Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

was wet the whole time;" says Doug. " Bu t I qualifi ed on th e pol e o n th e F-I , and seco nd o n the F-3. " T he n o n ra ce day it stopped raini ng. " So we had no d ry. ti me testing. And th e front tir e co mpou nd I p icked was too hard," Doug recalls vivid ly of th a t F-I ride. "The front-end p us hed a ll aroun d the tra ck a nd never ~ot hot enough to rea ll y work. " H e finished six th . Bu t he we nt ou t and won on the F-3. T ha t n ig h t , Doug and Dian ne stuffed themselves at a fancy su kiyaki -ya. japan was begi n ni ng to be a nea t p lace to be. ' While frie nds home in America were celebrati ng Memorial Day, the Polens were off to Tsukuba Circuit. Reca lls Doug , "After the Sugo race, I said, 'I've got to ge t a grip o n this . situ a iio n h ere, a n d I mean li tera lly! " T sukuba, where Polen wo n last year as a Yosh im ura g uest, is a quick 1.2im ile co urse just a short d rive from Tokyo. : " I lifted th ings o u t of m y head," Doug says o f the n, "all the things th at weren' t wo r king ri ght, a n d th en m ad e a ga me plan ." Aggressive tire testing and changes to th e bike 's geome try su dden ly , turned things arou nd . H e put h is F- , I o n the pol e, th en wo n th e race. Pol en was ge uj ng in sync, building new co n fiden ce in wh a t he d id a nd the way he d id it. At Su zuka in j une, in the ra i n o nc e again , h e nai led down th e h elme t-fogging problem an d pu t h is F- l on the pole for th e 200-kilometer ra ce. The 35la p s around Suzu ka's 3.64 -mile upa n d -do w ne r i n s ti fl i n g summe r humidi ty wou ld feel like an end u ro. Say s Doug, " T he track was dry by th en , th e su n wa s out, a nd i t was reall y hot!" So wa s he. Pol en won both classes , a n d sna tched th e F-I series lead by a si ngle golden point. And he'd a lrea dy moved tothe top in F-3. Doug wa s lookiri' good. It was back th en to Ts u kuba for a n F-3 o n ly. Raining , natch. " We tr ied tun in g th e engi ne differentl y for more mid-range. It worked , but wh en yo u add to th e midd le o n an engine th at sma ll, yo u lose horsepo we r o n to p ." The 250cc tw o-strokes as a result blew Pol en awa y on th e straig h ts, a nd h e fin ish ed o n ly fifth . But, because h is main F-3 co m pe tition Noboru Aoki pined wi th cl utch " pa in s, Doug b umped h is series lead to Ii poi ius. . Su go was nex t. Early july. More ra in. " O ne of th ose 'w ea ther races' agai n, " sighs Do u g reflectively at h is go lf cou rse- faci ng ho use in Texas. H e q ua lified third o n the F-I , and the race began in a dose of chron ic Sugo fog . By la p 10, whi le Doug wa s flat hau li ng i n seco nd p lace, drafting Shoji Miyazaki's w o rk s H on d a through th e m is t, officia ls wh ipped o ut the red flag. Do ug suffered, beca use ru les o n posi tion reverted to the previous la p , where Pol en was o n ly fou rt h. On th e restart, eve n though his Yo shi mura was first across th e line at ra ce end, Po len 's mi n us one-seco nd-a nd-change from " H ea t One': dropped him to second b eh i nd the happy H onda p il o t , givi ng th e F- I ser ies lead back to Mi yazak i. Say s Doug , still sensi tive to the lo ss, " T ha t was h a rd to swa llow." Then ca me th e 8-Hour! Su zu ka's share in th e W orld E n d u ra nce Championsh ip. Nothing to do with F-I or F-3, but a b iggi e. A rea l major leaguer. And Doug was teamed with j apan G P cham p Kevin Schwantz.' " We qualified third, sa me as la st yea r," sa id Doug, th en adds, " Bu t we , got in to a problem whe re we ra n o u t o f gas th ree different tim es, fo r whatever reason." Alib is are unclear - so me th ing abo u t Fuji o's miscalcu la tio ns an d Kevin a nd pitboards, Pl us a n a w kward oil leak. An ywa y. (They fini shed eig h th . But the ra ce still carried a p lus for Pol en. In it, h e got to u se Michel in 's top level G P tires for th e very fir st ti m e. " My la p s d ropped co nsiderab ly, to say the least !" And that prime rubber availab ili ty stre tche d to include Do ug's next race - back a t Sugo for th e World Superb ike contest. He qua lifi ed on th e pole wi th a new co u rse reco rd, br eaking Marco Lucchinel li 's last year's mark by two seco n dsp lus, and th en went out a nd .won th e first race a nd came fo urth in th e other. " Yea h, " ex uded Do ug , " an d it was a ll in th e ra in , too !" So no w he knew the j a pa nese wet , th e vastadvantages of top tires, an d ho w h is competi tion was grooving. And when Septem ber ro lled in, Doug came to Suzu ka 's F-I 'er ready to kick but t. On e th in g was n't' r igh t , th o ugh. T he bike. It was still set up for GP-grad e Mi chel ins an d whe n clas ses. H e took bo th poles with new co u rse records in both ca tego rie s, the n won both ra ces. In F-I , Mi yazaki finish ed seventh , givin g Polen a six- poi nt cu sh io n after b ein g beh ind by five. " Miya zaki-sa n was u sin g so me Dunl o p s th at w ere working really good fo r h im, a nd . Michel in didn 't like th at too m uch, that's why th ey sent me better tires to be co m p etitive." Also, the G P seaso n was finally over - a ll o f a sudden th ere were p lenty of tir es arou nd. This was fu ll o n Fo rmula racing now, burners turned u p a ll the wa y. . Then ca me Tsuku ba , again, at the en d of Octo ber. T he , All j a pan FI super showdown series fi nale. Miyazaki cou ld ch arge back an d grab the title. Po len co u ld hang o n an d m ake a clean doub le sweep. H e a lready had his F·3 cham p io ns h ip Polen and Yoshimura Suzuki made up a fo rmidable team in 1989. topping factory Honda rider Shoji Miyazaki to w in the Formu la One championship . they had to go back to the lo wer level ' tires, it si m p ly didn 't wo rk as good. " I would n 't p us h m y luck," states Do ug, " I j ust rode i t as hard as 1 cou ld the way it was set up , and 1 ended u p seco nd. T h at 's th e wa y it goes. " H e was then fiv e p o ints beh ind Miyazaki 's lead - wi th on ly two more F- I even ts in th e season. To ta ke his mi nd o ff th e i50 cha m p io n sh ip , the next race, an F3 Nishi-Sendai j us t north of Sugo, was a kick. One of Doug 's favo ri te j a panese circui ts - two a nd a h alf m iles a n d 24 turns. H e set a new co urse record a nd wo n from th e pole. " It was a lo t of fun ," he says , " but a litt le dangerous. There's too much Ar mco close to th e track . T hey use th ose big foam bal es. 1 like th em bett er th an straw, because when yo u hit th em th ey're real so ft. " H e then adds , more serious ly, " Bu t yo u ca n still ge t under th em , just like yo u ca n ge t under stra w. " Next," h e goes , o n, "was th e 'perfec t weekend." I co u ld n ' t have ' go tten a ny better results in a ny si tua tio n, in a ny ca tegory, a nythi ng." T hat race - Su go in midO ctober - was a dream. Polen was a lways th e fastest in p ra ctice in both locked up, a nd even if Doug we nt a nd sat in th e grandstand, he wa s good fo r the number tw o spot in F -I. By grid time th e prime p layers - works H onda a n d Suzu ki a lr eady wer e ru nn ing the race in their minds. Mi yazaki, a bra nd new fath er, h ad the H onda com pa n y brass h ol d ing th eir brea th . Fuj io 's face was set , froz en on logic. Starti ng from the pole, series leader Doug Po len would most li kel y ha ve to go to th e outside as h e sw ept into Tsu ku ba's monster 180-degree tu rn o ne. No green horn to I \th hour race tact ics, he knew there m ight be peril wai ting. "There was a lot of opposi tion ther e," says Doug , toda y, p u tti ng it a ll together again . ''I' ll just tell yo u th e way it was. .. " I knew th ere was goin g to be so me ser io us o p portu n ity in turn o ne to kind of elim in a te th e co m pe ti tio n if possible, wi th out making i t look too radica l. I was o n th e' o utside when 1 started turn in g in to wards the co rner , and lo w a nd behold shows up Miyazaki kind of driftin!? w ide o n th e i nsi de o f m e. So i n m y avoiding that, I ended u p o u t in th e marbles. I stood th e b ike up and we nt stra ig ht for a little b it whi le h e went across m y front, th en I laid it over again a n d sta rted ba ck i nto th e corner an d th e flow of traffic, and th en N ob oru Miura o n his Honda ca me o n the ins ide of me kind o f drifting wid e, j u st like h is teammate d id. I had to stra igh ten it up aga in to miss him. I had to kee p ge tt in g o u t of th e th rottle. Everybody was just ripping by me. Then, co min g o ut o f th e co rner, all th e way a n th e o utside o f the trace track, Iwahashi- · sa n on the th ird facto ry H onda ca m e by a nd almos t forced me o ut. I was u p ove r th e whi te-pai nted ceme nt cu rb. When I fin ally got th rough it, I'm back in 'nowhere land!' When yo u start th e race a nd yo u' re way back in th a t position, like 12th by th en, an d yo u've a lso got three guys' o n facto ry H o ndas, o ne o f th em trying to win a champions h ip a nd th e o th er two trying to bl ock, that even makes i t harder. " , P olen pres sed o n i n the ra ce, ca lc u la ti n g p o i n ts o n every lap, ca u gh t behi nd Iwahashi , but ab le to ma intai n a posi tio n that wou ld earn h im the F- I crown. Au stralian P eter Goddard, free o f th e Honda -Suzuki tu m u lt , wo n the race. Pol en, fini shing fifth two places behind Mi yazaki , h ad th e cham p io ns h ip by a twop oint margin over th e H onda ace. Third o n th e F-I series ros tru m was the works ' FZRi 50 Yamaha ri der, Yas utorno N aga i. " It was an inter esting si tuation," sa id Pol en . "Every body figured I would probably wi n it. It was likein a footba ll sta dium there, th ey had a n Am erican flag o n the front grandstands, and next to it in j ap a nese th ey had YOS H IM- ' URA and DO U G POLEN and 32. I mean, tha t was pretty neat!" Miyazaki ca me to Pol en 's pit a fter the ra ce. " O bv io us ly he was do wn a n d o u t," said ,Doug. " I as ked him, ' Is H o nda p issed th at yo u didn 't win?' And he kind o f lowered hi s head, and kind of nodded it. " Dia n n e was th ere with Mi yazaki' s wife, her season -lo n g fri end, still her fri end. Someb ody sai d it was like th e O lympics. " Hell, i t's just racing," Doug says. " There's a lot o f money o n the line. If yo u just go o u t and do th e best you ca n every tim e, nobody ca n ask a n y more o f you than that. When 1 went into th e season, I had two thi ngs in mi nd , to win th e Fo rm u la One an d th e Formu la T hree Champ ionship s, and th a t' s wha t I did ." Wha'tabo ut Fujio? - always th ere, silent most of th e time, who a t th e beg innin g of th e sea son had sa id, " Do ug will be good for th e sport, good for h im, for us , fo r everyone. All j ap anese ride rs figh ting agains t each o ther in the ra ce, th at 's fin e. But if you h ave some o ther bl ood in i t, hey!" Says Do ug , " All year long h e's been behind me 100 perce nt. A lot . of o ther team managers o r owners in j apan are more like coaches than F ujio is. H e's been as ked, ' Wha t do yo u tell th ese guys to mak e th em go th is fast? ' An d Fujio says, ' I do ri' t tell them a ny th ing. I lea ve th em a lone .' " There was a nother key p layer a t Tsu ku ba's finale, too. Rodney Shel don. He was beaming, a lrea dy workin g o n next yea r for Doug. But he wasn't say i ng a ny thi ng, excep t that th ere was definite interest co m in g from h igh places. Pol en was sm ilin g a lso, h ero to h is j apanese fa ns, a u tograp h man, th e o n ly rider ever to wi n bo th j ap an 's TT F- I a nd F3 seri es i n th e sa me yea r, And he's so laid back abo u t it a ll. Ask him , fo r instance, what " TT" m eans. You ge t th is - " I do n 't kn o w why it 's 'TT.' I've never kn own what that stood for, o r why they ca lle d i t that. 'Tough T errain,' " I guess." Or how a bo u t j us t Terra in T amer? Wha tever, Po len 's the cham p of it. 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