Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ferent, though the result was the same: "If I had rammed him, not just his clutch lever would have com e off," Quarterley said . "In the first comer he came from the left all the way across the race track . In tum two I was beside him a little and he went to the inside again . I said, 'I ai n' t putting up wi th this: I go t a killer drive down the hill and rolled right under him. I felt a bump and left hi m room on the outside. I guess it was hi s cl utch lever that wen t bump. I just filled a hole and he was on approach: ' The two would meet again late in the race as Quarterley faded back somewha t and DuHamel fought through. The next confrontation would be for fift h pl ace and again the versions of what happened were different, though this time the action was on the back straight. "I was coming back by Dale and 1 figured maybe he felt bad for what had Jamie James, Thomas Stevens, Colin Edwards II and Dale Quarterley battle for third. Pascal Picotte ~21) held off Miguel DuHamel (17) until Picotte started to fatigue. happened on the fir s t lap:' DuHa mel explained later . "Anyw ay, I was playing it safe. 1 drafted him and pulled side by side and he took me all the way to the white line. Both fairi ngs were almost touching and I thought, 'I can't believe this.' " Quarte rley: "We were coming down the hill and I was p ushin g him right. I held him off until I plowed the fron t end. I'm certainly not going to give up a spo t one lap fro m the end: ' Ironically, these two had a simi lar run-in the last time an AMA National was held at Road Atlanta in 1990. Back to the race for th e lead . Polen held it for seven laps, until Smith decided to take a turn at the front . The Geo rgian w ou ld stay there as the pace ran in the 1:24-second range for mo st of the race, with Polen taking over when the race reached the final two laps. . When asked if he thought Polen was just waiting for the end of the race to make his move, Smith said: "I thought tha t he was, but I wasn't su re. I sa t there at first to see what he had. lt was the first time I' d been around hi m all weekend. The n I passed hi m under th e b ridge . Later 1 tried to scrub him through traffic, but he also got through." The key a reas, accord ing to Smit h, were the tw o right-banders at the far end of the race track. "He had me through six an d out of seve n," Sm ith explaine d . "I had to sp in 'em up coming out of seven to stay wi th him. His was working good, but we had it going good too. You don 't s tay with Doug Polen without it working. We basi call y jus t pl ayed the same thing. I was just hoping to make a break. It 's not fru strating, but don't get me wrong - I want to w in. We'll do our h omework and come back - we've got some stuff left:' Polen agreed that his better drives out of tum seven were the key to his victory: "When he tried to go fast his front would start pushing and his exit speed would be go ne," Polen said. "Mine would dig in 11

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