Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Chandler) and me," Pegram said. "I just went straight. I tried to cut the lapper but there was no time. I didn't want him in between us." Pegram had to wait until the corner worker would allow him to rejoin the race, but since they were so far in front of the rest, though in heavy traffic, it wasn't long. Still it was enough to make it a tworider race - Polen vs. Chandler - with Polen taking the lead on the 1Ith lap and holding it across the stripe every time until the final lap. Chandler had about a 10-bike-length gap to make up at the chicane and he went after Polen as they exited with Polen dropping down from the East Banking for the shortest run to the flag. It didn't work. Chandler sped by just as they approached the flag to take the win, his third win in F-USA competition this year. "I kind of sat back, took my time, and conserverd a bit and made my move at the end," Chandler said. "I wasn't too surprised at the finish," Polen said. "We'd pretty much figured out during the race that if you didn't have enough of a lead coming out of the chicane there was enough of a draft for the bike to zip by at the finish line." Pegram was about seven seconds back, followed by Kling. Munroe had gotten a whiff of Kling, but not enough to hang onto and he wasn't ever able to use his draft. He was about three seconds back at the end. Kling was pleased with his finish after running into problems in qualifying and starting from the fourth row. He dispatched with Batey on the fifth lap and then Munroe was into fifth on the seventh lap. Munroe was riding with a separated left shoulder which didn't bother him much in the race. "I got a horrible start," Munroe explained. "I was about 10th. Then I got a bunch of guys in turn one. I just plugged away and kept passing. I got Batey and went after Kling, but my front tire chunked away and I slowed down." Then came Batey, about 2.7 seconds back. . "r thought, 'Well, we'll just do the best we can.''' Batey said. "And we got out there. I ran around in fourth place for a few laps and it started making a lot of racket out of the valve cover. Whenever I'd move my knee you could hear it. And I thought, 'Oh, man, it's not even going to finish the race.' I started shifting at 1 ~ then I started shifting at 10 and then guys started coming around me. I did all I could do and finished the pace." It was enough for the title. Mike Sullivan was seventh, alone in front of Tilley's Harley-Davidson's Tripp Nobles. RACE TWO The second race was gridded from the results of the first race with the only real difference being that Kling was up on the front row instead of the fourth. Again this time Pegram got the jump. Chandler followed with Stanton an early third, then Kling, Sullivan and Polen. Chandler and Pegram sparred over the lead on the second lap, the pair swapping it with Pegram grabbing it. He and Chandler were away, Polen not with them but looking to close, which he did on the third lap. On the fourth lap, Chandler was back in front with Polen now up to seco{ld and Pegram third, the order swapping again on each of the next few laps with Polen in front on the fifth, then Pegram, then Polen again at the midpoint of the 14-lap race. (Right) Fritz Kling (2) won the second F-USA race, but Tray Batey (3) ended up taking home the series championship. (Below) Mike Sullivan, normally a 250cc GP rider, put in a gallant effort to finish third In the second race. rider on the second Team Labelle Honda CBR900RR, with Steve Grigg fifth. CN Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: October 20, 1996 (Round 20 of 20) The race for the win would end for Polen on the next lap, his battery causing him to slow once, then again. After he got going he chunked a rear tire and that was it. . "The voltage went to hell," Polen said. "All of a sudden it dropped down to nothing. I looked down and the tach was at nothing. It got running again and I got back by." As for why his day ended: "Things weren't too good on the rear end of the bike," Polen said with a grin. That left it to Chandler and Pegram and the pair were content to back the pace down and wait for the final ppsh. Neither was going to get away and they knew it. Then, disaster struck. "I noticed some smoke coming out of the chicane," Chandler said, his oil' line having split. "I never really had it pinned through the back. I noticed smoke through the windscreen." Chandler slowed through turn one and pulled off, riding it back to the Muzzy garage. "Pegram said the thing started smoking going in (to turn one)," Chandler said. "He really backed off." "When Doug started to blow oil, I slowed down a bit," Pegram said. "It was right at the start-finish line. It was a little scary for a moment. I'd ch unked tires, but never had one do that before. It was vibrating a little, but I wasn't paying attention. I thought it was because I was in Doug's draft. "I felt like I wanted Doug (Chandler) to be in. front on the last lap," Pegram added. "We were sizing each other up. B'asically we were just playing. Polen was really intent on riding hard the whole race. Doug and I have raced dirt track miles for years. We wanted to let it all out and have fun." So in very short order Kling, who'd been chased by Batey since the fifth lap, was now in the lead with less than two laps to go. "I actually tried to get him (Batey) in front of me so that I had someone to fol- low," Kling said. "When I saw the smoke I was surprised who it was. I saw Pegram over there and I wasn't that surprised. Ducatis do that once in a while. But Chandler was on the inside, I wasn't expecting that one" Kling said he'd been riding as hard as the tire would let him. "I couldn't tell if I was holding Tray up. It felt like I was riding on marbles sometime," Kling said. It would come to the classic last-lap Daytona confrontation, with Kling holding a slight edge out of the chicane, but not enough to break the draft. Batey would come at him, coming up just short and giving Kling the win. "My bike's fast," Kling said. "My bike was faster than his. I got blitzed in the (Championship Cup Series) Unlimited GP. If anybody is there, I'll go to the grass. This is not going to happen again." "After the race was over they said, 'Oh, go ahead and ride it. It ain't going to blow up: " Batey said. "So the first race [ went and let her rev on up and that's why I had a little- better race the second time around. I'm really glad to be up on the podium. It really feels like it's supposed to. They told me I'd won the championship after the first one, but it didn't really feel like anything. "I knew if I could even come close to running with Fritz, that would be a really good effort, because he was flying. I knew I wouldn't be on the podium but I thought I'd hate to just get smoked. I saw Polen coasting around and thought I'm almost on the podium. Fritz is, but I'm almost. Then I saw Chandler. I never saw Pegram. That's when I thought, 'Wow, I got third, this is awesome.'" Sullivan crossed the line in third, the Zlock Racing part-timer not seeing Pegram and Chandler pull off and not knowing he was in third. Then came Metzger, the Connecticut SUNOCO RACE FUELS FORMULA USA QUALIFYING,!. Doug Chandler (1,50.910); 2. Larry Pegram (1,51.451); 3. Doug Polen (1,52.291); 4. Tray Batey (1'53.m); 5. Don Munroe (1,54.113); 6. Dav;d Stanton (1:55.564); 7. Mark Miller (1:56.106); 8. Tommy Hayden (1,56.684); 9. Mike Sullivan (1,56.911); 10. Chuck Graves (1:57.017); 11. Dave Estok (1:57.201); 12. Eric Wood (1,57.211); 13. Shane Prieto (1,57.237); 14. Fritz Kling (1:57.264); 15. Andy Deatherage (1,57.408); 16. Jamie Hacking (1"s7511); 17. Eric Moe (l"s7.724); 18. Brett Metzger (l"s7.781); 19. ~teve Grigg (157.856); 20. Tripp Nobles (1:58.133): 21. Michael Fitzpatrick (1,59.369); 22. Pablo Real (1,59.523); 23. Quenni King (1:59.524): 24. Hector Cordero (1:59.645); 25. Michel Amalric (1,59.688); 26. Jeffrey Stern (2,00.176); 27. Richard Alexander (2.-00.277); 28. lohn France (2.00.561); 29. Jonathon Bolton (2:00.562); 30. David Sadowski (2,00.656); 31. Darryl Saylor (2,00.663); 32. Curtis Adams (2:00.825); 33. Rick Shaw (2,00.907); 34. lohn Ashmead (2:00.979); 35. Todd Harrington (2,01.121); 36. Wmiam Luke (2:0I.U7); 37. David Kieffer (2:01.748); 38. Perry Melneciue (2,01.764); 39. Dean Scarpa (2:01.896); 40. Mike Walsh (2,02.104); 41. Owen Weichel (2,02.210; 42. Aristarco A,cona (2,02.268); 43. Seth Hahn (2:02.390); 44.. Derek Leslie (2,02.834); 45. Shawn Conrad (2,03.353); 46. leff Sneyd 2,03.508); 47. Hikaru Miyagi (2003.688); 48. William Undsay (2:04.433); 49. Chris Bliss (2:04.433); SO. lames Dickenson (2.04.636); 51. Eric Moueatel (2,04.973); 52. Michael Gaherty (2,05.J90); 53. Rick Beggs (2,05.238); 54. Sean Sweeney (2,05.457); 55. Noel Brown (2:06.109); 56. Michael Lehning (2:0~.875); 57. Jeffrey ,Purk (2,07.059); 58. Thomas Founuer (2,07.386); 59. M,chael S;dwell (2,07.820); 60. Sean Sidwell (2:07.876); 61. Stephen Tuel (2,09.633); 62. Eric Kropp (2'10,654); 63. Devin Bottley (2:10.837); 64. Andrew Wright (2:12.130); 68. Steven Apsland (2:14.231). RACE ONE: 1. Doug Chandler (Kaw); 2. Doug Polen (5uz); 3. Larry Pegram (Due); 4. Fritz Kling (Yam); 5. Don Munroe (Kaw); 6. Tray Batey (Suz); 7. Mike Sullivan (Kaw); 8. David Stanton (Suz); 9. Tripp Nobles (H-D); 10. Brett Metzger (Han); 11. Andy Deatherage (Kaw); 12. Steve Grigg (Kaw); 13. Eric Wood (Kaw); 14. Chuck Graves (Suz); 15. Eric Moe (Kaw); 16. Quenni· King (Suz); 17. Darryl Saylor (Bim); 18. Pablo Real (Due); 19. Hector Cordero (Han); 20. Jeff Stem (Kaw); 21. William Luke (Suz); 22. Curtis Adams (Kaw); 23. John France (Hon); 24. Mike Walsh (Yam); 25. Aristarco Azcona (Suz); 26. David Keiffer (Due); 27. Eric Moucatel (Due); 28. Michel Amalrie (Yam); 29. Rick Shaw (Yam); 30. Jeffrey Purk (Han); 31. Chris Bliss (Han); 32. Devin Battley (Yam); 33. Mark MiJler (Suz); 34. Jonathon Bolton (Sut); 35. Owen Weichel (Kaw); 36. Tommy Hayden (Kaw); 37. Michael Le:hning (Suz); 38. David Sadowski (Hon); 39. Sean Sidwell (Kaw); 40. Shane Prieto (Kaw); 41. Seth Hahn (Suz); 42. Michael Sidwell (Kaw); 43. De.rek Leslie (Kaw); 44. John Ashmead (Kaw); 45. Rick Beggs (Kaw). Time: 26 min., 22.]44 sec. Distance: ]4 laps, 49.84 miles. Average speed: 113.406 mph. Margin of victory: 0.020 sec. RACE TWO: 1. Fritz Kling (Yam); 2. Tray Batey (Suz); 3. Mike Sullivan (!

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