Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mike Harth (88) leads Ray Yoder (52), Scott Russell (2 2) and J amie James early in t he GSXR11 00 f inal. D avi d Sadowski sported an ice pack at Sunday's riders' meeting. Yoshimura Suzuki 's Jamie James was the winningest rider at t he Su zu Cup Finals as he topped both the GSXR11 00 and Katana 600 classes. Suzuki National Cup Series Finals James, Russell shine at Road-Atlanta By Brian Catterso n less, Sadowski sa id he was ready for ac tio n. " It 's going to be a ba tt le bu t I'v e ridden wit h advers ity befor e," he sai d. " We're still looking to win a ll th ree classes." Desp ite Sado wski 's op tim ism, in th e end it was a clean sweep fo r Yosh imura Suzu ki. J a mes' sha re of th e p urse for his wins in bo th the Katana 600 a nd GS XR 1100 classes a nd hi s seco nd-place fin ish in the GSX R i50 race amou nted to 13,000, while Russell's win in th e GS XR750 race and seco nd p lace behind James in the GSXR 1100 race were worth $8000. Sadowski 's best finish was six th in the GSXR I I00 race, a nd coupled wi th h is 16th in th e Ka tan a race.jie went home wi th $1300. BRASELTON , GA , NOV. 4-5 Heat races " I j u st wan t to fin ish off the year with p eople thinking I can ride a m otorcycle instead of just bein g lucky," said Jamie J ames after taking the first of his two wins in the annual Saturda y's four- lap heat races were a preview o f Sunday 's final s. The Katan a 600 a nd GSXR IIOO classes each ran one heat race, while th e po p ula ri ty of th e GS X R i50 class required two . The biggest su rp rise in the Kata na heat was Sad o wski . Weari ng th e number one plate from hi s 1988 win a nd riding in gr ea t pain, Sadowski led Russell up the hill to turn three a t the start. J a mes had just flown back from th e AMA awards ba nquet in Long Beach , Ca lifor n ia (where he was hon ored for his pair of cha mpio nships), but he was showin g no sig ns of jet lag. J am es ca me from fourth to pass T exa n Britt T urkington and Russell to move into seco nd by la p three. Coming under th e Nissan brid ge for the fourt h .and fina l ti me, both Sadowski a nd J am es ran wide, and R ussell sli d th rou gh to take th e lead Suzuki Nati onal Cup Series Fin a ls a t Road Atla nta. T he Denham Springs, Louisia na, resident was referring LO 10 hi s 1989 AMA Superbike and 750cc Su pe rspo rt Championsh ips , titl es he earned by accumu lating large points lead s ea rly in the season a nd then riding co nser va tive ly to p rotec t the m. But this weekend th ere were no points leads to protect , a nd with a $60,000 purse up for gra bs, everyo ne was out to prove their a bilities. . Ja mes a nd hi s Yoshim ura Suzu ki teammate Scott Russell had to be considered th e favorites coming int o th~ weekend, .since .they y.rere t~e w mru ngest nd er s III thi s yea r s AMA /C~S i50cc Na tional Su pe r- s~rt Seri es. ~\'hen as ked If he was gOIl!-g t?, Will, a ll .t h r~e, R usse ll rep lied, Tha~ s..what I m here for - ~eco nd s uc~s. , . . \ ance &: Hines DaVid. Sadowski was a lso a. pre-race favo rite, ha ving wo n th e final ro und of the Su pe rsport Seri es the pr evious weekend at Da ytona.. Bu t Sad owski had al so broken 11Is co lla rbo ne there. DU~llIg the week he'd flown to Wyommg, where Dr. David Kieffer (a racer himself) repaired hi s collarbone with a plate a nd some screws . Nevert he- ~ and the win. Sado wski held onto seco nd with J am es thi rd. Mik e Sm ith passed Turkington for fourth a nd fifth, respe ctively. T he first GS XR750 heat saw J am es lead u p the hi ll , b u t Sadowski sho t underneath a t turn th ree to tak e the poi nt. P aul Bra y, r id i n g fo r Van ce &: Hines in the i 50cc class , also tried to stick it to James, and the two lean ed o n each o the r all the ( way down the hill th rough Road Atlanta 's infamous esses. Bray led the seco nd tim e arou nd I followed by Sadowski, J am es and Virginia's Robert Wri gh t. One lap la ter , J ames got by Sadowski , and on ' the fi na l la p both J am es and Sado wski sn uck pas t Bray to take ' first and second, respectiv ely. Wright : was fourth behind Bray a nd Tur- l kington was fifth. The seco nd GSXR 750 hea t was a ll I R ussell 's. The Jonesboro, Georgia, resident led every la p of th e race en ; rou te to a 3. 1I-seco nd margin of ) victory. Sou th Carolina's Kurt H all a nd Smi th ga ve chase, b ut settled for ; seco nd and third. New H ampshire's J eff Hei no had mot or prob lem s in ' p rac tice wh ich cu t into his sus pen - I sio n setup ti me, and rode an illhand ling machi ne to fini sh fourt h. , Wash in gton 's Joe Pitman ro u nded a u t the top five, . R u ssell 's faste r hea t ra ce time (6:04.89 as op posed to James' 6:08.95) ea rne d him th e po le fo r Su nday's fin al. . ( The red- flag ged GSXR I IOO hea t 1 a lso belonged to Ru ssell as he led I the en tire way. Georgia's Mike Ha rth o u tbra ked Illinois' Ray Yoder for seco nd at the Ni ssan bridge o n lap o ne, but Bra y's simila r attem p t was ! th warted. J am es was working his way up, an d wo u ld hold third o n lap three when the race was redflagged d ue to oi l in turn six. The . resu lt s were backed u p to th e pre- ~ vio us lap a nd read : Russell , Harth, Yoder, James and Bra y. Katan a 600 Final Excellent weat he r a nd the lu re o f ' top-nam e riders boosted Su nday 's I atten da nce figur es far beyo n d WER A's expectations (in fact, they Tan o u t of prin ted ad m issio n tickets), • a nd the 11,015 spec ta tors on hand witn essed wh at many co ns idered the best road racin g seen in America thi s vear. . Russell's and Sado wski's hopes o f a ha t tri ck were erased duri ng Sunday ) morning's 12-lap Katan a fina l. For Russell , it was over almost before it sta rted. His bi ke dropped a valv e o n th e first lap and he retired to th e pi ts, pounding on the Suzuki's fue l tan k in disg us t. Sado wski took the ea rly lead , but by la p six it was obvio us that he too was havi ng p roblem s, as hi s motor began to sou nd rough. T ho ug h he tried to contin ue, the a iling bike let hi m down, a nd he d ropped further a nd furth er bac k, event ua lly finishing 16th. Steve J ohnso n , Van ce &: Hi nes' new crew ch ief. suspected th e electrica l system was th e cu lp rit fo r Sadowsi's dem ise. J ames took the lead o n the front strai g h t o n lap two , with Smi th trying to tuck in tig h t beh in d him . " 'Ski' had a problem a nd I almost hit him," sa id Smith. " J a m ie (James) picked up a litt le there. I tr ied to ge t in hi s d raft " u t I . b cou ldn 't ." : '1 kn ew if I co uld break away from the draft I co uld just conce ntra te o n ridin g the track ," said James. " I kept lookin g o ver m y sho u lder thi nking Russell wo uld be co ming." J a mes stretched his adva n tage on eac h succeedi ng lap, turnin g I:35 la p times o n h is way to a n un contested 9.23-second margin of victory. Beh in d J ames, T eam Suzuki tea m-

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