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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127371
"I know I can go fas ter and it's hard," Amaiz said. "I just can't give it the stick (gas) I'd like to. " Qualifying (see sidebar) saw last year's pole-sitter Stevens back in ninth place after encountering electrical problems with the Yamaha FZR750. The.Floridian had been experimenting with AP Lockheed's carbon fib er brakes, but went back to the steel, fourpiston AP brakes for Friday's Twin 50 qualifier and Sunday's 200. Twin 50s The first of two 50-mile qualifying races on Friday was won by fast qualifier Polen, but only after his competition encountered ti re wear problems. Brit Carl Fogarty led th e field early on his Silkolene Honda RC30, but he was soon headed by the charging Quarterley. Quarterley would fade back, and eventually survive the week's scariest near-crash as he slammed off the wall of the 33-degree banking twice when his Honda blew a motor and locked up. "There's two big black marks on the wall where I hit it, " Quarterley said. "I'm through unless someone like Two Brothers give me a motor, which they probably won't." Fortunately for Quarterley, Commonwealth Honda came to his rescu e and loaned him a new motor for hi s RC30, allowing him to start in the 200. The pace early on in the first heat race was fast and tire problems soon surfaced.. James was the first to suffer as he gave up his lead when he was forced to pit on the seventh lap with 'a shredded rear Dunlop tire . It was a sign of things to come as Stevens would also hit a tire snag and drop down the order to finish fifth after also leading. Polen carried on as the pace slowed, and he topped Arnaiz, Fogarty, Mackenzie and Stevens. Fogarty had beaten his teammate Mackenzie when the Scot lost the front end in the chicane on the final lap and had to run wide. The Michelin runners also encountered problems as the now-fit-and-trim Spencer was also forced to pit to check. on a tire he couldn't get to hook up. He rejoined the race with the same tire and finished 11th. "They got pretty loose, pretty quick," Polen said of the tires from Victory Lane. "The tire went off," Stevens said. "Jamie (James) jumped out pretty quick and I backed it off. I don't know if Jamie's pit stop was planned or not. I slowed down and Doug (Polen ) Eventual winner Miguel DuHamel cruises behind the pace car during one of three caution periods. Jamie James (2) finished second behind DuHamel (97) after battling with the Canadian early on. caugh t up and then my tire went off. It was vibrating pretty bad. I think Polen used his head a little more and didn't go out as fast. " . Dunlop te chnicians quickly informed their riders in the second Twin 50 to cha nge to th e harder compound tire, and the tire dil emma was cu red. The second heat race got underway with slower lap times , yet it ended up being the fastest heat since the times could be carri ed consistent ly through th e 15 lap s. In the end it was Russell narrowly nipping DuHamel when th e latter's drafting maneuver on th e tri-oval came up short. Third place went to Kipp on th e Wiseco-ba cked Yamaha with McMurter and Picotte ro undi ng ou t the top five fin ish ers. Three notables were m issing from T R goes'toPolen he' ole OUg Polen (righ t) served notice to the rest of the field that he and his Fast By Ferracci Ducati were th e team to beat in th e 50th running of the Daytona 200 by smashing the lap record en route to qualifying on the pole. The Texan waited until the final minutes of Wednesday's qualifying session to turn in hi s I minute, 53.638 second lap for an average speed of 112.779 mph. The time knocked almost a full second off the lap record, set a year ago by Thomas Stevens at 1:54.561. Not only was the pol e a first for Ducati, but it also marked the first pole . position for a non-japanese "motorcycle since ngland's Paul Smart put his three-cylinder riumph on the pole in 1971. n addition to Polen, two other riders qualified ' nder the lap record, and both were also ewcomers to their respective teams - Camel Honda 's Miguel DuHamel and Vance &: Hines Yamaha's Jamie James. DuHamel stopped the clock at 1:53.881 to place himself next to Polen on the front row, while 1989 Superbike National Champion James finished.the session third at 1:54.021. Muzzy Kawasaki 's Scott Russell (1:54.829) and Two Brothers Ra cing's three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer (1:55.910) filled the front ro w. Yoshimura Suzuki 's Mike Sm ith, D Cam el Honda 's Rich Arn ai z, Wiseco Yamah a's T om Kip p , Vance &: Hines' Stevens a nd McMurter Racin g 's Rueben McM urter rounded out the top 10 q ua liliers, A relax ed Polen talked about his record-sett ing performance: " Everytim e you qualify you try to go out and get th e po le. If everythi ng works out and .it looks like it's somet hing you can do, then it's the best thing to do. But if you' re putting yourself at risk, then it 's better to settl e for second or th ird. I ju st went out and did the best I could with the setup I had. It was set up p retty goo d, but I fou nd out that I need to make some cha nges go ing that speed." Polen said he would use the motor he used in q ualifyin g in the Twin 50 heat race, but would change to what he felt was a faster motor for the 200. " From wha t I can tell now, that's the slower engine of the two," he said. ''I' m down on speed compared to the other gu ys as far as trap speeds are concerne d." Pol en's Ducati went through the traps at 162.16 mph during qual ifyin g, while . McMurter's Honda RC30 led the way at 167.59 mph. The T exan, though, predicted mu ch slower lap tim es in the 200: " I think it will be run ill the 1:55·1:57 range," he said. "If somebod y tried to go 53s at the start, it 'd be ridiculous. They'd ha ve to pit in five laps because th ey bl istered a tire. Qualifying is one thing as far as tires go, the race is anothe r. I'm not going to go out and rip off any 53s." Though many were predicting mech anical doom {or th e V-twin Ducati, Polen wasn 't worr ied: " I tested here in December and went 200 miles on one bike, an d my last lap after 70 some laps was a 53.9.· So am I worried? Not too much. " 9