Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1996 09 11

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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ROAD RACE Sunoc() Race Fuels Formula USA- Round 7: Pocono Internati,onal Raceway (Above) Tray Batey (3) leads David Sadowski (25) and Fritz Kling early In the ftrst leg of the F·USA round at Pocono. (Below) Kling (2) won the second leg; here he leads Dave Stanton (5) and SadowskI. By Henny Ray Abrams LONG POND, PA, SEPT. 1 n the seventh round of the Sunoco Race Fuels Formula USA series, Tray Batey finally took his long awaited first win, backing it up with a strong second in the second leg at Pocono International Raceway to solidify his hold on the top spot in the championship standings. The first F-USA leg of the Pocono Cycle Festival was a walkover, the Valvolin~ Suzuki-mounted Batey dicing at the start with Dutchman Racing's Fritz Kling, before the Yamaha rider slowed to a fourth-place finish. Once Kling was gone, there was no one to take up the challenge and Batey, who'd qualified on the pole, motored to an 8.520-second victory. Second went to Team LaBelle's Dave Sadowski, the Georgian riding a Honda CBR900 with a stock crank that was well down on power. Third went to Batey's teammate, Dave Stanton. The second race also belonged to Batey, at h~ast for the first 11 laps. But starting lap 12 he ran off the track trying to avoid a backmarker in turn one and Kling was there to pounce. Batey turned around, got back on track and went after Kling, but by then it was too late. Kling won his fourth race of the year, this time by 1.630 seconds. Sadowski was third about three seconds back and about 12 seconds in front of Stanton. Two rounds remain in the championship, Loudon and Daytona, with Batey 25 points in front of Kling and 32 in front of Sadowski. RACE ONE 24 At the start of the first 13-lap, 32.5'mile race, Batey took a flyer, but was quickly reeled in by Kling who, would lose a little more ground on the next lap and even more on the fourth. Kling fell back to fourth after a mental error, giving Sadowski second, about four seconds back, with Stanton on his tail. Kling was back in fourth in 'front of a trio that included Triumph's Scott zampach, FILA Racing's Eric Wood, and Team LaBelle's Chris Taylor.. Batey's lead didn't grow appreciably for several laps, though Sadowski knew there wasn't much he could do about it. "Batey's thing was a bullet. You couldn't believe it," Sadowski said. "Tray Batey waS just awesome out there. Really good on the bumps. I tried my hardest, I thought I couldn't catch him with about three about to go and just nursed that baby home. These motors are stressed out for everything to work here to make it around Pocono fast. We're going to rebuild a fresh motor with a different gearbox for the ~cond. You'll see David Sadowski out front." Batey completed the first 13-lap, 32.5mile race in 22 minutes, 30.390 seconds at an average speed of 86.642 mph. The laBelle Hondas had broken four cranks at the previous F-USA round at Portland and the team had switched to stock cranks while new ones were being prepared. Sadowski figured the bikes were down about 15 horsepower, though it seemed a Jot more than that on the track. Still, it was enough for him to ease away from Stanton and Kling in what was a dull parade to the finish, about four seconds between each of the second, third, and fourth-place riders. "It wasn't in the cards today," Stanton said. "We'll make a few changes for the second race. I was careful not to make any mistakes, but I had to go fast. Unfortunately, we lost a few points. The turns are tight and I had a tough start:' Sadowski hopl!d that "with pressure, maybe Tray would make a mistake, but Tray Batey was awesome. We need to work on the gearbox to get out front. This could be the race to decide the championship. The bumps were saying 'Slow down!'" Chris Taylor was a distant fourth, the reigning F-USA champion still a little shaken after a freak practice crash had put him on his head earlier in the day (see Briefly ... ). Like Sadowski, his Honda was too slow to be competitive, though he said he still had complete faith in his team to get the bikes ready and competitive for Loudon. Zlock Racing's Andy Deatherage was at the front of the only real fight in th.e top 10, getting the better of TBR Racing's Michael Fitzpatrick for sixth. Triumph's Zampach and FILA Racing's Richard Alexander finished eighth and ninth, respectively. RACE TWO Batey checked out again at the start of the second race and this time no one

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