lace Mi ke Earnhardt by surprise at th e finish lin e. Eisenacher, sponsored by Buzz's Psycle, a lso co n vinci ngly won th e C Superbike cl as s aboa rd his Yamaha FZR600. First-yea r Expert Mike Earn hard t proved hi s abilities as he wo n two cla sses aboa rd h is AI Rod i Honda-sponsor ed Suzu ki GSXR750. Earnhardt led th e B Superbik e race lrom sta rt to fin ish an d retu rned to the track in A Superbike to imp ressively wa ltz a wa y with anot he r Expert victory u nder hi s belt . Va nce 8: Hi nes Suz uki rider Davi d Sado wski won th e first Suzuk i Cup race, C Superstock . At th e green n ag it was Yoshimura Suzu ki's J am ie J ames with the holesho t, foll owed by Sa do ws ki a nd po tesirrer SCOll Ru ssell. Sadowski ra n off th e tra ck trying to pass J ames, as Russell sn uck u nd er neat h for th e lea d. Sad ows ki mo tocrossed h is Ka tan a back o nto the tra ck in fourth p lace. On th e next lap, Ru ssell was leading on hi s Vic Faso la tuned Sui u ki Katana as J ames' mot or ~ ve wa y, coa ting th e tra ck with o il. Sado wski hit James ' o il a nd go t h is Dunlop-shod Kata na sideways, bu t managed to save it. T he race was imm ed iately red-flagged. At th e restart. it was Ru ssell firs t o ff th e line lead ing Sa do wski into tu rn o ne. Russell con tin ued to lead un til la p Iour wh en he got into a huge slide, allowing Sad owsk i to pa ss on the inside. T he two bum ped fairings as Sado wski passed and Russell , still reco vering lrom the slide , ran off the track. Ru ssell kept it up and came back to fin ish seco nd 3.2 seconds behind Sad owski. In the A Superstock class , WERA officia ls decid ed to combine the Suzu ki Cup Expe rt class wi th A Pro d u ction Ex p ert a nd A Product io n Novi ce, thus allo wing 20 additiona l novices o nto th e small 1.3-mile tra ck. At th e green flag. it was po lesi ue r Ru ssell taking the ea rly lead o n h is o ne-yea r-old GS XR I IOO, leadin g Sadow ski and J am es on thei r newer GS XRllOOs by a ha ll-seco nd a t th e end o f lap o ne . Meanw h ile, a novi ce crashed in turn o ne, th rowin g wat er [rom the previ ou s da y's ra in ac ross the track. and the nex t time arn und Ru ssell Iell in the puddle. James pa ssed Sadows ki lor th e lead but as he passed the tra ck o fficials an d co rner workers he th rew h is han ds u p at them , in d icat in g his di spl easur e. T he race was the n red- Flagged and the wa ter cleaned u p'. Russell rep laced his bro ken foo tpcg, ena bl in g h im to make th e restart. Sad ow ski wa s firs t orr the lin e wit h Ja mes in hot pursu it, but the counte rshaft cover o n Russell 's 1100 had comp letely broken aw ay at the sta rt lea ving hi m no a lternative b ut to throw up h is hand a nd get o ut 01 th e way. After only three la ps, the race was red-flagged lor a seco nd tim e d ue to no vice cra she s in tu rn two . Fina lly, WERA o fficia ls sepa ra ted th e Nov ice a nd Expe rt classes a nd reduced the remai ning ra ces from 10 la ps to eigh t. At the Final restart, Sado wski and J am es fough t lor the first-place po siti o n u nt i l Sado wski crashe d in th e bowl, lea vin g J am es to cr uise to th e checker s o n hi s G .N . G onza les/M ichel in / Arai-s po ns o red Su zuk i. T he li nal Suzu ki Cu p race, B Supers tock, once agai n loo ked li ke an AMA Pro Superbike shoot-out. Russell put h is Suzuk i GSXR750 into the first-p lace spot im medi at el y with po les iuer Ja mes right o n h is rea r whee l, pull in g alongside on th e back stra igh t and showing him a wheel in the turns. Russell got sideways o n lap two an d James passed hi m on the inside lor the lead, the two steadily pu ll ing away Iro rn third-p lace Sadowski. O n lap seven, Russell passed J am es in tu rn o ne, and James ou tbraked Russell entering th e bowl. Russell led th e remai nder 01 the race , ta king th e win by o nly .4 second . and sening a new track recor d 01 58.79 seco nds. Russell 's o ld record for th e co u n ter-clockwise co urse was 59.41. Russell is spon sor ed by Yosh imu ra , Mich elin , EBC Brakes, The Wax Shop. 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