Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Sco tt Russell won his fourth 750cc Supersport race of the season. topping Jamie James and Doug Chand ler in Heartland Park Topeka . AMA/CCS Yokohama 750cc Supersport Series: Round 8 Russell wins number four in Kansas By Brian Catterson Photos by Paul Carruthers TOPEKA, KS, SEPT. 2 Yoshim ura Suzuki ' s Scott R ussell became th e win n in gest r ider in 1989 Yokoha m a Supersp ort co m pe ti tio n b y posting his fourth win of th e season, th is ti me at the new Heartl a nd Park . Tope ka. . Russell surpassed 600cc sta ndout Cam Roos' string o f three victories to make ' th at clai m, in the process vau lt ing from fi fth to third in th e 750cc Supersport po int standings. Russell 's tearnat e, second-place finisher J amie James, con tin ues to lead th e sta ndi ngs with 115 points, while the third-p lace finisher , Kawasaki 's Doug Cha nd ler , took advan tage of the continuing misfortunes o f Vance & Hi nes ' Dav id Sadowski to climb to second with 94 po ints. Russell 's weekend got off to a so ur no te with a no the r problem on the starting li ne. T h is time, however, he reversed the trend: rather than stalling, wh ich he has twi ce done in Superbi ke competition, AMA offi-· cia ls said Russell jumped th e start of Friday afternoon 's first heat ra ce an d displayed the " mea tba ll" flag. So a fter leading a t th e start, Russell rece ived a 10-seco nd stop-and-go pen alty, and wou ld fin ish third beh ind Chan dl er a nd James. " It seemed a lo t lo nger th an 10 seconds," Russell joked. Sa turday 's l4- lap final was a Sco tt R ussell benef it , as he started in thi rd, passing second heat race winner . Sadowski and taking the lead from Chandler on lap th ree. R ussell was helpe d in part by the Va nce & H ines crew , who found a way to make Sadowski's Suzuki's mo tor exp lode on lap two - a rare occ u rre nce in Supersport competition. Once out fron t, R ussell cru ised to a 1.789second margin of victory over his tea m mate. "Today went just as pla nned ," said Ru ssell from a top th e rostrum. " O n the first cou p le laps I wen t out fast an d caught (Doug) Chandler. My thi rd lap was the fastest a nd that's wha t stretched the lead ." R ussell is sponsored by Yoshimura, Michelin , Mo tul , Wax Shop, Fox and AGV . H e . als o than ked his tuners Vic Fasola and Dan Nak aj im a, and su spe nsion cons ultant J im Lindeman. James, mea nwhile, had started in fift h place, a nd p assed Tom my Ly n c h fo r fo urt h o n la p two; Sadowski 's retirement then promot ed hi m to th ird. On lap seven, J a mes ou tbraked C ha ndler into the turns one / two ch icane, and was never su rpassed. " It was a good run," sa id J ames, la ter. "I just hook ed in behind Do ug Chandler. My tires were working better so I basi call y cru ised in. It wou ld hav e been better if I'd been u p fron t at the start; I wo uldn't have ha d to run so fast." J a mes is sponsored by Yo sh i mu ra , Mi chel i n , Mo tu l, Wa x Sho p, Fox, Arai, and Kush itani. " T he Suzuk is defin itely had th eir act together," said Chandler. " It was a tough race for me."Bu t I'm happy with it. I wa nted to set a decent pace for myself, not too fast, bu t it got a little too scarey so I had to slow it down." Chand ler is sponsored by Kawasa ki, Targa, Mu zzy R&D, Ara i, Dun lop, Ohl ins, R K and Fox . Yosh imura yo u n g ste r L yn ch cru ised to fo u rt h place, some distance beh ind th e lead ers, followed by privateer Mi ke H art h in fifth on a n ill-running Suzu ki. Roos too k sixth with Zam pach seventh, bo th a lso o n Suzukis. Eighth and nimh p laces sa w a wa r between th e Yamaha FZR6 00 -m o u n ted pa ir of Larry Sch wa rzbach and Torn Kipp, with Schwarzbach getting the nod . Texan Ottis Lancefi lled th e 10th position o n h is GSXR . Resul ts ' 14 ·LA P AMA/CCS YOKOHAM A 750cc S/SPRT FINAL: 1. Scon RusseIiI Suz); 2. J ami e Ja mes ISuz); 3. Doug Chandler (Kaw ); 4 . Tommy Lyn ch (Suz); 5. Mi ke Harth (Suz); 6. Cam Roos (Suz); 7. Scon zampach (Suzl; 8 . Larry Schwarzbach (Yam ); 9 . Tom Kipp (Yam); 10 . Ott is Lance (Suz); 11 . J ohn Eidenberger (Yam); 12 . Fritz Klin g (Suz); 13. Tim M orrissey ($u z); , 4 . Ray Yoder (Suz); 15. Oliver Billingsley (Suz). RACE TIME; 26 min.• 3 1.10 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 79.195 mph AMA/CCS YOKOHAMA 750cc S/ SPRT POINT STAND INGS: 1. J amie Ja mes (115); 2. Dou g Chandle r (94); 3. Scott Russell (91); 4. (TIE) David Sadowski/M ike Harth (B6); 6. Scott lampach 1 62); 7. Cam Roos (53); B. Tomm y Lynch (44); 9. Ott is Lance 124); 10 . J ohn Eidenberger 1 ); 11. Kye 22 Gunn (19); 12. M ike Smith (18); 13. Gary D' Alu isio (16); 14 . Ricky Or lando (15); 15. Chr is Hartone (13); 16 . (TIE) Ray Yoder/La ry Schw arzbach (12); 18 . Todd Hebert (11 ); 19 . (TIE) Scott Gray/An dy Fenwick/Tom Kipp (10 ). AMA/CCS Yokohama 600cc Supersport Series: Round 8 Ashmead, wins Zampach extends points lead By Brian Catterson Photos by Paul Carrut hers TOPEKA, KS, SE PT. 3 Florida' s J ohn Ash mead used a borro wed motor to win his Jo hn 'Asmead (4) leads Calvin Rayborn III (12) and Sco tt Zampach (hidden) in the 600cc Supersport race; Ashmead took the victo ry. first Yokohama 600cc Supersp ort rac e of th e season , while Wisconsi n's runner -up Scott Zampach too k ad van tage of title rival Cam Roos' misfortunes to 'further ex tend the po ints lead he established after his recent Sears Poi n t win. Roos' ti tle hope s took a bl ow wh en hi s sh ift lever broke in th e fin a l th is af ter runn in g off in the first turn of his heat. race, injuring his an kle and having to ride tha t race with a brok en footpeg. After consi der ing retiri ng to th e p its , Roos th o ugh t, "It would rea lly suc k if I lost the title , by a point" so circu la ted carefu ll y to finish th e fin al in I I th p lace. The u n fo rtu n a te Ro o s' lowl y fin is h ne tted hi m j ust four poin ts, and handed Zam pach a 15-p oi nt adv an tag e in the stand ings, 106 to 91. Ashmead lies third with 85 po ints, with two rounds remaining in the series. T h ird place went to Texas priva teer Larr y Schwarzbach, who wa s making his first appearance in a Supersport winner's circle. Ashmead 's Yamaha FZR600 broke a ca m chai n in practi ce, so h e borrowed a motor from Gary D'Aluisio , who 'd wrecked hi s bike in a T hursda y practice crash. Neverth eless, Ashmead gave an ear ly ind ica tion of wha t to expect when he defeated Zampach and J ohn Eiden berger in the first of Saturday afternoon 's two, five-lap hea t races. Wh en it ca me time for Sunday's final, few were surprised th a t Zampach led the 30rider field at th e end of lap one, fo llow ed by racing ' journalis t Nick Iena tsch, seco nd he a t race win ner Cal Ra yborn , and Ashmead . Ra yborn and Ash mead was ted no time in dis posi ng of lenatsch, passing him o n lap two a nd setti ng their sights o n Zampach. T h ree la p s la ter th e ultra -aggressive Ra yborn moved to th e fore, bu t he got in to the tu rn14 hairpin too ho t and Ash mead sn uc k by to take the lead. H owever, Rayborn's effort s were for nau gh t, as hi s ra ce ended o n lap seven wi th m echa ni ca l p robl e m s; l i kewise Eidenberger's, whos e Yamaha was . misfiri ng ba dly fro m th e start. With R a ybo rn out , Ashmead cruised to the win, turning la p times in th e low I:54s and stre tchi ng his advantage over Zampach to 2.62 seconds a t th e che ckered flag. " T h ese g uys r ide ha rd ,' : sa id Ash mead after the ra ce. " I was wa iting for my tires to come u p to tem pera ture, then I pulled away: I was a little worried a t the start; I got held up. T he n " Z-Ma n " (Zam pach) starte d pulling a way so I got mad . A little bit of bein g mad tak es you a lo ng w ay." Ashmead is sponso red , by Mich elin, Bel -R ay, NG K and Muzzy's R&D. . "Jo h n raced an exce lle nt race a nd I ju st hung in the re," Zam pach said. " I still d id n' t have th e righ t gearing . setup, a nd I co uld n 't mak e -it up in th e tu rn s." Zampach is sponsored by Dun lop , AGV, Spectro , Fox , Dyn oJ et, RK , Do n -n -Roy's Cycle City, CJ Cycle Pro, Kerker, and Vance & H in es. Schwarzbach rode hi s Yokohama- ' shod Yamaha hard , and worked his wa y u p from a fourth-row grid positio n to tak e third p lace by Jap seven . .H e the n decided that " third p lac e was better than a wr ecked bike" an d fini sh ed in th at positio n. Schwarzbach pocketed $250 in Yokohama contingincies for hi s effort s. Wi th th e top -three fin ishers a lr eady determin ed and running alo ne out fro nt, an in ten se, sevenway battle for fourth ensued between Mark H ei ser, P e ter sen , R o o s, Ien atsch , Mike Barnes, Tom Kipp and " Re vvin ' Kevin" Rentz ell, who was return ing to racing a fter eigh t weeks o n the d isabled list. So ut h . Africa n Petersen managed to head the pack to ta ke fourt h p lace, po stin g h i s b es t fi nish so fa r in th e prod uct io n- based class. Ren tzell sna tched fifth , fo llowed by H eiser, . Barnes, len atsch and Kipp. David Deveau rounded out th e top 10 a fter running off .the track on la p three while trying to avoid th efallen Sam McDonald. Yamaha co ntin ue d its dominance o f 600cc Su p ers port racing with FZR600s taking th e top 20 p laces . - "Result s 14- LAP AMA/CCS YOKOHA MA 600 S/SPRT FINAL: 1. Jo hn A sh mead (Yam); 2. Scott Zampach (Yam); 3. Larry Schwarzbach (Yam); 4 . Robbie Petersen (Yam); 5 . Kevin Rentzell (Yam); 6 . M ark Heiser (Yam); 7. M ike Barnes (YamI; 8. Nick ' lenatsch (Yam); 9. Tom Kipp (Yam); 10 . David Deveau (Yam); 11. Cam Roos (Yam); 12. Doug Car mich ael (Yam); 13. John Jacob (Yam); 14. Doug Tcsten (Yam); 15. John Hoppersta d (Yam). RACE TIM E: 26 min .. 59.706 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 77 .792 mph AM A / CCS YOKOHAMA 60Dec S/ SPRT POINT STANDINGS; 1. Scott Zampach (106 ); 2. Cam Roos (91); 3. J ohn A shmead (85); 4. Tom Kipp (58); 5. Jeff Far mer (52 ); 6. Larry Schwarzbach (4 5); 7. J ohn Eidenberger (36); 8. M ark Chin (35); 9. M ike 8arn es (32); 10. Nick lenat sch 130) 11. Bill Graef ; (24); 12. John Kocinski(20 ); 13 . J ohn Jacob 119); 14 . Glenn Barry (18); 15. (TIE) Robbie Petersen/ Doug Tosten/ David Sadowski/Jon Roberts (16); 19. ITIE) Bill Loomis/ M ike Moo res (15). 15

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