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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127268
~ ROAD RACE AMASuJ!erbikeNationaiChampionship_:R_ou_nd_4 _ battled br ake fade pro blems whi le running at th e front of th e pack, and the crash ended hi s day on the eigh th lap. Chandler's teammate Scott Russell was a lso a non-fi n is he r after hi s Kaw as aki 's rear brake lin e started leaking. He had pitted earlier in th e race when the sync screw in o ne of hi s carburetors came loose and the ZX7 wou ld o n ly run at half throttl e. Quarter ley Racin g's Da le Quarterley j oin ed th e attr i tion list wh en h e crashed hi s Honda RC30 on the l lth lap while running sixth . But the most fortunate crasher of the day had to be Yoshimura Suzuki 's Scott Gray. In his rerum to AMA racin g after a o ne-year absence, Gr ay survived a horrific crash at 140 mph on the front straig htaway. T he Cal ifornian was drafting J immy Adam o when the New York er's Ducati 851 blew a head gask et, forcing him to slo w rapidly. Gray had nowhere to go and clipped the rear of th e Du cati , cras h ing vio lently. H e escaped serio us injury and was treated for a bruised right hand. Top-10 man Donald J acks didn't get to start the race because his Suzuki GS XR750 never made it to the race track after the tru ck it was bei ng haul ed in blew up in Florida. e Heats Californian Doug Chandler again outclassed th e rest of the Su perbike field to win his second straight National. David Sadowski (25), Jami e James (I) , Dale Quarterley (32) an d Thomas Stevens (I I) duel earl y in the 15-lap Nat io nal. Road America was a welco me sight to the major ity of the racers a's i ts fast four- mile layou t is a popular o ne. While the circuit provides a test of horsepower, it is also one that favor s those adept at braking. The first of two five-lap, 20-mi le ยท heat. races go t un derway with Quar~ terley grabbing the earl y lead , bu t it was Chandler leading the way as the pa ck roared down the backstraig ht toward turn five. Sadowski was up to second at this point with Quarterley third, Stevens fo urth an d Mark Chin Ei~. It's Chandler again at Road America By Paul Carruthers Photos by Werner Fritz ELKHARTLAKE, WI, JULY I uz zy Kawasaki 's Do ug Ch andler became the first two-time AMA National Superbike winner in 1990 as he scored hi s second successive wi n in record-br eak in g fashion a t sceni c Road America. Cha ndler broke Dou g Polen 's two year-old race record en route to beating Commonwealth Honda 's Randy Ren frow by 6.290 seconds on the four-mile Road America road course in fro nt of an estimated 25,000 race fans. Cha ndler co m p leied th e 60- mi le race in 35 M 10 mi nutes, 8.020 seconds for an average sp eed of 102.466 mph . The time shave d some 16 seconds o ff Pol en 's 1988 record. Fas t By Ferracci 's J am ie J ames fini shed third on the Ducati 851 V-twin, leading hom e Van ce & Hines Yama ha 's David Sado wski and J apanese newcomer Tatsuro Arata o n his Moto Lib ertybacked Yamaha FZR750RR . T he Nati on al featured a fairly hi gh attrition rat e, and man y of the top riders didn 't score po ints . The win increased Ch and ler's point lead over Renfrow ano ther four points, and the Californian no w lead s the Virgini an by 16, 69-53. Sad owsk i is now third in the champions hip with 3 1 po ints and Tom Kipp, sevent h today , mo ves to fourth at 28. T ho mas Stevens a nd J am es are tied for fifth in th e title chase with 26 points apiece. No table riders wh o failed to finish the race included Stevens , who cras hed when hi s th rottle stuck wide open o n his Yamah a FZR750RR. Steven s had J ! Ch andler would end up streaking to th e win , beating Stevens by 5.480 seconds after circu lating in th e low 2:21s for th e maj or ity of the race. ;.j Stevens had worked pas t both Q ua rterley and his teammate Sadowski td tak e the runnerup spot. Sadowski and Quarterl ey ended up riding to lonely third a n d fourth pl a ce fini sh es" respe ctivel y. The impressive newcomer T atsuro Arata of Japan was fifth after getting past a battle between th e returni ng Gray and Chin. Gray, despite a self, proclaimed rid er-weight-induced ho rsepower disadvantage, go t th e better of Chin for sixth place. T he second heat race saw Yoshim ura Suzu ki's Miguel Du Hamel getti ng tn e early adva ntage, his Suzuki GSX R750 fitted with heavy padding on the right side of the seat to help alleviate th' pressure from hi s broken right foot. By the time the pack reach ed th e backstrai ght and turn five, however, it was Wiseco's Kipp leading the fray! James was next followed closely by Ren fro w, DuHam el and Russell. Renfrow and James would work pas t Kipp and would continue their battle all the way to the che ckers. Renfrow tried in vai n to draft past the Ducati on th e front straight on the final lap, but J am es was abl e to ho ld o n for th e win. Ren fro w finished second with Kipp third, Russell fourth and Du H amel fifth. Despit e his fifth p la ce finish , DuHam el would elect to sit o ut the Nati on al du e to the cons istent pain in hi s broken foot. Chandler 's five laps was som e two seco n ds q ui cker th a n Jam es ', his 100.934 mph average earn ing him the pol e position. Chandler would furth er add to his