Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

sessions, although a lot of those laps featured Spencer with hand on hip looking over his shoulder. The first heat race got un derway with Ashm ead leading Chandler through the first tum kink and into tum two, a second-gear right-hander that took the field into Bicentennial Park. By the time they reached tum four, Chandler was in front to stay. H e would 'cru ise to an easy 9.750-second win after averaging 69.855 mph in what would be the fastest of the two heat races. Spen cer, meanwhile, was 12th on the first lap: " I screwed up that start," he said later. " It may have been my worst star t ever." After Bruce Nield crashed in front of him exiting tum II to end the first lap, Spencer rode cau tiously to finish ninth. He later said the suspension was set up a little stiff and that it would be softened for the National. The race for second, meanwhile, was a battle between Sadowski, Stevens, Ashmead and Quarterley. In the end the runner-up spot went to Stevens with Sadowski third, Ashmead fourth and Quarterley fifth . The best action of the day came in heat race number two when Russell made an incredible save from a highside at the end of the first lap exiting tum II. The Georgian was thrown completely off the Kawasaki and somehow managed to pull himself back on: "All luck," he said later. Russell was leading the race at the time, and didn't surrender the lead even during his wild ride out of II. The Muzzy Kawasaki rider went on to an easy win over Renfrow with James finishing third on the Fast By Ferracci Ducati 851. "I started with a new front tire and it took four laps for it to come in," James, who is the only top Superbike competitor who uses Yoshimura rubber, said. H e added th at the scrubbed-in tire would be ready for the National. .One of the most experienced street racers in the field was Rueben McMurter , but the Canadian was riding in extreme Pain from his badly broken left ankle. His Honda RC30 was fitted with a r right-side shift lever, but he was having trouble shifting in right-hand cor ners. Unfortunatel y, McMuner wouldn't be fit enough to be a factor and he finished lOth in the second heat. Both Chandler and Russell turned lap times in the I : 16 range during the heats. Asked prior to the National what his strategy would be, Chandler said he would dip into the I : 15s and " get away." National The 32-rider field started the National in two waves at close to 5 p.m., in sweltering heat. As th e first wave disappeared into tum two, there was havoc behind as the second wave turmoil started in the kink. Cooley collided with Mark Foster , who didn't crash , and several riders went down in an effort to avoid the fallen veteran. The red flag was quickly brought out and the riders filtered into the pits for their mandatory gas stop. At 5:30 p.m., the race restarted and Chandler led the way into tum one. Spencer , meanwhile, was the last rider in the first wave to enter tum two. He ' would end the opening lap in 19th place and would climb to 15th before stopping on the sixth lap. " It was jumping out of second gear in the heat race," Spencer said after his walk back to the p its. "It backfired and I thought I brok e the engine. It quit and I tried to bump-start it. It's a tough situation, but everybody on the team did a really good job. " Spencer didn't rule out the possibility Jamie James (I) and Randy Renfrow (5) battled early in the National. of doing more races on the RC30. And he knows hispreparation will have to be better: "In my other comebacks I'd push real hard and crash , and that taught me a lesson," he said in retrospect. "And in those situations doing well was more reali stic than me doing well now. We're talking about doing more races. The team 's excited and they know this wasn't a make or break deal. " It didn't take Chandler long to live up to his pre-race expectation of turning lap times in the 1:15s. On the second lap, the tall Californian clocked a 1:15.92. Two similar laps gave him ample breathing room and he was soon back in the low 1:16s. With the race in hand, Chandler used caution in traffic and was unthreatened en route to his l l th career National victory. His biggest problem was passing a backmarker under a waving yellow flag late in therace, After realizing his error, Chandler slowed, waved the rider past and moments later shot by wh en clear of the caution zone. The race behind h im settled into several two rider battles before turning into a rather dull parade. Initially , the battle for second was fought ou t between Russell and Stevens. Russell led the Floridian until the eighth lap; Stevens then got by and pulled clear until the 22nd lap when Russell's charge through traffic got him back to Stevens ' rear wheel. Two laps ' later, however , Russell got balked in traffic , allowing Stevens to again pull clear. On the 27th lap Stevens got his ' front wheel off the pavement in the transition between the double right, turns five and six, and was forced to head off the track . He managed to get the bike stopped but not before clipping the hay bales. The bike stalled and Stevens was in for a hot push to get it restarted; he rejoined the race in seventh and that's where he finished. "I just lost concentration," Stevens said. " I dropped the front wheel off and couldn't get it stopped, and glanced off the hay bales. " Russell finished the race a lonely, yet exhausted, second: " I was praying for the (checkered) flag," he said later. "I was tingling; you know, that feeling you get when you're about to pa ss out." Third place went to Renfrow. The Virgi nian started the race in fifth place, moved past Sado wski and then became involved in a tussle with James. On the eighth lap, James got by Renfrow , bu t on the 13th lap the Ducati 851 broke a rod bolt, causing the rear wheel to lock through the kink between turns two and four. James fought for control, Kawasaki's Doug Chandler rode alone for the majority of the National en route to the win. Here he passes one of the many hotels located on Biscayne Blvd. (From left to right) Randy Renfrow, Doug Chandler and Scott Russell celebrate their top three finishes in the nationally-televised Miami GP. leaving a lOO-yanl skid mark in the process , and was finally slammed into the wall on the outside of tum four. J am es suffered a bruised sternum (breast bone). "I was just getting in the groove ," James said. Renfrow, meanwhile, was showered by oil and flying debris. "J am ie sprayed me big time," Renfrow said. "It wasn 't the clear kind of oil, but the brown kind. " With his vision impa ired, Renfrow rode o n an d was spared being hounded by ' the Yoshimura Suz uki of Kirk because of the red flag. " H eel sorry for Kirk," Renfro w said. " He was catch ing me pretty ra pidly." Kirk had managed to work his way pas t Sadowski, who was feeli ng ill after drinking a carbohydra te spo rts dri nk , a nd Q u a rter ley fo r an im p ressive fourth-place finish in his first AMA Superbike National. " I got held up behind some traffic," Kirk said later. "I started pushing after that 'and catching up. I think I would have given Renfrow a run in the end. Training in my attic where it's 110-115 degrees helped me out there today ." After Sadowski came Quarterley, who was fortunate enough to crash on the lap prior to the red flag; and it was in fact his crash that caused the radio dilemma to be discovered. Quarterley was credited with sixth, and Stevens was next after being lapped by Chandler. Ashmead got the better of a near-race long battle with Adam o to fini sh eigh th, while Barn es rounded ou t the top 10. " I wholeheartedly support the race not being restarted," Edm ondson said. " Once the riders go t their leathers - - - - - - Con tinued on page 25

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