Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1996 08 14

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Round 5: Road America both strong points for the VR1000. I The biggest effect of Sadowski's double win was the 70 points, he earned! cutting Batey's series points lead over him nearly in half, from 45 points to 27. The top four are now tightly grouped from leader Batey at 278, to fourthplaced Sadowski at 251. Wilson and Munroe - neither a factor in the points helped Sadowski's cause by finishing between him and Batey. Despite his mechanical problems, Kling remains 12 points behind Batey. Stanton finished ahead of Batey and Kling in both legs and so moves into second exactly between them, just 6 points behind Batey and 6 ahead of Kling. RACE ONE Sadowski, mindful of Wilson's fast qualifying time, seized the lead immediately with teammate Taylor in tow. Canadian Munroe was right with them in third, his 750cc ZX7RR proving surprisingly able to hang in with thE[ enlarged CBR900RRs of Sadowski and Taylor. , Wilson stuck the Harley into fourth by lap 2, followed by Stanton and Kling. Kling moved into fifth when Stanton ran off slightly in turn five, but followed Taylor on the I)ext lap when he went straight in turn five and dropped back behind Stanton again. Meanwhile Wilson had gotten by Munroe and reeled i)1 Sadowski to challenge for the lead. "He showed me a wheel with two laps to go," Sadowski said, "and on the last lap he got around me in the 'Hurry Downs' right before a waving yellow so I couldn't pass him right back. I followed By John Flory ELKHART LAKE, WI, AUG. 4 aced with a strong challenge from factory Harley-Davidson ~ rider and pole qualifier Tom Wilson, team LaBelle's Dave Sadowski got away quickly to control both races from the front and score two solid wins, extending. his streak to four in a row. Like every other round this season, both legs at every Formula USA event have been won by a single racer. Wilson's corner-friendly VR1000 helped him keep pace the with largerdisplacement machinery in the first race and the H-D factory rider held his own as he rode to a second-place finish. A bad start \n race two left him in last place, but Wilson mounted an impressive charge through the pack that took him to eighth place at the end. This event attracted an unusual number of top-level racers who are not series regulars. Canadians Don Munroe and Jeff Williams showed up, Munroe being the reigning Canadian Superbike Champion and lead rider on the Kawasaki Canada team and Williams being the lead rider on the Honda Canadateam. Munroe entered his new ZX7RR in Formula USA, which at first blush did not seem likely to threaten the largerdisplacemellt bikes run by most series regulars. It did, however, and Munroe fared the better of the two visiting riders, taking third place in both races despite his displacement disadva.ntage. CBR900RR-mounted Williams had his bike spin a bearing dming practice Friday, leaving him without a ride. However, Devin Battley, who normally leases Dutchman's second bike, had broken his arm and could not ride. At the urging of a number of Canadians, Sdtlosser agreed to put Williams on the bike. Despite never having ridden the ~ (Above) Team laBelle's Dave Sadowski (25) led the early going during both Formula USA races at 'Road America and went on to take double wins. Teammate Chris Taylor (1) and Don Munroe give chase. (Right) Team Harley-Davldson's Thomas Wilson (130) battled with Sadowski for most of the first race but ultimately took his VR1000 to a second-place finish after a misfire and brake trouble slowed him toward the end. machine, Williams was down to 2:17s immediately. He would manage an 11th and a ninth in the two legs. Another unexpected entry was Michael Martin, who retired as lead rider for Team Valvoline Suzuki last fall. He un-retired himself to ride a '96 GSXR750 that tuner Keith Perry had just built. The idea was for Martin to do development work on it so that the team~s present riders, David Stanton (4-2) and Tray Batey (7-4), could focus on their GSXR1100s. Martin, who had not ridden a road race bike since last fall, said, "You don't realize how much you miss all this stuff until you come back." He may ride the bike at Loudon or Day- tona, but didn't get much time on it here because it spun a rod bearing in the first qualifying session, and the team had no spare parts for it. But the biggest surprise of all had been the appearance of the factory Harley-Davidson team with riders Wilson and Chris Carr. Their express intent was to work on the development of their VR1000s, but despite being down on power, their handling made them a serious threat to win the event. While it might seem that Road America's long straights would put a premium on horsepower, the fact that sharp turns follow the long straights also makes good brakes and handling essential - him through the kink and into Canada Comer and up through there I kind of reeled him in. He was really fast through the comers. His midcomer speed was probably a mile or two miles an hour faster than mine. I followed him up into turn 14 and I saw him get a big old handful of gas and the rear tire wouldn't take it and it popped him out of the seat. That's all I needed to really run right up on him. Even if he had 10 bike lengths on me coming out of the last comer my bike's way faster than his. The only reason he caught me is that their chassis seems to be a little bit better in the middle of the comer, whereas mine, being a street bike, and not really gusseted yet, is

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