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/127207
Kawasaki 's Doug Chandler raises his Superbike trophy in v ic,t ory. turned a string of low 1:49Iap .tim es to work up to third by lap two, and second by lap four" as Quarterlev circulated alone to wind up third. J am es battled with Kipp for fourth , but at the flag it was James by th e narrowest of margins. H ea t race two saw Vance & Hines Suzuki pilot David Sadowski lead wire-to-wire, defeating J acks by over seven seconds a t th e finish. Former factory Honda rider Sam McDonald rode a privateer Yam aha FZR750 to a fin e th ird pl ace, pursu ed by J ohn Eidenberger a nd Ottis Lance in fourth a nd fifth , respectively, both on Suzukis. .Arnaiz ' hea t race lasted just two laps before th e bottom en d of hi s Yam aha ca lled it q uits. As a result, he'd start fro m th e last row of the gr id in the final. Joe Pi ttman 's race weekend ended earl y with a heat race cras h, desp ite public relati ons d irector Tristian Lewis' effo rts to add him to th e field . The AMA requires a " promoter's op tio n " list (riders wh o can be added to th e field even if they don't qual ify) prior to the race, and since Pittman's name wasn 't included, he'd have to sit thi s o ne o ut. National As an estima ted 10,000 specta tors wat ch ed , a full grid of 37 ri ders lined up for the year's last pro fessional Superbike race, with Chandler on po le by virt ue of hi s fast h ea t race tim e. Undoubtedly, th ere were a few rid ers with a lot on th eir minds. "I've been wanting National Championship, but I'm not go ing to let my ego get o ut a head of me," said James. " I plan to do what it takes. Sa dowski, Qua rterley and Kipp cou ld mess me up and spoil it. If I finish fifth, I'm o u t of lu ck, and five guys are capable of ru nni ng in fro nt of me." " I'm go in g to go all -o ut to win ," said R ussell. "Jamie (James) would just have to place fifth to tak e th e cha mp ionsh ip so he'll be tip-toeing around, but I'm j ust going to go for it.,. , "I'm going to get th e best sta rt of my li fe," said Arnaiz, op tim istica lly. Quar terley was simply co ncerned with finishing: "I've only finished one Superbike ra ce (so far). 1 hate to hav e that a ttitude bu t that 's just the way it is." Contributing to hi s fears was th e fact th at he'd cras hed this very bike in th e earlier Pro T wins Grand Prix final , a nd the crew had made hasty repairs. Sadowski also had a few doubts in hi s eq uip ment , as he'd blown a motor in Sunday morning' s practice and would sta rt on a backu p unit. So too, d id Arna iz, wh o bro ke-in a a Richard Arnaiz led Jamie James briefly, but James repassed him to finish fourth 'and claim the Championship. spare motor in Sunday morning's practi ce after his Saturday heat race in cident. McDonald would not even make the fina l; hi s Superbike now lacking second gear. As in the first hea t race, it was Quarterl ey and the pig, red , thunder in g Du cati that head ed th e field into the turns oneltwo ch ica ne a t th e start of th e 24-lap final. Russell trailed in second, with J acks third, Ch andler fourth a nd Sadowski fifth. Arnaiz ' chances o f victor y were slim give n his last-row- of-the- gr id status, and th e plan . was for hi s teammate Kress to run interferen ce. Bu t amazing ly, Arn aizled Kress into tu rn o ne ! ' " I thoug ht t" go t a pre tty good start from the thi rd ro w," said Kress. " I cou ld n' t believe it when 1 saw Rich (Arna iz) next to me." Arnaiz co m ple ted th e firs t ' goarou nd in eigh th pl ace, and wa s up to six th by lap two, with J ames locked in his gu nsig ht. Chandler o utbra ked Russell into turn one to ta ke seco nd place o n lap two, and took th e lead for th e first ti me o ne lap later , wi th Russell fo llo wi ng him past Quarterl ey. Once again, Sad ow ski was o ut of luck as hi s motor went up in smoke o n lap three , a n d h e prom ptl y returned to th e pi ts and qui t th e 'Vance & Hines team . " I' ve fin ish ed twice th is year, and once th e bike wasn 't runn ing that well. Next year, I'm going to do my own thing," he sta ted. . , Sadowski 's downfall promoted . James to fourth , but Arnaiz applied th e heat by outbra king th e Louisianian into turn one to begin lap four. Meanwhile, Russell pas sed Chandler for the lead. T he st a g e wa s set fo r th e ch a m p io n sh ip -decid in g d uel s Ch andler vs. Russell at th e front , J am es vs. Arnaiz in fourth place. James conce nt ra ted on the worsecase scenario - that Ru ssell would win and he'd have to beat Arnaiz so he rep assed Arnaiz o n lap nine. But he still didn 't kn ow what place he was in . " I cou ld n 't see my pit board, but 1saw th at Arnai z' sai d he was in fifth pl ace. 1 knew he was ri gh t beh ind me, so lwas -sma rt enough to figure th at one out ," J ames said la ter. Cha ndler conti n ued to a pply the pressure, and o n lap 10 Russell bobbled in th e sweeping, left-hand turn 10, with both feet flying off th e pegs , a nd Ch andler taking the lead for th e final ti me. Chandler went th rough traffi c like a hot kn ife Ohioan Tom Ki pp (1 6) rod e a Gee Vee Honda for the first time, and finished sixth in front of the privateer Suzuki of Georgian M ike Harth. thro ugh butter, and a t the fini sh it was th e green machine po sti ng its second co nsecu tive victory. " Whe n we ca me up on backma rkers it seemed 1 was ab le 10 get through th em a little bi t better," said Chandler. " I kn ew when he (R ussell) go t a better start my cha nce of getting away from him was go ne; I'd have to race with him th e wh o le tim e." Ch andler is sp o nsored by Kawasaki , Targa, Muzzy R&D, Arai, Dunlop, Ohlins, RK and Fox. Rus sell took the ru nner-up slo t, just over a second in arrears. " Chandler was just di aled in . H e was faster through th e infield than 1 was. 1 closed up o n him (Cha nd ler) a lot on th e last lap , but every tim e 1 gained ground so meth ing would happen and I'd lose it," Ru ssell said. Russell is sponsored by Yoshimura, Michelin, Motu l, Wax Shop, Fox andAGV. · . Quarterl ey came hom e .a distant th ird, over 50 seconds behind Russell , and in danger of being ca ught by th e battling J am es/ Arnaiz du o. " I'm real happy with thi rd, esp eciall y since 1 fell in th e Pro Twins ra ce. It shows you what a good crew can do. They didn't co mplain; th ey just fixed th e bike." Qua rterley is sponsore d by Du ca ti, FBF, Mich el in , T subak i, AGV, Bel-Ray and Alan Schuster. All eyes were o n J amie J ames as he held off Arnaiz by three seconds at th e finish to tak e fourth pl ace a nd hi s fir st AMA S up erbike National Ch ampi onsh ip. "T ha t was th e longest race I' ve ever been in ," sa id James, a dram ati c sta teme nt co nsidering he rode races of 'six to 24 hours as a memb er of Tea m Suzuki Endurance in 1988. '" had a little problem wi th th e fro nt end cha tteri ng. Wh en Ri ch (Arnaiz ) got by me, 1 th ough t, ' No w I' m in fifth a nd I'd bett er learn how to ride this thing like it is' ." The 1989 AMA National Superb ike Ch ampio n is sponsored by Yoshi m ur a , Mich elin, Motul , Wax Sh op , Fox, Arai a nd Kush itani. Beh ind th e lead ers, Kipp battled with Harth for six th, with th e Honda-riding debutante thwarting the gritty veteran a t th e flag . Dieter La ne snuck his Suz uki past th e fadi ng Jacks for eig h th a nd ninth , resp ectively, while Kress " rode her for all she was worth" to post hi s first -ever top-10 fini sh . Results . 24- LAP AM A S/B K NAT'L: 1. Doug Cha ndler IKaw) ; 2 . Scott Russell (SUl ); 3. Dale Quart er ley (Ouc); 4. Jam ie Ja mes ' (5 uz); 5. Richard Arnaiz (Yam); 6. Tom Kipp (Hon); 7. M ike Hart h (Suz); 8. Deit er Lane (Suz); 9. Donald J acks (Suz); 10 . Phil Kress (Yaml; 11. J im Sabi n (Suz); 12. Otn s Lance (Suz); 13. John As hmea d (Kaw ); 14 . John Hopperstad (Yam); 15. Scott Zam pach (Su z). RACE TIM E: 44 mi n.. 1.35 sec. AV ERAGE SPEED: 8 1.7 86 mph FINAL AM A S/BK NAT' L C'SHIP POINT STAND· INGS: 1. Ja mie Ja mes (70); 2. Scott Russell (65): 3, Richa rd A rnaiz (61 ): 4. Doug Chandler (40); 5. Joh n Ash mead (3 7); 6. Donald J acks (36); 7. M ike Harth (35); 8 , Tom Kipp (34); 9. Dale Quart erl ey (2 9); 10. (TIE) Rueben MeMurter/ David Sadow ski (2 1); 12. (TIE) Joe Pin man l John Eidenberger (20); 14. On is Lance (19); 15. Deit er Lane (17); 16. Jeff Farm er (16) ; 17 . (TIE) Dan Ch iv ington/K eith Pinkstaff / Kevin Rentzell (13); 20 . Scott Zampach (1 1) . 11