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Doug Polen (above) and Scott Russe ll (below) were the top Americans in the Mexican International Superbike race held at the Circuito Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. Polen won and Russe ll was fourth overall. Polen, ·Crevier shine in Mexican RR By Kel Edge MEXI CO CITY, MEXICO, DEC. 10 J apan ese F-l and F-3 Champion Doug Polen an d Canadian National Superb ike Champion Steve Crevier proved worthy of their respective titles as they topped a host of interna tional superbike I Rodriguez in Mexico City. Yoshimura Suzuki-mounted stars at the Circuito H ermanos Pol en a nd Yam aha OWOI -mounted Crevier ended up eq ua l on points over the two 25-la p legs, with Polen winni ng the first a nd fin ishing third in th e second; Crevier 's day was a m irro r reverse ofPo len's as he wo n th e seco nd leg and fini shed .th ird in th e first. England 's T err y Rymer , meanwh ile, put in two consistent second p lace fini shes to end up third . o n the day with 34 points. The race was held under sunny skies in front of a crowd estimated at 34,000. For c u rre nt World Superbike Champ'ion Fred Merkel the weekend was fIlled with disappointments. The Californian was aboard Canadian R u eb en McM urter's spare Honda RC30, and to make matters worse he was forced to use Pirell i street bike tires when his racing slicks failed 'to arrive in Mexico. The race was also somewhat of a disappoint- . ment for 'World Superbike Series runner-up Stephane Mertens. The Belgian crashed without injury after five laps in the opening leg and was forced to spec ta te in the second race becau se his bike was too badl y ' damaged to cont inue. Former World , Champion Mar co Lucchinelli was also a non-starter after he crashed in th e mornin g warm-up with both he and hi s Ducati unfit to race. " L ucky" would have started o n the front row of the grid after qualifying well. The first race got underway in blazing sun ," with the entire grid .blasting its way down th e near-milelong front straightaway. By the tim e th e field came around to comp lete th e first lap, Mert en s was leading foll owed by Germany's Ernst Gschewender , Rymer, Merkel and Jean Mounier of France. Just behind came ano ther hard-charging bunch that incl uded T exan Polen , Finland's j ari Suhonen and Crevier, all fighting for position. By the end of the sixth lap, Mertens had crashed out and Merkel had reti red with ignition problems. This lef t Suhon en , Rym er and Po len disputing th e lead - but Po len was · biding his tim e. At half distance, Pol en led for five laps before being passed by Suhonen again . Rymer wa s right behind, waiting for a mistake from th e leading pair, but he in turn was being caugh t. by Crevier and Georgian Scott Russell. On lap 16 Polen made hi s move an d he star ted to gain a slig h t ad vantage, leav in g Suhonen a nd Rym er to battle for second place. At th e flag, Polen took hi s Suzuki to th e win, some five seconds ahea d of Rymer. Su honen was nipped at the finish lin e by Crevier for third after th e Canadi an had passed him just two corners from th e finish lin e. Polen seemed co nfident of repeat ing his success in th e second race, but Rymer and Crevier had other ideas. Rym er got a poor start , but superb ou tbra king man euvers at the chica nes saw him in front at th e end of th e first lap. H e held th e lead for five lap s befor e being passed by Suhonen, who was really giving his a ll. Just behind these two were Polen , .Cr evier , G schwender and Russell. Rym er then repassed Suhonenand held th e lead until th e 18th lap when he was pa ssed by a determined piece of riding by Crevier. As Crevier p u lled away, Rymer came under. terr ific pressure from Pol en, whos e b ik e definitely had m o re g ru n t com ing o u t of corners. Meanwhile, th e unlucky Su ho nen had to stop when a rock go t ca ug h t in hi s rear sprocket and after restarting he was relega ted to sixt h place. Crevier took the chec kered flag by three ·seco nds from , Rym er , with Pol en less th an a seco nd behind. Yoshimura Suzu ki-mo u nted Russell, who fini shed second in th e AMA Su perbike Championship, turned in a good rid e for fourth. All had ridden superbly in front of th e ecstatic and noi sy cro wd. At the end of th e da y Pol en was adj u dged th e overa ll winner, even th ou gh he and Crevier had sco red an eq ua l number of • poin ts. .Result s RACE ONE: 1. Doug Polen (Suz]: 2. Terry Rymer (Yaml; 3. St eve "Crevier (Vam); 4 : Jari Suhonen (Yaml ; 5. Scott Russell (Su z); 6 . Ern st Gschew end er (Sull; 7. Edwin W iesel (Kaw); 8. Tom Douglas (Yam ); 9. Eric Del camp (Vam); 10. Dale Quarterley (Hon); 1 1. M ichael Galins ki (Vam); 12. A rpad Harm at i (Han); 13. Luis Ar 8moni (Yam); 14. Jav ier A renas (Hon); 15. Jesus Rodrigu el (Vam). RACE TWO : 1. Steve Crevi er (Yam ); 2. Terry Rym er (Yam); 3. Doug Polen (SUl); 4. Scon Russell (SUl ); 5. Ern st Gschewender ISul); 6. J ar i Suhonen (Vam ); 7. Dale Quarter ley (Hon); 8. An ton io Garcia (Hon); 9. Eric Delcamp (Yam); 10. Michael Galinski (Vam); 11. Javier A re nas (Hon); 12. Fred Mer kel I H on~ 13. Arpad Harmal i ( Hon ~ 14. Luis Aramoni • (Yam); 15. Jesus Rodriguel (Yam).