Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Russell f in ished second at M id-Ohio and moved within two points of Richard Arnaiz in t he ser ies championship with one round remaining . ton last raced a T eam Targa Kawasaki ZXIO at Talladega , Alabama, in late '88. McM urter was sore from a spill 'o ne week ago at Shannonville, On tario (a spill which cost him the Canadian Championship points lead) and from a Friday practice crash here, but rode his ex-Buhba Shobert VFR to a fourth-place fin ish. Bu t with only one round remaining following Mid-Ohio, the real story con cerned the points struggle. The cu rre n t points leader, Yoshimura Suzuki's J amie James, finished fifth here, just one position ahead of hi s nearest rival , Team Motor Sport Yamaha rider Ri chard Arnaiz, James advanced his lead by a single point, and now leads Arnaiz, 59-51. Meanwhile, Russell climbed to third in the ch ase, o nly two points sh y of Arnaiz 's tall y. The titl e will be decided at the last round ofthe seri es at th e brand new Heartland Park in T opeka, Kan sas, September 3. Donald Jacks brought hi s Mitch Marqui-tuned Suzuki home seventh, whi le Kurt Hall (be tter known as a member o f The Human Rac e Team, . the WERA Endura nce Champions) put his Dave Zupan-tuned Yamaha in to eigh th place. Colorado's Deiter Lane fini shed ninth on a Suzuki, followed by Vance & Hines Suzuki ace David Sadowski, who overcame an early pit sto p to finish 10th. Heat Races The riders lined up for Saturday afternoon's heat races under sunny skies, although just a da y previous torrential thunderstorms wreaked hav oc on th e facil it y. As a result, th e track was extreme ly slick, even more so than usu al on the much-pat ched surface. Mid-Ohio spokesmen promised to co m p letely repave th e circui t before next year's event, so the riders kept this thought in the back of th eir minds, a nd held criticism to the minimum. ~ The first heat race was a Sadowski benefit, as he proved himself more willing to test th e limits of his Du nl op tires on th e slippery surface. James led th e first lap, but Sadowski took the lead o n lap two and was nev er headed, posting an 8.036second winning margin a t an average speed of 83.636 mph. Sadowski's machine was fitted with Ohlins upside-down forks for the first time, and it looked to be handling wel l. Scott Zampach forged his Suzuki ah ead . of Jacks to take third p lace, with ' Jacks fourth and Michigan's Eric Moe fifth , a lso on a Su zu ki. Lane, Glenn Smith, Christopher Martone, Ricky Orlando a nd Sean Osowski fou nded out th e top 10 all but Smith (Kawasaki ) riding Suzukis. The first heat ended before it started for Daytona 200 winner J oh n Ashmead. The Flori dian was making his first appearance o n a Kawasaki Superbike, bu t the bike suffered a broken valve spring keeper on the wa rm-up lap, a fate similar to tha t which Chandler suffered earlier in the year at Road Atlanta. Ashmead later borrowed a motor from Chandler for the final , but finished a disappointing 16th. . The seco nd heat rac e was won by Chandler after a heated battle with Arnaiz and Quarterley. Arnaizled th e first lap, but fell in right-hand turn lIon lap two. " T he front end went aw ay real slow, it just kept pushing and pushing," he said. Like Ashmead, Arnaiz would be starting from th e rear of th e grid in the final. With Arnaiz gone, Q uarterley led lap two, but Chandler soared past on lap three, and held the lead to th e finish, posting a 3.105-second margin at 84.219 mph. Quarterley took second, with Chivington a surprising third. McMurter , Jeff Farmer, Charles (a.k.a. Joe) P itt ma n, R ussell , Mike Harth, Keith Pinkstaff and Hall filled in the top 10. National , With sunny skies and improving track conditions, a 40-rider field (increased from 35 wh en offi cials deemed the track capable of handling th e extra traffic) lined up for Sunday' s Superbike final. N otab ly absent from the grid were tw o Florida-ba sed Yamaha riders, J eff Farmer a nd Mark Chin, both of wh om suffered injured shoulder s earl ier in Supersport accidents. Ch andler was happy with his pol e position: " It's different start ing from th e front row - usu ally I'm starting from th e back." R ussell was more concerned with his start ing procedure: " I' m just go ing to hold it at 13,000 (rpm) and feed in th e clutch ," he sa id, exp lai ning, " I' m used to the Supersport bike, a nd the Superbike has a much taller first gear. I think if I only rode it (the Superbike), I wouldn't have this problem ." Chandler used his pole posi tion to advantage and headed th e pack u nder the bridge into . tum one. Quarterley jostled with Chivington at the outside edge of the track, with both riders leaning on eac h other bu t Q u a rter le y em er g i n g in fron t. McMurter, Sadowski and Russell all ran in close formation , while James languished behind Jacks in eigh th. Quarterley outbraked Chandler at the end of th e backstraight to tak e th e lead on lap two, and held it until lap four wh en Chandler drafted by o n the same stretch o f pavement. Oh io 's own Dan Chivington came out of retirement to race a Gee Vee Rac ing Honda at his home track. and he rode impress ively to fin ish third. Sa do wski ran fourth a t th e start, but pitted on lap th ree with fuel starvatio n problems . A qu ick onceover revealed nothing wrong, so he rejoined th e field a t th e tail end a nd began knifing through the pack. T he focus now turned toward th e tw o com i n g -fro m -beh in d riders, Arnaiz and Sadowski. Arnai z cu t a mea n trai l from hi s eigh th-row grid posi tio n, crossing the stripe th e first time in 21st position. The next time around he was 16th, th en 12th, a nd b y la p six he'd crac ked th e to p 10. Arnaiz ba ttled feverish ly wi th fell ow Yamaha rider T om Kipp until Kip p got into turn six too hot , tagged Arnaiz a nd fell, unhurt. Amazingl y, Kipp remounted to fini sh 28 th . La ter , Arnaiz would tussle with Jack s, but th e sa vvy 27-year-old Arnaiz outgunned th e teen age J acks to finish sixth. "The front for ks were bottoming, everyth ing was dragging. I backed off ," sa id Arnaiz. Sado wski pi cked off cl u m ps o f riders, passing in places most would consi der unthinkab le, a nd o n the seco nd- to- last lap sta ked a claim to 10th pl ace. For hIS efforts, he received th e $ 1000 Camel Smoo t h Mo ve Award, the fir st time thi s year th a t th e recipient was not th e race winner. Aft er th e ra ce, Sadowski gave thanks: "T h is (the money) ta kes a little of the bitterness o u t o f th e da y." He als o offered his hopes for co ntinued camel su p port of road racing: " Peop le think Superbike racing isn ' t as exci ting a nymore, but it's been the best raci ng this year." Back a t th e front , Russell passed Chivington forth ird place on lap six, and set his sights on th e far-gone Ch andler /Quarterl ey duo. Th ree la ps later , Quarterl ey ad journed to pit road with a n ill- sounding mo tor. Could he have caught Chandler? " No way," admitted th e N ew Englander. With Quarterley out, Chandler set it o n auto-pilo t a nd cruised home for the win. "T he last couple of laps wer e th e longest of m y life," said Ch andler, echo ing a popular sentiment a mo ng racers. "I had a zill ion thmgs goin g through m y head. " I wa n t to thank Keith Code for a ll the help over the years," Chandler co ntin ue d. " Without him I do n ' t th ink I could've progressed as f ar as I did ." Chandler is spons ored by Kawasaki , Ar a i , Muzzy's R &D , Targa, Dunlop, Ohlins, RK and Fox . Russell closed on the leader, but cou ldn' t ca tch him. " Do ug' s riding real good a nd I'm happy for him . I tri ed to ca tch h im but he was rid ing too good," he sai d. Russell is sponsor ed by Yoshimura , AGV, EBC, Kush itani, Mich elin , Wax Shop a nd Motul, After th e event, thi rd-p laced Ch ivington stated that he " j ust wa nted to go out and stay up." Ch ivingt ori 's long-time sponso r is Gee Vee Racing, plus Michelin, Ca m 2 a nd Sho ei. Sadl y, Ch ivington is no t p la n ning to com pe te in any mor e races in '89. McMu rt er ci rc u la te d a lone i n fou rt h, follow ed by James, wh o was th in king abo u t th e championshi p. "It do esn 't feel rea l good (fin ishi ng fifth )," he sai d. " I j us t co uld n ' t get going good. I went faste r yesterday in the (750cc) Supersport race." Results 25-LAP NAT'L : 1. Doug Chandler (Kaw) : 2. Scott Russell (Suz); 3 . Dan Chiv ington (Han); 4 . Rueben McMu rter (Hon); 5. Jamie J ames (Suz); 6. Richard Arna il (Yam); 7 . Donald Ja cks (SUl ); 8 . Kurt Hall (Y .am); 9 . Deiter Lane (Suzl; 10 . David Sadowski (SUl); 11. John Eidenberger (SUl); 12. Char les Pittman (SUl); 13 . M ike Hart h (Sul l: 14 . Mark Bougas (Suz); 15 . Christopher M art on e (Su z). RACE DISTANCE: 25 laps. 60 mil es AVERAGE SPEED: 87 .975 mp h AMA NATIONAL SUPERBIKE SERIES POINT STANDIN GS: 1. Jamie James (59 ): 2. Richard Arna il (51); 3. Scan Russell (4 9): 4. Donald J acks (36); 5. John As hmead (35 ); 6. M ike Hart h (2 7); 7. Tom Kipp (2 5); 8. (TIEl Rueben McMurter /David Sadowski (2 11 10 . (TIEl Doug Chandler/ Jo hn ; Eidenberger /Charles Pittman (20); 13 . (TIEl J eff Farm er /Ottis Lance /Da le Qu arterlev (16 ); 16 . (TIE) Dan Chivington/Keith Pinkstaff/Kevin Ren tzell (131; 19 . Scott Zampa ch (1 1); 20. (TIE) Mark Bougas/': !ff Heino /De it er Lane (10 ). 7

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