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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127588
~ ROAD RACE AMANationai Championship_R_oa_ Ra-,--ce_Se_rie_s:_o_und_ d_ R _8 ~ (From left to right) Jamie James, Doug Polen and Pascal Picotte cel e bra te their top three fin ishes in th e Bdin erd winner's el rcle. Texan Doug Polen won his si xth AMA Nati onal of the seas on in Minnesota. 8 On the second lap it was Picotte's turn to lead - with Ja mes, DuHa mel, Edwards, Polen, Quarterley and Sohwa in tow . Sohwa was the first to lose touch and the Japanese rider would later re tire on the 16th lap with ignition problems. Meanwhile, up fro nt, DuHam el took his tum at the fron t for four lap s before giving way to Jam es. Tw o laps la ter it was Jam es again. Then DuHam el. Then James. DuHamel. James. On the 18th of 21 lap s, it was Polen's tum. And he sudden ly wasn 't in t he sharing mood . Nobody else got to p layas Polen took the ball and went home. _ When Polen streaked awa y the field su dden ly spread apart. Picotte was sudd enly a com fortable second , James a comfortable third and Edwards a lei surel y fourth . Ditto Quarterley in fifth. DuHamel was ba ck in 10th, after pitting for no reason. . "The wheel weight" on the front came off," DuHa mel la ter explained. "Everything started vibrating real bad . For the life of me I thought it was the tire. I was thinking logically that the rear tire had chunked. 1 came in but the tire was okay - they didn't know so they changed it because that's what they figured 1 was there for. They saw that it was the wheel weight so I went back out and tried to put it ou t of my mind. Now I had a new 362 (hard comp ound Dunlop) on and 1 had to take it easy not to get highsided and make a bad situation worse. "I thou ght I wa s faster than them in turns one and two and I could gai n a seco nd on Jamie (lames) in tum 10. 1 felt confident ou t there . I was just hangin g with them and I fig u red I could outbrake Dou g (Polen ) in turn three and ho ld h im off to the finish. I don't know ifit would have worked out that way, bu t I think it would have been interesting. " As usual, Polen spoke with confidence after the race, a man tha t seems to be in control of every superbike race he enters: "It was a real good race:' he said, matter of factly. "Th e bike wasn't that good with a full tank of fuel and it was moving around in the wind. With less fuel it got good and I could get through _ one and two pretty good. It was p robab ly the best race we've had all year. There was a lot of passing goi ng on . It w as good, clean racing. Very technical jus t like chess." James felt as though he was in with a chance, until getti ng balked by DuHamel and his ill-handling Kawasaki late in the race: "He was really having trouble through turn tw o, " James explained. "If I would have gotten with those guys and not been behind hi m it wo uld ha ve bee n be tter. He was having a problem with the bike - he 's a hell of a rid er. 1 hadn't really go ne th rou gh on e as good as 1 could. I was waiting to the en d of the race to do that. It was just the circumstance that I was behind Miguel," . "I got a slow guy going into (turn) nine:' Polen said. "They were blocked and that was it." Edwards had already battled back to the lead group after losing a lot of time with a big slide at about the halfway ma rk - at the finish he jus t di dn't have enough tire to fight back again. "I was doing well but when Polen got in front of me - him and Picotte brake so early ev erywhere," Edwards explained. "I ha ve to carry a lot of cornering speed. They'd brake early, get it turned and pull 10 bik e lengths on me off th e co rner . There was nothing I could do about it. I could catch 'em on the brak es every lap. Out of nin e I was behin d them and I figured I'd stay there for a couple of laps - I tucked the front and th e li re m us t -h ave b een off th e track. I did a flying W. I rode my ass off I to get back up to 'em, but I abused the tire too mu ch trying to catch up. " Fifth place wen t to the undergea red Q u arterl ey : " We too k a too th off beca use of the w ind . I'd be on them by the time we got to nine but by tu rn three they'd be 40-50 ya rds ahe ad. Little by littl e th ey jus t g o t a w ay." O nce Quarterley was signa led that Du Ham el w a s e ffe c t ive ly out o f the hunt, h e slowed to ens u re his fifth-place finish. Real got the better of a race-long battle with Ashmead; Gray did likewise in his struggle with Ha zen . DuHam el rejoined the race and followed them home for a 10th p lace finish. ll\' Results 5 8 QUALIFYING : 1. Doug Polen (1 minu te, 40.562 seco nds/l07.253 mp h); 2. Mike Sm ith (1:40.644); 3. Pasca l Picotte {1:40.684}; 4. Jamie James (1:41.740); S. Miguel DuH am el (1:41.764); 6. Tom Kipp (1:42.317); 7. T homas Ste ve ns (1: 42.5 37); 8. Coli n Ed w a r d s II (1:42.564); 9. Dale Quarterl ey (1:42.707); 10. Taka hir c Sc h wa (1:42.90 4); 11. Donal d Jacks (1:43 .726 ); 12. Jacques G u e n e tte Jr. (1:43.753); 13. Dav id Kieff er (1:47.795); 14. Brad Hazen (1:48.725); IS. Scott Gray (1:48.909); 16. Rick Shaw (1:50.013); 17. John Ashme ad (1:50.340); 18. Mike Walsh (1:51.461); 19. Pablo Real (1:52.030) ; 20. Jeff Johnson (1:1:55 .263 ); 21. Roger Hendricks (1:56.905). SB NAT IONAL: 1. Dou r; Polen (Due); 2. Pascal Picotte (Due); 3. Jamie James (Yam ); 4. Colin Edw ards (Yam); S. Dale Qu art erley (Kaw); 6. Pablo Real (Due); 7. Joh n Ash me ad (Ka w) ; 8. Sco tt Gray (Ka w) ; 9. Brad ' Hazen (Kaw); 10. Migu el DuHa mel (Kaw); 11. David Kieffer (Due); 12. Eric Moe (Hon); 13. RK:k Shaw (Yam); 14. Mike Walsh (Yam); 15. Jefl Johnso n (Hon); 16. Roger Hendricks (s oz); 17. Takahiro Sohwa (Kaw). Ti me 35 min.. 57.115 sec. Disla n~ 21 laps. 63 mi les. Average Speeds 105.000 mph. Margi n of Victory: 2 089 sec. ss C'sH IP POINT STANDINGS (Alte r 8 0110 ro u n d s ): 1. Do u g Pol en (26 4 /6 w in s ); 2. Mi g uel Du Hamel (205); 3. Dale QuarterJey (202); 4. Jamie James (170); 5. Takah iro Sohwa (147); 6. Pablo Real (136); 7. Colin Edwards II (134); 8. Scott Russe ll (131/1) ; 9. Mike Smith (128); 10. Thomas Stevens (127); 11. Pascal Picotte (124); 12. John As h mead (113) ; 13. (TIE) Jacq ues Guenette Ir/Eric Moe (112); IS. Brad Hazen (106); 16. Rick Sha w (88); 17. (TIE) David Kieffer /Tom Kipp (85); 19. Jim Sabin (83); 20. Scott Gray (79) .