Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Rich Amaiz held off Thomas Stevens for most of the race, bu t Stevens got by. Pol en was forced to drop out of th e race after 23 laps because of faceshield prob lem s, and three-ti me Wo rld Ch a m pion Freddie Spe ncer suffered wit h the same ' problem for 19 la ps before fina lly call ing it a day. T he same goes for eventual sixth place finisher Dale Q uarterley on the The Boys-backed H on da RC30 . Quar-' terl ey also had vision problems, but sold iered on to finish sixth after a warm-up lap cra sh knocked o ne of hi s footpegs off. Russell 's teammate J acques Guenette, Jr., Wiseco Yamaha's Torn Kipp, Yoshimura Suzuki's Tommy Lynch and Yamaha Canada's Pascal P icotte rounded out the to p 10 finishers. But there was little denying that th is day belonged to Russell and th e Muzzy Kawasaki. A green strea k from the drop of the nag to the comp letion of the 38-lap race, Russell earned the $11,040 winner' s share of the $60,000 Superbi ke purse as he moved himself into a position to challenge for the Superbi ke National Championship. The seri es point standings see DuHamel o n top wi th 37 points followed by Russell at31 , Stevens and James tied at 30 and Arnaiz fifth with 24 points. Seven races remained in the nine-race seri es. With hi s co nfide nce enhanced by his first-ever pole pos it ion (see sideba r), Russell never doubted that this race was hi s to win. "This is a n ice li ttle dream co me true," sa id the man wh o fi nished secon d four tim es in 1990. " I knew I cou ld do it. I was co nfi dent all week that I cou ld p ull it off. Everything wen t so smooth it was unbelievable." Russell wa lked wi th the gait of a winner all weekend, a nd the cold front th at moved t h rough the area o n Saturday n ight did little to faze him, altho ug h it did keep the attendance figures down to an estimated 5 1,000 spread o ut over the th ree-da y meet. Wit h thick cloud cover overhead, an d only a five-foot wide dry raci ng lin e, th e National got underway in a light drizzle wi th th e majority of the field usi ng slick tires fro nt and rear. Wh ile the o thers may ha ve had so me o ncer ns over the less- th a n- idea l cing su rface, Russell didn 't give it a second thought. At the dr op of the green nag 'he put h is head down and didn't let up. At the end of the opening lap o n the tight a nd twist y I. 6-mile cir cuit, Ru ssell led by 3.5 seco nds. By the th ird lap he was 6.7 seco nds ahead of the field And then he really turned it u p a notch, clocki ng a one-minute, 16.17second lap on the fourth go-around to open up a 10-second lead by the fifth lap. That was all she wrote. Russell continued to run the Kawasaki deeper into the corners than anybody else and he ended up nearly a ha lf-a-mi nute better than his closest competition. And that turned o u t to be DuHa mel, a lthough co mpetition is not a fittin g word in this case because Russell sim p ly did n 't have any. Du Hamel ended the first lap in second place and he sta yed there, pulling steadi ly away from the pack behind him to easily finish behind Russell . . T he race for third place, though, was in doubt throughout. In itiall y that spot was held by Yoshimura Suzuki's Mike Smith, but the non-defending WERA Formula USA Champion was knocked back first ' by J ames, the n Polen, th en Ar n ai z, Stevens, who suffered from a bad start when his bike bogged badly off the line, and a host of o thers. Smith wo u ld la ter settle into eigh th pl ace before cra shing o ut of the race on the 32nd lap. After taking o ver th ird , J ames suddenly found himself coming under the a ttack of Polen and a group of nine o th ers. But the Texan soon started a co nsistent fade. " I co u ld n 't see rig h t off th e ba t," Pol en said later. " Ri gh t after th e sig hting lap, I th ou ght, 'this is going to be so me trouble.' .. Pol en also wore o ut hi s rear Dunlop tire. "Some thi ng wasn 't righ t a nd the fron t was p ush ing, so I had to sq uare the co mers off and that wasn 't so good on th e rea r tire." H e decided to ca ll it a day o n the 23rd lap, when no t being able to see sta rted to present a da n ger to him self and the others hewas racing with. " I started to go backwards in a hurry," Pol en said. " I didn 't want to take anybody out and I would have ended u p out of the points anyway." Polen 's demise started on the 14th la p, and by that time Spencer had already pitted af ter running early with the freigh t train battl in g for third. The former Wor ld Champion brought the Two Bro thers Racing Ho nda RC30 into the pits and tuner Mik e Velasco tended to h is faceshield. Sp en cer returned to the track a lap down, turning quick laps a nd keeping pace with DuHam el, before pi tting for good on the 19th lap. James' brea k on the trailing pa ck wa s sho rt- l ived as Arna iz fought through to catch th e Louisianan, br in g in g Stevens a lo ng with h im. Soo n those three were clea r of a ba ttle between Qua rterl ey and G uene tte, in wh ich Q uart erl ey prevai led despi te ha ving a fogged faceshield a nd no left Ioo tpeg. The New En glander had cras hed on the warm-u p lap when ' hi s steering damper lock ed up. The ensuing tum 12 tu mble kn ocked the peg off, but Quarterley ha mmered on, running with the group ba ttl ing for third before James, Arn aiz a nd Stevens broke clear. The top three, Stevens, R usse ll and DuHamel cele brate after th e National. " I thought it was going to be col d and rain y, so I wore a T-shirt," Quarterl ey exp lai ned. " I kept get ting hotter a nd hotter a nd the faceshield kep t getting worse. With th e footpeg gone, I co u ldn 't bear do wn on it going up th e hill." J ames looked to ha ve a n edge on Arnall and Stevens, with'Amaiz's face no loager visib le through hi s fogged shield. " I co uldn ' t see when I was brak in g," an angry Arnaiz said after the race. " It started right wh en I ca ug h t Jamie - fro m tum one on, a nd it wo u ldn 't go away." With three laps to go, th e patient Stevens mo ved past Arnaiz and set hi s sig hts on his teammate, On the final lap, he dove underneath on the brakes in turn th ree and held third place to the fin ish line. "After struggli ng in q ua lifying, I was ge tt ing down on m yself ," Steven s said. " A good frie n d of m ine told me to dig deep. He told me to th ink about ha ving ajob (o the r tha n racing) . If tha t doesn't motivate yo u, nothing will. I was biding my ti me, watch ing my pit board and I told m yself I had to ge t o n the move. I saw where they were weak and I made my move o n Rich a nd went after Jamie. Things just p layed into m y hands." Fourth pl ace was all James, with Arnaiz falling off th e pace to finish fifth. "I didn 't realize he (Stevens) was tha t close," James sai d of his teammate's last-lap pass. " My crew was waving. They were telling 'me to go but I thought they were sayin g I had it. There was a lap ped ri der, and then Thomas n ew by both of us . I got back under hi m in the bowl and we went up the h ill side-by-side , but he had the li ne and I had to let off. It would have been id iotic to try agai n in the tight section." . Beh ind Arnaiz carne Quarterley, Guenette, Kipp, Lynch (using intermediate Mic helins th a t were badly worn a t th e end of the race) a nd P ico tte. Am ong the notables missing at the finish were Mad Dog 's Mike Harth, who crashed in the first tu rn of the race, a nd J immy Adamo, who ran a t the back of the pack di cing for third before crashing in turn one o n the II th la p. DuHamel, who had a relatively lonely race, was happy to sti ll be leading the champions hip: " I feel great. The whole tea m is happy. Sco tt got a good start and got away. I just rode my own little race.' I th ink we're looking at a real tough season." CN Results Q UAUFYING: I. Sa", Ru...,11 (1:15.800); 2. Ja mie j ames ( 1:16. 127) ; 5. Migu el Du H am el (1:16.249); 4. Doug Pol en (1:16.501); 5. Rich Amaiz 0 :16.790); 6. Dale Quanerlcy (1:16.9 15); 7. Mike Smith (1:16.995): 8. fn:ddie Spencer (1:17.155); 9. 'Tho mas Stevens (1:17.257): 10. J aOjues Gumeue.Jr. (1:17.477); II. Pascal Picone ( 1:17.809); 12. J imm y Adamo (1:17.940); 15. Tommy Lynch (1:18.031); 14. Tom Kipp (1:18.057); 15. Phi l Kress (1:18.097); 16. Mike Harth (1:18.669); 17. Benoit Pilon (1:19.059 ); 18. Brill Turkin gton (1:19.500); 19. Bob Sandy (1:20.244): 20. Jason Pridemore (1:20.487); 21. John Hop perstad (1:20.870); 22. Michael Taylor ( I :21.267): 25. Mari o DuHamel ( 1:2 1.401); 24. Marc Smith (1:21.461); 25. Jeff Heino (1:21.916); 26. Brad Hazen (1:21.986); 27. Pablo Real (1:22.518); 28. Eric Moe (1:22.55); 29. Dean Mi zda l (1:22.552): 30. Christia n Gard ner (1:22.580); 51. James LU55i r (1:22.846); 52. e Rob ert Wri ght ( 1:22 .878); 55 . Cr a ig Glea son (1:25.0 19); 54. Joe Will ia m' ( 1:25.875); 55. Lawren ce Hanlon (I:25.987); 56. Steven Harm on (I:24.589); 57. Mike Walsh (1:24.401); 58. Mike Karm (1:24.625); 59. Warr en Ell iott (1:24.687); 40. William Beesch ( 1:25.117). SUPEllBIKE NAT'L: I. Scott RU55C1I (Ka w) : 2. M i~e1 DuHamel (Hon ); 5. Thomas Stevens (Vam ); 4. Ja mie James (Y am ): 5. Richard Amaia (Hon); 6. Dale Quanerlq- (Ha n); 7. Jacques Ou eneue, J r. (Ka w); 8. Tom Kipp (Vam); 9. Tommy Lynch (Suz); 10. Pascal Picone (Yam); 11. Benoit Pil on (Ya m); 12. John Hop perstad (Vam); 15. Britt Turkington (Suz); 14. Brad Hazen (Vam); 15. Joe Williams (Ho n ); 16. Jefl Heino (Suz); 17. J ason Pn demore (Suz); 18. Craig Gleason (Suz); 19. Chri stian Gardn er (Vam); 20. Eric Moe (Ho n); 21. Robert Wrighl (Su,); 22Marc Smith (Ka w): 25. Dean Mizdal (Suz); 24. LaWTCllC< Ha nlon (Ka w) ; 25. William Bccsch (Suz); 26. Mike Smith (Su,) ; 27. Doug Polen (Due); 28. Freddie Spen cer (Hon); 29. Bob Sandy (Ka w) ; 50. Mario DuHamel (Suz); 3 1. J immy Adamo (Due); 52. Mike Harth (Vam ); 55. Steven Harrison (Kaw); 54. Phil Kress (Ka w ); 55. Michael T aylor (Ka w); 56. Mike Wal'h (Vam); 57. Warrm Elliotl (Due). T ime: 49 min. , 0.745 sec. Distance 58 taps. 60.8 mila. A......jlC Sp

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