Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127588
eROAD RACE Road Race Series: Round 8 ~ ('(') 0\ 0\ ~ , , Jam ie James (2) leads Pascal Picolle (21), Colin Edwards II (45) and the rest of the Superbike pack on the firs t lap of the AMA National at Brain erd International Raceway. " oen SI In 0 ralner By Pau l Ca rruthers Ph o tos b y G eorg e Roberts B RAINERD, MN, AUG. 1 h e predictability of the AMA Superbike National Championship is beginning to border on the rid icul ou s. The question no longer is who will win the title. Tha t pa rt is obvious. The question now is - can Do ug Polen be bea ten in either of the remaining two races at Mid-Ohio or Sears Point International Raceway? Don't bet on it. Polen and his Fast By Ferracd Ducati did little to add any enthusiasm to followers of the series or, for tha t matter, his competition as he stormed to victory at the Suzuki/Yamaha Classic at Brainerd International Raceway, keeping his well-earned title the King of Brainerd intact. And he d id it all in very Polen-like style . Not one to make a mockery of th e series, he kept th in gs close until the very end before clicking off some exped itious laps and pulling away to a 2.089-second victory. It was his sixth win in eight starts with Eddie Lawson and Scott Russell the only other two rid ers to taste victory in the series. The series regu lars, thoug h, continue to feel the hunger pangs of losing, but not . through any lack of effort on their part. T " 6 So ju st what r ider tra il ed Polen across the finish line this time? For just the seco nd time this season, it was his tea mm a te Pascal Picotte. The French Ca nad ia n was in the fiv e-rider lead group fro m the beginning, leading at times and always challeng ing. When Polen picked up the three laps from the end, Picotte also turned up the heat and went with him as the tightl y-knit group qu ickly separated into four lone riders, the e xciting fin ish m any e xp ected instead turning into somew ha t of a precession. But it was very good while it lasted." Third place for the second st raigh t rac e went to Vance & H ines Yamaha's Jamie James, the Louisiana n thwa rted at th e e n d b y th e m igh ty Du catis. Following James across the finish line was his young teammate Colin Edwards II, the Texan bouncing back wit h some championship poin ts after three non -finishes in a row . As is now becomin g the norm, Team Mirage's Dale Quarterley agai n scored chunks of points with his fifth place finish. The New Engla nder s tru gg led to stay wi th the lead group early, but was ev en tua lly forced to resign from the chase with an u ndergeared Kawasaki. Still he was able to gai n gro und in his quest to fi nis h secon d in the AM A Superbike National Cha mp ionship as Mu zzy Kawasaki's Mig uel Du H a mel onl y managed a 10th-place finish after being forced to pit. While running with the leaders on the 18th lap, DuHamel, who appeared to have the best shot of perhaps keeping pace with Polen, pitted wi th a severe vibration that he wrongly attributed to a disintegrating rear tire . Instead, the front wheel had lost a wheel weight, causin g the now-unbalanced wheel to hop. Privatee rs Pablo Real, John Ash mead, Scott Gray and Brad Hazen led DuHame l across the finish line to fill the top 10 in a race filled with attrition most of w hich occurred in an actionpa cked fi rs t tw o laps that ultimately brough t out a red flag and led to a complete resta rt minus three fac tory stars and a top privateer. Those who suffered through a miserab le afternoon were Camel Honda's Mike Smith, Yoshimura Suzuki's Thomas Stevens and Donald Jacks and Canadian Jacques Guenette Jr. Jacks' Suzuki GSXR750 blew up head ing into tu m six on the opening lap, spilling oil and causing both he and Gue nette to crash. When the lea ders arrived a lap 'la ter, James and DuHamel went through w ithout incident with Polen, Picotte and Edwards saving big slides. Stevens and Smith, though, we ren't so fortunate as both crashed in the oil and were ou t of the race. The race was red -flagged and a 4D-minute delay followed while the oil . spill was cleaned up . At day ' s end , Polen had further increased his championship points lead over DuHamel. The tw o-t ime World Superb ike Champion now leads DuHamel by 59 poi n ts, 264-205, wi th two ro unds and 70 poi nts still up for ' g r abs . Polen on ly needs to score 12 points at th e next round in Mid-Ohio (August 8) to clinch his first-ev er AMA Superbike National Championship. Quarterley now trails DuHamel by only three points in the battle for second place, 205-202. James (170 points) has