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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127275
GROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: Round 6 I Mike Harth (88) leads Mike Smith (6), Kurt Hall (hidden), Donald Jacks (37) and the rest of the F·USA pack on the opening lap at Road Atlanta. (From left to right) Smith, Russell and Harth celebrate their 1·2·3 finishes. Road Atlanta marked Russell's first win in the F·USA Series. Scott Russell (22) and Smith (6) battled for most of the F·USA final, but Russell ended up taking home the victory; Smith's second place extended his points lead. California's Tommy Lynch (29) held off Britt Turkington (28) to win B Superstock during sprint race action at Road Atlanta; Kevin Rentzell finished third. Russell destroys RoadAtlanta of these this year," said a happy Russell in the winner's circle. Coming into Road Atlanta, series points leader Mike Smith was still looking for his first win. The Canton, Georgia rider was reall y looking for a victory at his home track. It was at Road .Atlanta that Smith first burst on to the National road racing scene after beating Doug Polen in a 600cc Superspon race in 1988. Smith figured his Keith Perrytuned Valvoline Suzuki GSXRllOO would be the perfect mount to conquer the horsepower-hungry course. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rich Oliver figured to have problems keeping up with the superbikes on his Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha TZ250. The problem for Oliver and teammate Robbie Petersen wasn't so much the top speed demands of the track, but the fact that much of the accelera tion at Road Atlanta is done going uphill. The team went back to their nitrous oxide injection system, but found that under the heavy demands placed on the system here, the nitrous would run out after only four laps. The crew decided to abandon the nitrous system to keep the heavy storage bottles from affecting the handling of the bikes during the 20 lap final. Smith easily won the first heat race by five seconds over teammate Kurt Hall. Two-time F-USA winner Scott By Larry Lawrence BRASELTON, GA, A 12 UG. COlt Russell came to Road Atlanta with one thing on his mind: Destroying the competition. Russell had his last Formula USA rare fresh in his memory when he took to the hilly 2.52-mile Road Atlanta circuit, It was at round two of the F-USA Series in Seattle, Washington, where Russell rode mas terfully in the rain to win by over 30 seconds, only to have victory taken away from him for passing under a caution flag . After that race, Kawasaki Team Manager Rob Muzzy was disgusted, saying that he wouldn 't return to race another F-USA event, Russell knew he could win again, especially at his home track, so he convinced Muzzy to let him borrow a ZX7 Superbike and John Ashmead's tuner Gary Medley to do the Road Atlanta race. The bike made it to Road Atlanta from the recent AMA National at Mid-Ohio courtesy of Dunlop's Phil Flack and Russell was ready to go. There is no question that Russell is one of the premiere riders in this country, but running a 750cc Superbike S 24 against the fire-breathing 1000 and llOOccYamahas and Suzukis seemed to be a task even Russell might have trouble with. By the end of the weekend, however, the tuners of these big monsterbikes left Road Atlanta scratching their heads , trying to figure ou t what kind of magic Muzzy is breathing into his green machines. Russ ell 's ZX7 was more than up to the challenge of the bigger.bikes. After the race, Smith said that Russell was abl e to run dead-even with him down Road Atlanta's famous long back straightaway. Russell began the weekend by running near-record lap times in Friday 's practice session. The Jonesboro, Georgia rider then went on to win the second five-lap heat race by over eight seconds. To cap off a successful visit to Braselton, Russell won the F-USA final over fellow Georgians Mike Smith and Mike Harth. For Russell, it was sweet revenge for his rulebook loss at Seattle: " I enjoy racing in this series; I hope I can convince Rob (Muzzy) to let me race a couple more Gray returned from injuries only to crash in the heat while running th ird Gray survived the crash unscathed, but the Yoshimura Suzuki could not be repaired in tim e for the final. Russell dominated the second hea t, winning over Mike Harth by eight seconds. Jeff Hagan had a fine race and finished third in the heat, Harth was to have ridden a Yamaha FZRlOOOpowered Bimota for the event, but the Team Mad Dog crew didn 't have time to get the bike prepared. Russell's heat was a second faster than Smith's so he would sit on the pole. Harth took the early lead at the start of the final. A tightly bunched group was right on Harth's tail , and that group included Smith, Hall, Donald Jacks, Dale Quarterley and Kevin Rentzell. Russell had gotten off to a bad start, but was quickly working his way through the field A five-bike freight train crossed the finish line on lap one wi th the running order reading: Harth, Sm ith, Hall , Jacks and Russell. Rentzell pulled out of the race when his Suzuki wouldn 't turn due to a broken steering damper. Harth led most of the second lap, but was overtaken by Smith on the backstraight, Harth's Yamaha had a brand new motor and his team hadn't performed many modifications. He was definitely at a horsepower disadvanta~,