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GROAD RACE AM! National ChamI!ioDShi~rbike Road Race Series: Round I m Kawasaki-mounted Doug Chandler earned an additional $5000 for being the top dirt track finisher in the 200; Chandler finished third behind Sadowski and Renfrow. tors would be repl aced wi th Miku ni s for the 200. "T hey're a lot harder to twist, bu t it ru ns better with them on it," Ch andler said. 10 Daytona 200 It was sunny and hot when the flag dropped at I :45 p.m. to start the 49th running of the Daytona 200, and it didn't take long for the action to heat up. As the leaders hit the first corner all hell broke loose when Mackenzie and James, two of the 'pre-race favorites, collided and crashed. "I was in the middle and he (Mackenzie) was on the outside of the grid," James said later. " H e swung down, but it didn't alarm me at all. He was ahead of me slightly and I was going to fall in behind him. He didn 't realize that he really wasn't in the corner yet and he hit the brakes early. It wasn't his ,fau lt; he hasn't been here before. When I bumped him we were still okay, but then someone hit me in the rear and it boosted me up and we made contact again. I went sideways and was highsided off. It was just a freak accident." Steven s led the pack acro ss the line to complete the first lap ahead of Ren frow, Fogar ty, Whitham, Quar terley and J acks. Turn one cla imed ano ther of the top ru nners as McMu rter highsided on th e exit. The race wen t into th e caution mode, and the pace car emerged for the first of its thre e tri p s to the track. ' "I went on the grass when Jamie and Mackenzie crashed," McMurter said. " I got it turned around and going again, but the next lap I got on the gas too hard, the back slid around, hooked up and launched me." The racing resumed three laps later with Stevens leading Renfrow, Fogar ty, Whitham, Quarterley, Jacks, Mark Ch in and a recoveri ng Sadowski. Chandler, meanwh ile, was out of th e top 10. ' By th e eight h lap the strugg le up front was brilliant as Stevens held off the two Brits, Renfrow and Sadowski in a five-rider duel. The 10th lap saw Sadowski lead for the first time as he and Stevens opened up a slight gap on Renfrow, who in turn had a little breath i n g room on Fogarty and Whitham. On the 13th 'lap , Sadowski led Stevens by two seconds and that would grow to four secondsby the 16th lap. Stevens was having problems as the Yamaha stopped revving to its usual 13,500 rpms and was down to 11,000 rpms. His troubles would worsen, though, after his first pit stop when his new rear tire went flat, thanks to a bad valve stem, dropping him off the pace and out of contention, He would eventually fin ish l Sth. , Fogarty and Whitham had dislodged Renfrow from the third spot by the 16th lap; Jacks was sixth with Chandler on the mo ve and up to seventh. Sadowski 's tire and gas stop was more su ccessful then his teammate's, and after the first schedu led stops he led Renfro w (gas only), Whi tham and Fogarty. A crash on th e 23rd lap brought the pace car out for the second time with the running order read ing: Sadowski, Renfrow , Wh itha m, Fogarty, Chandler, Brit David Leach, Jacks , Russell (on the move after starting in the 60th starting position), Chin, Quarterley, and Robert Holden. When racing resumed, Whitham quickly asserted himself as Sadowski's main threat. The Brit was riding hard as he and Sadowski managed to open somewhat of a ga p over Renfrow an d Fogarty. Ch andler, meanw hi le, held a com fortable fifth over the Ashmead! Russell struggle. On the 36th lap , Fogarty eliminated himself wi th a crash in the first corner. He said later that th e Honda had jumped into neutral. Two lap s later a crash in the dogleg brought out the pace car for the th ird and fina l time. The two-rider crash in the dog- leg almost ended Chandler's day as he los t the front en d of the Kawasaki in the fallen riders' oil. "I lost the front, saved it wi th my knee and rode off through the grass ." Chandler said late r. Pit lane suddenly resemb led a big city freeway at rush hour as ride rs and teams tried to take advantage of the caution period. Ren fro w, Sadowski, Chandler, R ussell and Jacks were just a few of the top men to take ad vantage of the situation: It was Quarterley, however, who may have gained the most out of the situation. He had pitted wh ile the dogleg crash was occuring, and was able to get out of the pi t just in front of the pace car, he was then able to make up al most a la p - putting hi m self back into contention. Sad owski led Renfrow, Ch andler, Whi tham and Chin as acti on resumed on the 44th la p, bu t Wh itham threw the Honda away in the west horseshoe, ending Brit;iip 's hop e for a Dayton a 200 victory. The race was no w a two-man sprint race to th e flag. Chandler held a comfortab le third; but h is slower Kawasaki meant that he couldn't stay with' the leading duo. Renfrow had received new rubber under the caution, while Sadowski had opted only for gas. ' It didn 't seem to mak e much of' a differen ce, however, as the two seemed evenly match ed. Renfrow played his hand two lap s from th e end, pa ssing Sadowski on the ba nking for th e firs t ' tim e as th e Yama ha rider go t a lit tle sidewa ys exiting the chicane, Sadowski managed to get ahead again on the last lap, and this time didn' t make any mistakes getting out of the chicane. There was no way Ren frow cou ld draft past before the finish line and the 200 belonged to Sadowski. Chandler held for a som ewhat lonely third-place finish; Jacks and Quarter~ ley rounde d out the top five. "The motorcycle was so good it ma de it easy," Sado wski said. "T he first turn thing got my adrenaline pumping and I just had to work extra hard to catch up. Those Europeans rode really well and were a threa t. The pace car gave us a breather , and it was a great help there in the en d. We were ab le to come in for a sp lash of gas and we were back out." " We had p lanned to p it 'u nder the pace car," Renfrow said. " It came out at the right time for us and we were abl e to change tires. We wouldn 't have cha nged tir es if th ere wasn 't a yellow." Chandler was just happy to be leavi ng Dayton a with points. " I was lookin g to fin ish in th e top 10," Ch andler said. " We just kep t mov ing up and up. The last 'pace car helped me because I was able to get a fresh tire." Quarterley, George Vin censi and a dated Honda were the biggest surprise of the race. 'Peop le kept laughing at us when we said the thing doesn't go that bad," Quarteriey said. "We wanted some points and then get home and build