Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ RA O DRACE AMA National Championship Road Race Series: Round 4 ~ Freddie Spencer (19) leads Scott Russell (17), Mike Smith (68) and Pascal Picotte (34) on the opening lap of the Superbike National. Mik e Smith and Dale Quarterley ba ttled for second place in the early going. • Spencersloshes to Texas W w orld in By Paul Carruthers COLLEGE STATION,TX, MAY 31 i lversto ne, 1985. T exas Wo rld Sp eedway, 1992. Sim ilar cond itions, sam e winner - Fredd ie Spencer. Riding his Two Bro thers Racin g H on da RC30 to per fection in less tha n perfect cond itio ns, Spencer score d h is first wet -weather vic to ry since the S 4 British 500cc G rand Prix a t Si lverstone back in 1985. And he d id it in simi lar style, ta king comman d a t the drop o f the flag and never look in g back. In a race whe re proper tire choice was .' cr it ica l, Spe ncer a nd his Mich elin rain tir es pro ved to be th e p roper pairing a nd when th e sh ortened 20-la p race was complete, the three-lim e World Champion had wo n hi s fir st AMA Superbike Na tio nal o f th e season by 10.655 seconds, averaging 80.324 mph on th e wet and slo p py l.8 -m ile Texas World Spe edway roa d co urse . Spe nce r ea rned $4600 o f the $25,000 superbike p u rse as he won th e race in fro nt o f . a spec ta tor tu rn out th a t a t best can be described as sparse. Tea m Mirage's Dal e Q ua rterl ey eq ualed his best -ever Na tional fin ish by follow ing Spencer's lead , rid ing hi s Mich elin ra in tire shod Kaw asaki to second place after a heads-up ride in t h e i ffy co ndi tio ns . Fi lli n g th e wi n ner's circle was Fast By Ferra cci 's Pasca l Pi co tte, the Fren ch Canadia n battling fero cio us slides on his Duca ti lO recor d h is best finish o f the year. Ca mel Hon da 's T om Kipp was a not her rider .having hi s best outing of th e seaso n, th e O hioan patiently wa iting for a drying tra ck before ta king adva ntage o f his Du nl op ra in front/ intermedia te rear tire co mbi nation to finis h fourth. Muzzy Kaw asak i 's Sco tt Russell , m ean whil e, was unhappy with hi s lire selectio n (full Dunlop rain tires), but fort u na te to fin ish fifth a nd furth er extend hi s ch am p io nship point s lead. Russell now leads Ca me l H onda 's Mike Smi th, ninth tod ay, 66-47. Sixt h p lace we nt to Yoshimu ra Suzu ki's Britt T ur ki ngton , with Gia Ca M o i o' s Jimm y Adamo seventh , New York Motorcycle's Phil Kress eigh th , a nd Smi th, wh o cras he d wh ile ru nning seco nd and rem ounted, ni nt h . Surprising ly, World Su perbike Champ ion Dou g Pol en coul d do no better th an 10th after struggl ing wit h mo torcycle and ti re setup dil emmas. ' Polen was n 't al one as it was a day that saw ma ny o f the top superbi ke men enco u nter prob lems : Vance & Hines' J ami e J ames was th e first to go when hi s chain jumped o ff th e Ya maha 's sprocket a t the drop of th e fl a g ; Yos h i m u ra S u zu k i 's Da ve Sadowski was blac k-flagged whe n th e fairing of hi s GS XR 750 sta rt ed to sep ara te itself fro m th e bike; defending National Champion T homas Stevens crashe d h is 'Muzzy Kawasaki wh ile ru nn in g ninth after ba ttl in g wit h hi s choice of full rai n tires; and II th fastest q ua l if ier and to p priva tee r Chris . Ga rd ne r was out before it even sta rted when he inj ure d an a nk le in Sa turday's end urance race. A Texas-sized stor m wrea ked havoc, as it ma de its way across th eracing faci lity in Co llege Station , th e hom e o f Texas A&M, a nd the resu lti ng rain sto rms ma de raci ng nex t to im possible. T h us, th e sched ule was put on hold a nd th e Nati on al di dn' t get underway until la te in the a fternoon. Du e to th e lat e sta rt, th e race dista nce was cut to 20 laps (36 miles) from its sched uled 33 laps. Although the su n ac tua lly sta rted to shi ne as th e flag dropped, th e race track was wet and th e majority o f th e field opted for full rai n tires . Spencer grabbed th e lead off the sta rt, put hi s head down and immediately pulled away from h is pursuers. Those follow ers were led initia lly by Russell , but the G eorgian would soon start a gradual downslide th at would see him fin ish a conservative fifth . "It never entered my mind to use any thing bu t rain tir es," Russell said after th e race. " In fact , we didn 't even have a n y (in terme dia tes) mounted. It 's oka y, I finished fifth and ga ine d some points. Every lap I was thinking, 'Do n 't fall dow n.' I look ed like a Novice out there." Spencer was far from cautio us, and he looked like the Freddie of old as he controlle d th e race from the front, tossing the Honda RC30 around with aba ndon . " I didn 't look ba ck until the second lap a nd I saw that I had a gap," Spe nce r sai d lat er. " I hoped to get a good start a nd not have to worry abo ut tra ffic." By th is tim e th e number one Van ce & H in es Ya ma ha of James was ou t of th e race , the chai n jumping off the rear sprocket on the sta rt line: " It was a case o f h im getting more traction th an we · a n tici pated, " crew ch ief Steve J ohnson expla ined. Vance & Hines' day d idn't get any better when Larry Sch wa rzbach pi tted to cha nge his rear lire to a n intermed iate, o n ly to fin ish 13th. " T he week end was a was h, " V&H tu ner J im Leonard half-joked. By th e th ird lap , Russell had been displa ced by bo th Smi th a nd Quarterley, whil e Pi cotte a lso closed o n the Ka wasaki rid er a nd moved b y on the fourth go -arou nd , d roppin g Russell back to fifth . Then came Pol en , ju st a head o f Steven s a nd Sch warzbach, with Kipp waiting patiently for things to dry o ut. H e was followed by pri vateer Kress (who made th e decison to race in the rain o nly after an im p ressive showi ng during th e morning's Mon sterbike Shootou t which was a lso held in wet cond it io ns), Bob Sandy, Adamo, T urki ngton and Sad owski. While Spe ncer pulled clea r , Sm ith co u ldn 't rid himself o f Quarterl ey. " I kept waiting for th ose rain tires o f hi s to melt a nd th ey never did," Smith said of Quarterl ey. Quarterl ey's view of the situa tion 'differed sligh tly. " P ut it this way," th e veteran said. " If you were to wr ite th at he (Smi th ) was on the razor 's edge, it wouldn't ' be sh ar p enoug h, H e was slip p ing and sliding all over the pl ace. H e'd lose it two or three lim es a turn." On th e ninth la p , Sm ith sta rt ed lO close on Spen cer. ." I was feeling how the tir es were working earl y a nd th en o n abo u t lap 10 I sta rted to ease o ff a little bi t," Spe nce r said. Smith saw th e carrot a nd went for it, only to crash in turn seven on th e 14th lap. T he G eorgi an stru gg led to

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