Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BROAD RACE AM! Superbike National Championship: Round 7 e -=-== Freddie Spencer (19) jumped out front before having tire problems; here he leads Scott Russell (22) and Miguel DuHamel (97). Russell's win moves him into serious con'tention for the Superbike National title. Russell,stays jn title , contentIon wIth Texas WID By Henny Ray Abrams COLLEGE STATION, TX, ocr. 6 tart ing from the pole position, Muzzy Kawasaki's Scott Russell dispatched with a few early chal lenges to dominate the inaugural Superbike National a t T exas World Speedway and in doing so guaranteed that the final AMA National of the season in Miami will be a race for th e title. "It took me a little longer to get into first than I wanted," the Georgian said. " Fredd ie (Sp en cer) , Migu el (Du Hamel), and j arnie (Jam es) got ou t on me early on. I just lowered my head and wen t after them." DuHamel finished second, 11.804 secon ds in a rrea rs, but abo u t II seconds in front of Vance & Hines' Thomas Stevens, who finished third. Stevens still leads the championshi p S 12 by four points, 108-104. If Russell wins in Miami, Stevens would have to fini sh second to claim the title by a single point. The T exas World victory was Russell 's fourth and he comp leted the 34lap, 61.2-mile race in 38 minutes, 49.272 seconds a t an average speed 01 94.587 mph. Fourth pl ace went to Stevens' V&H teammate J amie ' Jam es, slowe d eno ugh by a still healing shoulder to allow his teammate past and ga in a few more cha mp ionsh ip points. Mike Smith registered hi s best finish ever on the Yoshimura Suzuki, a fifth , improving with every lap and cloc king his best tim e two laps from the end . Finishing well back in sixth was Commonwealth Honda's Rich Arn aiz, a split Dunlop rear tire slow ing his drive , though he was able to hold off J acques Guenette, J r. on th e second Muzzy Kawasaki. The Boys-backed Dale Quarterley, Van ce & Hines' Larry Schwarzbach, a n d Yo shimura Suzuki 's Tommy L ynch rounded out the top 10 finishers. Two Brothers Racing 's Fr eddi e Spencer, wh o'd qualified second, led briefly before pitting for a tire chang e whe n he blistered hi s Michelin rear. H e re-joined the race to fin ish 18th . H is teamma te for the weekend , Mike Baldwin, fared less well , hi s engine exp iring on th e 10th lap. Baldwin sus pected a drop ped valve. The race weekend got off to a slow start, no t surprising since thi s was only the second event the facility had hosted si nce it wa s rece n tly resurrect ed . Thursday's pra ctice was wiped out for last minute chang es to the 1.8-mil e track; con crete curbs had been added to the inside of the corners since th e recent AReA sports car race, but riders felt that if they ran through a corner and hit th e back of one the y could do serious dam age. They were quickly back-fill ed, but that coated the corners with dirt, necessitating a high-pres sure washing. Wh en the riders finall y hit th e track on Friday, they were cautious and found only one line through mos t of th e corners. Times improved with every lap and they knew they 'd be fastest in Sunday's fin als. Almost to a person, they praised the track for its safety, its variety of corners, and the organizers attention to the ir concern s. Most said the y'd like to come back and if the crowd, generously estima ted at 10,000, but likely less than half that , doesn't deter the track owners, the y probably will. The field of 29 riders were greenflagged under a bright T exas sun and light breeze with DuHamel jettin g into th e sweepi ng turn o ne a head o f Spencer, J am es, and Ru ssell . By th e third lap Spence r was up on DuHam el' s tail with Ru ssell chas ing J am es and Smith leading Stevens and Quarterley. Spencer took the lead on the fourth la p , re-passing DuHamel who'd drafted by h im at the lin e and leading him through the infield. On the same lap, Russell dropped James back and Stevens moved up so the Vance &Hines bikes were fourth and fifth. James' shoulder, injured during a test before the Suzuka 8-Hour, was slowing h im down and on ce Russell got past he mad e a decision. " I clearl y couldn 't handle Scott," J am es said. " I kn ew I co u ldn ' t beat Scott so I let Thomas by me. After fivesix laps running with this shoulder, it got weak. There's a lot of left-t orights and it wore me down. " On the sixth lap Rus sell was up with the leaders, pi cking off DuHam el on th e seventh and Spencer on the eigh th. The race for th e lead was over, even th ough Spencer tried to give chase. . " I was running low eights (I:08 lap tim es) wh en Scott came by," Spencer said. "The rear was starting to come around a bit off throttle and it hurt me in my strongest parts of the track: th e kink and coming on to the straight. After three or four laps I kn ew I had to watch the rear tire ." The pair put som e daylight on DuHamel in traffi c, the French Canadian having trouble with his steering. "In the infield I was in trouble," DuHamel said. " I couldn' t get the bike wh ere I wanted. I changed lines and that didn 't help. I tried making it up going into one and going into three. The track was still greasy on the outside and I had trouble with the front pushing." Behind Duham el , J ames had let Stevens by on the eighth lap with Smith riding alone in front of the trio of Quarterley, Arnaiz and Guenette. Quarterley 's muffler had broken early in the race, though it didn' t slow 'h im. His bigger probl em was the factory pow er o f Arna iz a n d Guenette. "They'd waste me on the straight," he said. As the race ap proached mid -point, Russell was running under his qualifyin g time and had closed to two seconds on Sp encer. Spencer pulled in on th e 19th lap for a tire cha nge after motioning to h is crew a lap earlier to be ready . " I went into the kink and it was lik e somebody hit the rear brake, " Spencer .said of the way hi s rear end stepped o ut as his rear tire blistered. " I thought I'd be in the dirt. It straightened up on the edge of the track ." After the tire change, Spencer went out and did three laps in the high I:07s befor e pulling in a second tim e for another change with just a few laps to go. DuHamel, who was within a second and a half of Spencer when he pulled off, later said he saw a chu nk of rubber come off of Spencer's rear tire. With hi s pit stop, DuHamel inherited second, ahead of Stevens , James, Smith, Arnaiz, and Guenette. ' The order changed very little to the end, with the race between Arnaiz and Guenette being the best within the race. The win went to Russell, his second to last lap an unofficial 1:07.772, easily the fastest of theweekend, Among the other riders, there was a consen sus that his machine was also th. fastest. "My bike's fast for sure," Russell . said . " It 's alw ays fast. It's a damn rock etship. The tires were perfect. You can 't ask for more." The on ly trouble Russell had was with traffic in the infi eld. " I reall y got fru strated," he said. DuHamel was also fru strated after watchingSpencer and Ru ssell go by, but his steering trouble stopped him: ''I'd catch up some to Scotty, then slow down a bit," he said. Third-placed Stevens said he, "did the best I co uld with the way the bike

• Cover