Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE S NOCO RACE FUELS U FORM LA USA SERIES U Round 8: Dayt~na International Speedway (Len) The first of two Formula USA races gets under way at Daytona International Speedway with Dave Sadows ki (25) leading Michael Barnes (8), Eric Wood (10), Tom Kipp (102) an d Mike Hale (104) int o tum one. (Below) Mike Hale (104)ended up ru nn ing away with the first race . Here he leads Barn es (8) and Fritz Kling (2). (Bon om) The consistent Doug Polen, wh o finished seco nd In both legs , leads Barnes (8) and Kipp (1 02) in the opening race at Daytona. By Henn y Ray Abrams DAYfONABEACH, FL. NOV2 ike Hale made a triumphant return to ra cing in hi s home co u n try by winning th e first Sunoco Race Fue ls Fo rmula USA leg in his debut on the Fast by Ferracci Ducati. The Texan, whose last race win was at Fireb ird In ternat ional Raceway in Septem ber of 1995, sped away from a do minant po le-qua lifyi ng spot to easily win the first of two races on a sunny Sunday . afternoon at Daytona Internat io na l Speed way. He wa s well o n his wa y to winning the second leg wh en he ran ou t of gas with about a lap to go . That gave the very popular win to Mike Barnes, the journeyman who'd hooked up with Dave Schlosser and the Dutchman Raci ng crew for the weekend. After finishing foo rth in the first leg, Barnes was a solid second to Hale whe n Ha le p u lled on to pit road ju st r-, 0\ 0\ ....... N ....... .... IlJ .0 E: IlJ ::o Z 6 be fore ge tt i ng th e wh it e flag . From there, Barnes kept th e gas on to beat Team Polen Su zuki ' s Dou g Polen by more than nine seconds - giving Dutchman its first win of the year. Polen had the most consistent day of anyone, taking a pair of solid seco nds. Of the tw o races, Hale's win was the fas te r, ta ki ng him 26 min utes, 27 .608 seco nds to comp lete the l -l-lap , 5O-mile race a t an average speed of 113.105 mph. He bea t Polen by 13.267 seconds. Barnes' win was a few seconds slower: 26 m inu tes, 30.183 seco nds, averaging 112.382 mph . The biggest winner on the day never mad e it into the top three, but he didn't have to. Team Labelle's Dave Sad ow ski won his second F-USA cha m pio ns hip when he finished seventh in the first leg. He on ly needed to finish 20th or better to add this yea r's title to the one he won in 1994, a nd in doing so he became the first rid er to ever wi n the cro wn tw ice. . "Fur me, Dayt ona is sacred gro un d," said Sadows ki, w ho wa s riding w ith a torn Achilles tendon in his rig ht heel. He suffered the inju ry in a freak waterskiin g accident, then agg ravated it du rin g the N AS B ra ce ' a t Loudon four weeks ear lier. "It feels great to wr ap up the title here. It was a long , hard-fought se aso n. We're a p rivateer team th at's been battlin g agains t th e factory bikes most of the year, so it's real gratifying to w in th e series title. It a ll ch an ged around for us when we switched to the (Muz zy) Raptor during the season. I'm glad it's over, but we'll be read y to come back next year to defend our title. In my mind, this just re-establishes me where I should have bee n last year." In addition to his winnings from the F-USA /NASB poi nt fu n d , Sa dowsk i pocketed an ad di tio na l $10 ,000 fro m Sport Rider Magazine. The bonus went to the r ider w ho sco red the most co rnbined points fro m the F· USA ra ces a t Pocono and Davtona. Sadowski needed to finish in frOJ; t of Valvol ine Su zu ki's Grant Lopez to earn the money, an d he di d it wi th ease. Lopez went ou t of the first leg when his rear tire came apart on th e 11th of 14 laps and he parked it in L urn one. He wa s seventh in the second leg to Sadowski's fifth . Sadowsk i ends the seaso n with 463 po in ts - 74 more than Dutchm an Racing's Fritz Kling . Valvoline Su zuki 's Tray Batey, who finished 28th in the first leg after losing his front-brake lever in a collision with Lee Shierls and was fourth in the second leg, ends up third at 383. This was th e last Formula USA race ever to be run with the o rth American Spor t Bike se rie s. Nex t yea r th e tw o orga niza tio ns will go their ow n ways, with F-USA planning three-race week ends to com p lime nt club eve nts nati onwi de, a nd N ASB e leva ting th e EBC Spo rtbike to the prem ier class, with an ad d ed em phasis on entertainment in an effort to d ra w th e nonenthusia st to the race track. . RACE ONE Hal e, wh o last rod e a Ducati in 1995 for the Po wer H o rse Pro motor team, quickly carne to grips with the new bike, ripping off a tim e in qualifying that was two seconds faster than th e rest of the 39-rider field . The probl em Hale and the res t of the field had was a lack of dry pra ctice time . Friday was wiped out by

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