Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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~ ROA RACE AM! National Championship_R_oad_R_ac_e_Ser_ies_:R_o_un_d2 D _ ~ Doug Chandler (10) leads the first start of the red-nag interrupted National at Road Atlanta. Miguel DuHamel (97), Jamie James (1) and the rest of the pack follow. Polen-san returns, wins at Road Atlanta By Paul Carruthers BRASELTON, GA, MAY7 osh imura Suzu ki's Dou g Polen . returned to the AMA superbike wars for a one-race stint and managed to fend off the adva nces of a host of challengers to win an exciting bat tle at Road Atla nta. Pol en , the defendi ng All-Japa n Formu la One and Form ul a Three Ch ampion, made the most of wh at will most likely be hi s on ly U.S. appearance in 1990 by na rrowly beating Muzzy Kawasaki 's Doug Ch andler to the n ag in th e red-flag interr u p ted Na tio na l. Th e Texa n's fourth ca reer AMA Nati onal win came only three months after the pre-season testing accident th at left him minus four toes o n hi s left foot. Chandler, wh o was lead in g when the race was stopped on the 12th lap as a result of Mich ael Barnes cras hing h is T eam Mad Dog Ya maha FZR750RR wh ile exiting turn 12, led most of the thri lli ng race tha t at times saw as man y as six riders wi th a cha nce of winni ng . But it was Polen up fro nt wh en it mattered most, during the fin al laps of th e 24-lap race. The T exan was able to use traffi c o n the fin al lap to make sure that Chandler cou ld n' t pass, and the race wi n was his. T h ird pl ace wen t to Fast By Ferracci Du cati-rn ounted J am ie J am es. T he defending Superbike Nationa l Champion may have gained the biggest adva ntage from the restart as he was eig ht h when the red flag was shown. J am es ha d momentari ly entered pi t Y 6 road ear ly in the race whe n he wrongl y tho ug ht the p o ten t V-tw in h a d dropped a valve, and he was able to use a grea t start in the second leg to stay with the leaders. Fourth pl ace went to Vance & H in es Yama ha 's Thom as Stevens. T he Floridian had made great strides in the first portio n of the twice -started event as he came back from a poor start to mo ve into second pl ace beh ind Ch andler. Another so-so start in th e second leg left him un abl e to cha llenge Polen and Chandler, and he was narrowly beat en to th e flag by J ames. Randy Renf ro w rode the Com mo n wea lth Honda RC30 to fifth pl ace j ust ahead of Ch andler's Kawasak i teammate and last year's Road Atlanta win ner Scott Ru ssell. T eam Mad Dog Yamah a's Paul Bray, Hon da Ca na da's Rueben McMu rter, Quarterl ey Racing's Dale Quarterley and Yoshi mura Su zuki's Migu el DuHam el ro unded ou t the to p 10 fin ishers. A rat her impr essive note is that the first five finishers used five different brands of motorcycles: Suzuki, Kawasaki, Du cat i, Yamaha and Honda. Daytona 200 winner Dave Sado wski was the mos t notab le non -scor er after cras hing the Vance & H in es Yamaha FZR 750RR in the first leg whi le attempting to pass lapped ride r Don Estep on the 10th lap. Neither rider was hurt , althoug h dirt tracker Estep was upset a t Sadows ki for taking him out. Althoug h Sadowski was able to restart tha nks to th e red flag, he was a lap dow n and cou ld onl y man age to mo ve to 21st - ou t of the po ints. Wi th Sadowski faili ng to score, Chandler now leads the po int standings over Ren fro w, 29-26. Third place is he ld by Sadowski wit h 20 po ints wi th Stevens and J am es tied at 13. Polen 's win earne d him $2550 of th e $20,000 superbike purse with Ch andler pocketing $1700 a nd J am es taking home $1205. The purse, wh ich had been cu t $12,000 from la st year' s $32,000 payout, came under fire from riders and a winner's circl e boycott was discussed and then dismissed (See In T he Wind, page 2). Due to h is intern atio na l con trac t with Dunlop, Polen obvio us ly used different tires than hi s teammates, the Michelin-backed Yosh im ura team of DuHam el and Supersport competitior Tommy Lynch . Ch andler also used Dunlop tires wh ile J am es gave Yokohama their first taste of a winner's circle in an AMA superbike race. Heat races Sado wski, wh o was th e most vocal ' of th e riders and led th e meetin gs dea ling with the purse controversy, ea rned the pol e p osition fo r th e National by virt ue of his win in the fastest of the two five-lap hea ts. Sadowski grabbed the lead from the get-go in the first heat race , leading first Mark Chin (Yamaha FZR750RR) and then his teammate Steven s. Ru ssell started slow ly- on th e Kawasak i, but soo n moved into third p lace wher e he wou ld finis h some distan ce beh ind the two Vance & H in es bikes. Bray and McMu rter al so moved past Chin to finish fourth and fifth , wi th Chin endi ng up sixth. Th e n ewl y-formed , Suzuki GSXR7 50-m ounted Ameri can Eagle Racin g effort got off to a sha ky debut with dirt track legend Jay Springsteen and Daytona's fourth place finisher Donald Jacks both dropping out of the first heat. Springsteen suffered a flat tire on the first lap and Jacks encountered electrical problems. Both, how ever, would be granted a promoter's op tion and would start th e National from the back row of th e grid. "As soo n as I took off I knew it was flat," Springer said. " I t looked like a nail might hav e go t it." Sadows ki's lap tim es were consistent throughout, falling in the low-to-mid I :27 ran ge as he averaged 102.277 mph for the five laps. The second heat race saw Tom Kipp nail th e holeshot on his Wiseco-backed Yam ah a FZR750RR from the cent er of row o ne. But by th e tim e the pack emerged from the fam ed Road Atlanta esses, it was Chandler and the brig ht green Kawasaki leading the pack . Polen was fifth as the field progr essed to tu rn seven, but he wo uld hold down second by the time they got to the start! finis h lin e.