Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Reigning Canadian . superbike champion Don Munroe (122) took his Kawasaki Canada ZX7RR to a pelr of third-place finishes. Munroe finished In front of Team Vslvollne Suzuki's Dave Stanton (5) In race one, but Stanton came back In race two to beat the Canadian. (Right) Deve Stanton, Dave sadowski and Don Munroe celebrate after race two. . 'JFORMULAUSK 1·'P... j4i~g . flexing quite a bit. That flex doesn't give you the confidence you need to keep the throttle on. That Harley chassis is probably one of the best in the business." What was not obvious was that Wilson was having problems with the Harley. The motor had developed a miss, and the brakes were not working properly. Both problems were fixed before the start of the second leg. _ Behind Sadowski and Wilson, Stanton and Munroe were fighting for third. Stanton held the position for most of the final half of the race, but Munroe got by on the last lap. "I was setting him up for a pass down the front straight here on the last lap and a lapper got in front of me in tum 14 and blew my drive," Stanton said. "I was close but not close enough at the line." Kling, Taylor and Batey were spread out in the next three spots. RACE TWO After his fight with Wilson to win the first race, Sadowski had a new plan. "I knew I got caught by the Harley with three laps to go and I knew he was getting hung up getting around some of the ..... ESC sn'\k~ big-bore bikes because they're faster off the line," Sadowski said. "So 1 just went faster for my first three laps. Hopefully I could have a cushion and make it last to the end and force him into an error by trying to catch up a lot of ground in a little bit of time." The Team LaBelle rider needn't have worried, because Wilson had burned up the Harley's clutch off the start in a huge cloud of smoke and was in last place. "The clutch was the whole story," Wilson said. "I finally got it to cool down and played with the adjustment and did a bunch of little things and finally got it to work. I could have gone faster in the second race because I did have problems in the first race. After the start and the clutch deal I knew the race was over. I just had fun - [ was broadsliding the bike like I never have before and just finding out what I could get away with. I didn't care if I messed up a turn or a lap because I really had nothing to prove." . Even with nothing to prove, Wilson worked his way up through the field to eighth by the finish and got down into the 2:12s again. In both races, the bike was fitted with the same type of softcompound tires he 'qualified on, though the pressures were set slightly higher. He noticed that the tires held up longer Sunday, probably due to the cooler conditions. Despite the absence of Wilson as a challenger, Sadowski's strategy paid off anyway, because he controlled the pace of the race. Behind him came a good dogfight over second between Munroe and Stanton which really was not settled until the last lap. Munroe kept passing Stanton into turn five: "I would get ahead of him going into turn five every lap and then he would try to outbrake me every lap," M.unroe said. "I was hoping he was going to blow the turn once but he didn't. I could have gone in deeper but I didn't want to chance it. I really am surprised I got on the box here with these guys because I didn't think our little 750 at such a fast track would have a chance. I guess the lighter bike has easier braking and maybe handles a little better. I definitely could outbrake him. That big thing would blast by and he had to start slowing down way way sooner. Then on .the last lap he got by me on the straightaway. and the'n he moved over in front of me in turn one and I had to brake with him because there was no room between where I was going and where he went. That got me stuck behind him going through turn one and down into two. There was no way I could stay with him from three down into five. I gained up right on his bum again but not enough to get by him in five. There was a couple of other places I could try him but it didn't pan out - it was the last lap and he was riding hard." Next behind them in fourth for most of the race came Batey. Taylor was fifth for the first half of the race but then went straight at turn five on both lap six and seven and dropped back. Yoder held sixth until Kling, moving up after waiting for his clutch to recover from another terrible start, passed him and took over fifth when Taylor went straight at turn five. Carr passed Yoder for sixth in the final laps, and Wilson moved Jeff Williams back a notch to ninth. Nobles rounded out the top 10. (N Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Results: August 4, 1996 (Round 5 of 9) FORMULA USA QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Wilson (2,12.624/108.578 mph); 2. David Sadowslci (2,14.287); 3. Chris Taylor (2,14.829); 4. Fritz Kling (2,15.775); 5. Tray Batey (2:15.876); 6. David Stanton (2:16.176); 7. Don Mu.nroe (2:16.331); 8. Chris Carr (2:16.726); 9. Scott Zampach (U7.334); 10. Jeff Williams (2,17.770); 11. Chuck Graves (2,18.117); 12. Ray Yoder (z,I8.309); 13. Tripp Nobles (z,I8.780); 14. Glenn Szarek (2:19.593): IS. AI Salaverria (2:20.398); 16. Michael'Fitzpatrick (2'20.404); 17. Derek Leslie (2,21.072); 18. Hikaru Miyagi (2,21.338); 19. Jeffrey Stem (2,21.542); 20. Brian Gibson (2'21.545); 21. Andy Deatherage (2,21.563); 22. Rad Greaves (2,21.820); 23. Curtis Adams (2,21.958); 24. Owen Weichel (2,22.671); 25. Seth Hahn (2,23.538); 26. Bill Himmelsbach (2,23.943); 27. Doug Polen (2:24.109); 28. Jack Pittens (2,25.206); 29. John sharrad (2,25.336); 30. Shawn Conrad (2:26.388); 31. Mark Chi.odo (2,26.472); 32. Mike Walsh (z,z6.575); 33. Boyd Bruner (2,27.797); 34. Jim Bonner (2,29.368); 35. Chris Bliss (2'29.368); 36. Robert Thomas (2,29.875); 37. Ziv Anphi (2,30.037); 38. Brian McLaughlin (2,31.307); 39. Edward Berndt (2:31.552); 40. James Hanrahan (2:31.693); 41. David McGrath (2,32.551); 42. Sean Sidwell (2,34.567); 43. Michael Sidwell (2:36.744); 44. Benjamin Welch (B7.259); 45. James Dickenson (2,43.298). FORMULA USA RACE ONE: 1. David Sadowski (Hon); 2. Thomas Wilson (H-D); 3. Don Mu.nroe (Knw); 4. David Stanton (Suz); 5. Fritz Kling (Yam); 6. Chris Taylor (Hon); 7. Tray Batey (suz); 8. Chris Carr (H-D); 9. Scott Zampach (Tri); 10. Tripp Nobles (H-D); 11. Jeff Williams (Yam); 12. Ray Yoder (Kaw); 13. Chuck Graves (suz); 14. Hikaru Miyagi (Hon); IS. Michael Fitzpatrick (Kaw); 16. Brian Gibson (Hon); 17. Jeffrey Stem (Kaw); 18. Andy Deatherage (Kaw); 19. Chris Bliss (Hon); 20. Bill Himmelsbach (Hon); 21. Jack Pittens (Suz); 22. Boyd Bruner (Suz); 23. Mike Walsh (Yam); 24. Jim Bonner (Yam); 25. Brian McLauchlin (Yam); 26. Michael Sidwell (Kaw); 27. Curtis Adams (suz); 28. Marc Chiodo (5uz); 29. Glenn Szarek (Suz); 30. Derek Leslie (Kaw); 31. Doug Polen (Suz) Time: 18 min., 1.632 sec. Distance: 8 laps, 32 miles Average Speed.: 106.506 mph Margin of Victory: 0.292 sec. FORMULA USA RACE TWO, I. David Sadowslci (Hon); 2. David Stanton (Suz); 3. Don Munroe (Kaw); 4. Tray liatey (5=); 5. Fritz Kling (Yam); 6. Chris Carr (HD); 7. Ray Yoder (Kaw); 8. Thomas Wilson (H-D); 9. Jeff Williams (Yam); 10. Tripp Nobles (H~D); 11. Chris Taylor (Hon); 12. Andy Deatherage (l

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