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/127196
11 1t;Cl. I vv 111H;;'J - SVl. ....,, 1.1. l-I.I "-l .... IU.. .. . . 1. 1. ...... u........... . staye d there throughout, ga ining slightl y on th e o the r two but not enoug h to put him within striking di stan ce. Arn ai z, H ein o a nd G ee Vee H onda -mounted Ri ch ard Sch lac h ter ro u nded o u t th e to p six with the latter rid ing a bik e th a t had been hastil y rebu ilt after a practice sessio n cras h. Quarterl ey tu rned the five laps in 5:53.49 m inu tes for a n average speed of 81.575. H is wo uld be the fastest heat -of the day, putting h im on the pole. A first for both he a nd the Du ca ti. J ames was rema in ing ca utiously optim istic. " I've got th e point lead a nd I don 't want to g ive th at away," he said a fter th e heat race. " I'm tryin g to use an a ttitu de like Edd ie Law son. If I feel good, I'll go for it. Right now it' s taking me a little while to get in th e rhythm." The seco nd heat race was Doug Chandler/Kaw asaki runaw ay. The Salinas, California, resident brought sm iles to the Kaw asaki folk s, who were sponsoring th e even t for the umpteenth tim e. He a nd the green m achin e topped Bougas by 6.08 seconds, ave raging 80.949 mph. Kipp, Russell , Dona ld J acks and Otis Lance ro u nded o ut th e top six . finishers. Desp ite havin g the slo wer of the two heat s, Cha nd ler rem ained confident of gi ving Kawasaki its first win since Wayne Rainey in 1983. " Wit h Russell hurting, I kn ew I'd just have to go o ut a nd push it on m y ow n, " C ha ndler said. " With th e oi l flags and not bein g able to race with a nybody, I'm p rett y happy with it." Chandler 's ZX-7 was still some 25 pou nds heavy, accord ing to tuner Rob Muzzy. " We just haven 't had much time. We 'll get th ere aft er Jul y." Russell , meanwhile, .was doing a lo t less co m p lai n ing a b o u t the co lla rbo ne than one would expect. " It's not as bad as you' d think," he said. "T he two pi eces aren ' t rubbing against eac h o the r, so I lu cked out reall y. But it 's not the most comfor table thing in th e world. I ca n ride harder tomorrow, but for how long I don't kn ow ." T he pole-si tter Quar terl ey, like Chandler, was a lso con fident of his cha nces. " I've go t a n a dva ntage here," he sa id. "T h is bike ha s such grunt ou t of th e turns. I can come in hard, tak e it easy through the middl e of th e corner and th en come o u t hard. It sh ould be good here, Mid-Ohio a nd Sears Point. But I just wo n 't have the top end for the o ther pl aces. If I can stay up with them a ll da y, I ca n get under th em and nob od y can stay wi th me off the corners." a Doug Chandler (10) leads an out-of-shape Jamie James (48) and the rest of t he Superbike National pack. AMA Superbike National Championsliip Road Race Series: Round 3 . James wins his first National at Loudon By Paul Carruthers . Photos by Henny Ray Abrams LO UDON , NH , J UNE 18 L ike Suz u ki's two previou s championship h opefu ls, Yosh imura Su zu ki's J am ie J am es picked the New H ampshire Intern a tion al Speedway as th e locale for his first-ever career National victory. Two years ago it was Kevin Schwantz winning hi s fir stever National a t Loudon , a nd 10 last year it was Doug Pol en do ing lik ewise a t th e twi sty New En gland circu it. And a lt houg h th e name has cha nged from Brya r Motor spo rt s Park to New Hampshire Interna tional Speedway, the good fortune for Su zuki riders contin ued in 1989 duri ng th e 66th running o f the . Loudon Classic. Louisia nan James averag ed 81.890 mph in taking a 6.1O-second win over th e Fast By Ferracci Ducati o f Ma ssa chusetts ' Dal e Q uarterle y. T h ird p la ce went to th e injured Scott Ru ssell , wh o had broken his co llar bone durin g a 750cc Supersport practi ce sess io n on Friday. Th e Yoshimura-backed Georgian bravely carrie d o n, fin ishing third in sp ite o f th e pain. Yam ah a -m ounted Richa rd Arnaiz finished a distant fourth, foll ow ed by Suzu ki-mou nte d local J eff H eino.' Mark Bouga s, Donald J acks, Mike H arth , Tom Kipp and Marc Sm ith ro u nded o u t th e top 10 fini shers. The win . p u ts J am es in posi tion to fin all y win a National Ch ampionsh ip for Yoshimura , so me th ing n e ither- Schwaruz n or P ol en achieved. He now holds a com fortab le 15-po in t lead in the standings o ver Russell, 49-33. H arth is third in th e seri es with 25 points, one ah ead o f Da ytona 200 winner J ohn' Ashmead, I Ith tod ay. The hard lu ck rider o f the da y was Vance & Hines ' David Sad ow ski. The New England native led for mo st of th e first .21 laps, dicing the entire time with J am es, bu t a brok en cam cha in put him o ut of th e race. " It feels rea l good, " J ames sa id a fter wrapp ing up hi s first Nat iona l Su perbike wi n. " I jus t mad e sure I di dn ' t do a ny thi ng st upid." . Althoug h th e formal nam e o f Lo ud on has cha nged , the facility rema in s, a t least for now, the same. Co ns tructio n of a pl anned su persp eedway is in th e infant stages, and th e ci rcui t has cha nged o n ly in trackside a p pearance. Concrete wall s surrou nd ing turns six, eig h t a nd 10 have been removed to mak e wav for co nst ructio n , and piles o f dirt 'now litter the landscape.The o nly difference as far as the actua l track goes, is the mor e V'd layout of turn 10: T he re were a lso so me new paveme nt patch es in turn six, a nd Russell too k a sam ple o f th e su rface th ere on Friday mornin g, break in g hi s righ t co lla rbo ne, " I was just worki ng o n m y corneri ng spee d," Russell sa id of th e inciden t th at mad e riding pain ful. "That 's th e first tim e it' s (the rear tire) ever let go in stantly." Heat races So me o f the practice sessio ns were held in dism al weather, but Mother Na ture came through on race da y giving the New En gland sta te su n n y skies and warm temperatures. The first five-lap Superbike heat race on Saturday saw loca l favori te Quarterl ey nabbi ng the holeshot. He was chased hard by Sadowski a nd the battle betw een th ose with th e most loca l track kn owl edge contin ued to the flag . . Quarterley ended up getting th e better o f Sado wski, but it could easily have gone th e othe r wa y. James, National The National sta rted fu ll of promo' ise. There was th e threa t o f a Kawasaki or Du cati win , the possibility of a Yoshimura vs. Van ce & Hines a ftermarket war, local heroes vs. determined non-New Englanders , a n d, as u su al , th e Dunl op vs. Mich elin tir e battle. The 38-la p race lived u p to th at promise early as Chandler led James into the fir st co rne r. And a t the end of th e first lap it was .Cha ndler, James, Sadowski, Arnaiz, Quarterley and H eino. Chandler would lead th e first four lap s, even pulling a slight lead over th e others before first slowing and then stopping o n the fifth and sixth la ps. The Kawasaki had blown a primary case ga sket , putting an end to that elusive first road race win for Chandler, at least for now. Next to le ad was loca l hero