Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ePREVIEW - World Championshi~pe_rbi_ke _Sen_·es_---:....- ! Polen and Ducati show the way O"l By Bruce Newton Photos by Johan Vandeckerckhove he story of the 1991 Diesel J ean s Wor ld Superbike Championship let alo ne the American round at Brain erd ma y have been told in the second race at Jarama last month. Three Ducatis swept across the line and then we waited . .. and wai ted. Some 38 seconds later the fourth p lace rider, Honda R C30·mo unt ed Spaniard J uan Lo pez. Mella, rode under th e checkered Oag . In su perbike racing, wh ere close racing is the norm rather than the exception, th is was a stunning display of do mi nation. There is no question that the three Ducati riders, Doug Polen , Stephane Mertens and World Champion Ra ymond Roch e a re among the eli te in the class, bu t the result also served to underl ine the fact that the factory Ducati 888 is the class of th e field. . With a 20 kilogram -plus weight adva ntage over th e Japanese mach in es, larger capacity, better torque and at least eq ual horsepower, a good rider on a good exam p le of th e fuel-injected V-twin is starting with an advantage over anyone riding one of the Japanese fours. As Peter Doyle, the wil y and expe- T Doug Polen 18 rienced man ager of Team Kawasaki, observed after watching this display: "The biggest problem is the regu latio ns because our weigh t and capaci ty disadvantage is starting to sho w. I th ink the Ducatis wi ll be very hard to peg back. Horsepower we can mak e up, but we can' t level them because of the weigh t." And that 's being said by the man wh o is developin g th e newest and po tentially the best of the J apanese mo torcycles, the Kawasaki ZXR750R Just consi der the situat io n .Ior those team s and riders on H onda 's RC 30, wh ich is no w into its fourth year of Wo rld Championshi p competi tio n, or the Yamaha OWOl whi ch is sta rt ing its third. T rue , th e Duca ti has been around a while as well. The pundits thought it had reached its peak when Roche won the World Championship in such con vincing style in 1990 but the whole- hearted effort of the factory seems to have im proved and refined it even further this year. It is no w exploiting its regulatory adva ntage better th an ever and it is ironic that those regula tions were initially co nceived to brin g the V -twin s onto equal foo tin g with the Japan ese fours. On tha t basis the Duca tis sho u ld head the field at Brainerd and beyond. Whe n you take th e results into a ccount, four wi ns from four starts, bot h pole positions and two new lap records, the argumen t for an Ita li an w i n loo ks a ll th e more convi ncing. But it won 't on ly be th e spaghetti . mu nchers who should have cause to celebra te come the evening of J un e 9 because the man who goes into the race red-ho t favorite is as America n as they co me - T exa n Do ug Polen . Fro m Denton, in "J R" cou ntry north of Dall as, 30-year-o ld Polen ha s backed up his big-talking a ttitude with some big rides in th e first two rounds of the cha m pions hip . He's the one wi th all the pole po sitions and lap records to hi s credit on the Eraldo Ferra cci-fettled facto ry Duke and he's backed up raw speed with smarts by winning all three races he's finished and now leads the cha m pions hi p by 15 points. What Polen has done is raised the level of competition another notch. He is the mas ter of setti ng up a motorcycle and then riding it quickly enough to win. The o ther Ducati riders now ha ve to lift themselves to hi s level, the Honda, Kawasaki an d Yamaha riders have go t to somehow move up even further. Any clo se follower of the U.S. raci ng scene knows of Polen's background, first coming to national prominence in the mid '80s as the king of one-make racing. It . was here in the Suzu ki Nationa l Cup Series and th e like that he beli eves hi s ability to quickly and accura tely set up a bike was developed. "We'd do 20 meetin gs a year back then ," he reca lls. " They'd be on all sorts of different tracks and surfaces a nd you ha d to figure ou t how to set up a bike from week to week. After a while you get to know what to do. After a while you do it scien tifical ly rat her than by guess work." T alk to the Dunlop technicians and they'll rave about his ability to evaluate a tire in just a few laps, then ' move o n and try an other one. For both sides this is a good arrangement, Dunlop gets a rider truly on the four-stroke pace, while Polen benefits from the tire ~ technology being developed in Gran d Prix competition. For Bra inerd he expects .to have the latest GP tires at his disposal. "I think my chances for doing well at Brainerd are pretty good," he says. "I have raced there before in 1987 and they haven't changed th e track layout too dramatically since then. So I think that the bik e being as good as it is, th e team and myself will be in good shape for som e great racing and some good finishes." Of course, with all the top riders giving Mosport a miss for safety reasons, it will be well over a month since they have lined up aga ins t each other. In that tim e there will . have been plenty of effort put in to peg back Polen 's advantage and the man most ,determ ined and in the best position to, do i t is undoubtedly Roche. The tough, aggressi ve little Frenchman. . -. I gave it his all at Jarama but suffered th e humiliation of the American riding awa y from him when he chose to. Roche had h is excuses , the front end o f the Lucchinelli team bike just refused to behave and Raymond was sure he would hav e the new Ohlins forks sorted out by Brainerd. H can win agai n," he swore in I frustration in Spain. "T oday I lost , but I know I can win . Now we have to do much work. We will go to test at Mugello, Paul Ri card, Misano. I want the bike perfect for America. " Roche has not had a good start to the year, breaking a bone in his hand wh ile trying to o u t-q ualify Pol en at Donington and already he has dropped to 28 po ints off the pace. But his fighting talk is an indication of a resurgence after appearing rattled by the American's speed early on. Rob Phillis

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