Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Third-place finisher Dale Quarterley (32) leads Scott Russell (22), Donald Jacks, David Sadowski and Doug. Chandler at the start of the f ina l. Doug Ch andl er (10) defeated Scott Russell (22) to become the year's only two-time Superbike winner. AMA Superbike National·Championship Road Race Series: Final round Chandler reaps win, James harvests title in Kansas By Brian Catterson Photos by Paul Carruthers TO PEKA, KS, SEPT. 3 Kawasaki's Doug C h a ndler may have become th e first rep eat wi nner of this year's AMA Superbike Seri es with his win amidst the corn fields of the brand-spanking-new Heartland Park Topeka road cours e but it was Yoshimura ~ . S uzu k I , s ·J a m Ie . J a~es W h 0 went away the big wmner, as 10 h is fourt h -p la ce finish earned him th e 1989 AMA Superbike Championship. The title is James' first in AMA com pe tition, and th e fir st won iJy a Yoshimura Suzuki rider since Wes Cooley did so a lmost a decade pr evious m 1980. . "It's a long road to get here and 1 want to thank all th e friends that helped me when 1 was down," sa id J ames a fter taking th e titl e. Chandler raced with J am es' team mate Scott R ussell in Sunday aft ernoon 's 24-lap, 60-mile Superbike fin al , with Russell leading six laps before getting out of sh a pe a n d a llowin g Chandler to retak e th e lead . Chandler then made better use of lapped traffic on th e demanding, o ne -line race co u rse to defeat Russell at th e finish line by a sca nt 1.007 seco nd . " It 's been a lo n g yea r ," said Chandler. " I had hi gh hopes a t th e Leginning - th e wh ol e team did. It pa id o ff in th e end," Russell 's seco nd- p lace fini sh a lso netted h im secon d place in th e title chase: " I reall y would liked to have won th e title for Yoshimura , but J amie did and I'm just proud to be seco nd, " said Russell . Third pl ace in th e race went to Ro ckland , Massa chu setts ' Dal e Quarterl ey, wh o led th e first pair of laps before slo wing to co nse rve hi s heretofore unreliable Fast By Ferra cci Du cati 851. Like Chandler , . Quanerl ey . was finishing just his seco nd Superbi ke race o f th e year, a n d making his secon d trip to th e victo ry podium; both of Chandler's trips, however , have been to the top step of the rostrum; Jam es ' championship did not co me easy, as title rival Rich ard Arnaiz on the Team Motor Sport Yamaha kep t him ho nest. To tak e the championship, James needed to fin ish fourth or better if Russell won, a nd third or better if Arnaiz won. Arnaiz' ch ances of a win were virtu ally eliminated by a heat race . engine failure , and he was forced to sta rt from th e rear of th e grid as the promoter's option. Nevertheless , Arnaiz got a flyer of a start a nd was soon racing with J ames for fourth place. " I had to cou nt on Russell winning, so I needed to beat Arnaiz to take th e title," James said after the rac e. And he did. Arnaiz took th ird in the season point st and ings, followed by Chandler a nd Daytona 200 winner J ohn Ashmead, wh ose Kawasaki ZX7 suffered a blown head gasket here, resulting in a 13th-place finish . Finishing today's race in six th pl ace was Ohioan T om Kipp in hi s first ride o n a G eorge Vi censiprepared Honda VFR750 (the same m achine Dan Chivington rode to third place a t Mid-Ohio). Kipp was en joyin g th e expe rience: " It's so easy to ride," sa id Kipp o f th e p ot ent, yettra ctable V-4. G eorgia privateer Mike Harth fini shed seventh, with Colorado's Deiter Lane eigh th and Florida's Don a ld Jacks ninth , a ll o n Suzuki GSXR750s, Arnaiz' teammate P h il Kress rounded out the top 10 on his Yamaha FZR750. Heat races Heartland Park Topeka's n ew 2.5mile road co u rse layout was well liked by th e rid ers , with ample runoff room in most of th e 14 corners. However, th e track was still " green" with this being just th e second-ever race held at -the facility , and rain washing mud onto th e track prior to the ra ce weekend just added to the troubles. The result was an unusual condition wh ereb y th e riders said th e track wa s slic k, yet it promoted . excessive tir e wear, especially from 'tires. As practice and ra cing progressed , th e racing line cleared off , but th ere were still a number of places where a rider cou ld get in trouble if he got off th e racing line. Rega rdless, th e riders spoke highly . of th e fledgling faci lity: " When the track is finished , it will be one of the finest in th e nation," said james: "There are p lenty of places to pass and a lot of hard braking areas, " added Sadowski; "It's a rea l technical track. If you mess up one turn yo u can kiss that la p goodbye," concluded Quarterley. Q uarterley led the start of Saturday afternoon 's first five-lap heat race, but Chandler was taking no prisoners and took the lead by th e end of lap one, eventually posting a near two-second margin of victory. Russell began in sixth place, and

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