Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and Michael was going good. I was looking back every few laps and I could tell that I was'stretching my lead. Then I calmed down and rode smoothly to the win." And if Jacks was smooth, Martin and Shierts were anything but - and it was here that the crowd's attention focused. Martin was blazing the relatively slow Team Suzuki Endurance bike through the infield turns, trying to get away from the blindingly fast Shierts. And Shierts had his hands full chasing down Martin with the tractionless rear tire. "The bike was shaking really bad," Shierts said. "The front end was never on the ground, and when it's skimming along the bars start swapping, so I'd let off the gas a bit, lean hard forward, grab a bunch of throttle, spin the rear, and hope the front end would stay down on the track long, enough that, when the rear finally hooked up, I could still steer away from the walls:' In this manner, Shierts fought through the infield, regained 20 lengths, and blasted past Martin down the front straight. But on the last lap, Martin charged through the infield hard enough to gain enough of a lead to hold Shierts off at the line, taking second in the leg and second overall. Doug Renfrow beat Kieth Pinkstaff out for fourth overall, and Chris Callan was sixth. Michael Graves earned seventh and top two-stroke honors on his Yamaha TZ250. Robert Marsh, Jay Bartlow, and Mike Sullivan rounded out the top 10. Air Tedl F-I1 The 250cc race was one of attrition. First, Joe Pittman overshot the bus stop chicane before the front straight, fell down, and took defending F-Il Champion Donnie Greene off the track with him. Pittman's day was done, but Greene and his wounded Yamaha TZ250 soldiered on, well out of the hunt for the win. Then runaway leader Al Salaverria crossed some rocks that Pittman and Greene had kicked up in the chicane, and crashed, destroying his 14-second lead. Kurt Hall, ever the intelligent rider, smoothly cruised past the assortment of mangled machinery (and uninjured riders), took the lead, and his first ever F-il win. And in doing so, Hall took the cham.pionship points lead from Greene, 6~1. "Once I got past Donnie (Greene), it was like I lost my teacher," Hall said. "1 mean, Donnie's always been helping me out. I follow him around and learn a bunch of stuff." Indeed, when Greene was forcefully bumped out, floundering in the dirt and trying to remain in the saddle, of his Dianetics TZ250, Hall did slow a bit, allowing rising stars Michael Graves and Chuck Sorensen to begin reeling him in. "Mike (Graves) started closing on me," continued Scott Hall Importsbacked Hall. "So I picked it up a bit, and then I noticed that, coming through the chicane, there was Al (Salaverria) trying to pick his bike up and I thought, 'Oh yeah! This is for the win now!' I kept my head on, and everything worked out' fine." Hall and his Yamaha TZ250 finished almost five seconds ahead of the fight for second. And what a fight that was. Neither Graves nor Sorensen would give anything less than 100 percent in every corner, every lap. And Sorensen was especially hungry. On Saturday, he had cold-seized a cylinder on his Dublin Kawasaki-backed Donald Jacks was nearly unbeatable at Seattle, winning three,Superstock races in addition to his F-USA victory. machine, scrambled to replace it, and in that haste, Sorensen overlooked the .proper clutch alignment. "1 got an okay start and was forced to have to push up through about four rid- . ers on the outside of turn two to stay with the front pack." ptat front pack consisted of a freighttram of speedy riders, including Salaverria, Hall, one-time Seattle track record holder Pittman, Greene, Graves and Mike Sullivan. But attrition soon took its toll, and on the sixth lap, 'eye-witness Sorensen watched as 'loe Pittman attempted to outbrake Donnie on the inside of the chicane, Donnie turned in hard, Pittman tried to back off, couldn't make it in time, and they went down:' After that the dueling duo came by to see Salaverria on the ground in nearly the exact place where Pittman went out. Hall pulled out the reserves on his meticulously prepared, Scotty Beach-, tuned TZ250, leaving Sorensen and Graves to continue their fierce dice. But a last lap duel was not to be. Said Sorensen: "Towards the end, my battle with Graves got more intense - we both started to gain and lose off of each other. With two laps to go, I overshot the chicane, went into the dirt, and behind the (hay) bales onto the straight." Graves then continued on to a five bike length lead to capture second with Sorensen third. Amidst all the commotion up front, Sullivan cruised to a relatively lonely fourth overall, and Greene - whose bike had lost a' muffler in the collision· charged back up to fifth overall. Peter Wensloff and Bruce Lind followed Greene home in sixth and seventh, respectively. Thomas Montano on an Yamaha FZR600, Steve McKissock on a Honda CBR600 and Yamaha TZ250 pilot Todd Bowman rounded out the top 10. Superstock Valvoline Suzuki's Donald Jacks thoroughly smashed' any and all of the competition en route to an unstoppable three-race sweep of the DunIop/WERA A, B, and C Superstock events. "I had a hard time with the Superstock bikes," Jacks said after pocketing $1500 in Suzuki contingency for the three wins. Every GSXR is different. It's really hard getting off any of them and onto another, especially the Formula bike - it's different from any of the Superstock bikes by far - it's lighter, more powerful, and steers quicker:' Obviously, the modest and soft-spoken Jacks adapted rather quickly, as in Kurt Hall (6), Don Greene (1), Michael Graves (76) and Joe Pittman (71) in F-ll. the smallest displacement class, C Superstock, Jacks handily defeated Valvoline teammate Kurt Hall to finish an unchallanged four seconds ahead at the flag, his largest margin of the day. Steve McKissock, David Stanton, and Bruce Lind, all Honda CBR600 mounted, followed in third through fifth, respectively. Tim Heale was the highest finishing Yamaha rider, in sixth. At the flagged start of B Superstock, Force Racing's Mark McDaniel leaped off the line, and straight into the lead. But McDaniel soon succumbed to the unstoppable Jacks onslaught, and dropped out of the lead on the second lap, leaving Jacks to charge off to the win. Tom Wilson and Mike Sullivan also surpassed McDaniel for second and third, respectively, with Geoffrey Lambert rounding out the top five. All were Suzuki GSXR750 mounted. A Superstock proved the most difficult for Jacks to win. Endurance runner-up Doug Renfrow led for the early laps while Jacks struggled to accustom himself to - the heavy-handling GSXRllOO. And like the other Superstock races this day, Jacks quickly acclimated himself to the big Suzuki and stormed off to complete his sweep of the production classes, this time by a bit over two seconds. Behind Renfrow came Robert Wright, Tom Wilson, and Walt Schoenbachler. n. Results f·USA:1. Donald Jacks (Suz); 2, Michael Martin (SUl); 3. Lee Shiens (SUl); 4, Doug Renlrow (Yam); 5. Kei,h Pinkstall (Kaw); 6. Chris Callan (Suz); 7. Michael Graves (Yam); 8. RoberL Marsh (Suz); 9. Jay BarLlow (Yam); 10. Mike Sullivan (Yam); II. SCOtl Gray (SU2); 12. Adam FausseLL (Suz); 13. Chuck Graves (SU2); 14. Roben WrighL(Su2); 15. Eric Disch (SU2); 16. Joe Pi,tman (Yam); 17. AI Salaverna (Apr); 18. Michael Beoson (Suz); 19. Don Greene (Yam); 20. Ken Reynold5 (SUl). f·2: I. Kun Hall (Shi); 2. Michael Graves (Yam): 3. Chuck Sorensen (Yam); 4. Mike Sullivan (Yam); 5. Donme .Grttn (Yam); 6. Peler Wenslon (Yam); 7. Bruce L,nd (Yam); 8. Thoma< Montano (Yam); 9. SLOVe McKissock (Hon); 10. Todd Bowman (Yam); II. SLephen Dahlstrom (Yam); 12. Chuck Warren (Hon); 13. Jason Paden (Yam); 14. AI Salavema (Apr); IS. Joe Pi'Lman (Yam). 55 600: I. Donald Jads (Suz); 2. Kun Hall (SU2); 3. S,eve Mdissock (Hon); .4. David Lamon (Hon); 5. Bruce Land (Hon); 6. T,m Heale (Yam); 7. Alan Schwen (Hon); 8. hawn A, Roberti (SUl); 9. Michael Benson (Hon); 10. Simon Bell (Hon). . 55750: I. DonaldJacks(Su2);2. Tom Wilson (Suz); 3. Mike Sullivan (SU2); 4. Mark McDaniel (Suz); 5. Geol£rey Lamben (SU2); 6. David SLamon (Suz); 7. Rober, Wrigh' ( U2); 8. S,eve McKissock (Hun); 9. Adam F.auuet' (SU2); 10. Andy McKay (SUl). 55 1I00: I. Donald Jacks (Suz); 2. Doug Renlrow (Suz); 3. Robert Wrigh' (Suz); 4. Tom Wilson (Suz); 5. Wal, Schoenbachler ( Ul); 6, Skipper Nilsen (SUl); 7. Mike Krynock (SUl); 8. ScuLL McDowell (SUl); 9. Alan Schwen (Hon); 10. Chris Townsend (Suz). fUTUll.E STARS: I. Bret Wahl (Yam); 2. Mike Wassemiller (Yam)p; 5. Richarci Padilla (Yam); 4 Eddie Gerrish (Hon); 5. William L Kearny (Hon); 6. Mark Lorenu (Hon); 7. JeU Savoie (Yam); 8. PeLer H. ScuLL (Yam); 9. Jens Haener (Hon); 10. Neville Redman (Yam). f·USA POINT STANDINGS: I. (TLE) Chuck Graves (56)/lee Shiem (56); 3. Donald Jacks (55); 4, Michael Martin (42); 5. Joe PiLLman (27); 6. S,eve Crevier (20); 7. Benoi, Pilon (17); 8, (TIE) Joe BreLL Williams (15)/S,eve Wykes (15)/Kurl HalJ (15)/ Roben Miller (15); 12, (TIE) Mike Harth (I3)lSean Smyth (13)/Doug Renlrow (13)/AI Salavema (13); L6. William Hirnmelsbach(12); 17. (TlE)BruceTebo (II)/Keith Code (lI)/Keith PinksLal1 (II)/Linley Clark (lI)/S,ephen Mathews (1I). f·2 POINT STANDINGS: I. Kun Hall (65); 2. Don Greene (61); 3, Pe,er Wensloll (32); 4. Bruce Baldus (30); 5. Michael Graves (29); 6. Al Salaverria (22); 7. Chuck Sorensen (21); 8. Jon Cornwell (20); 9. William Himmelsbach (18); 10, (TIE) Rich Oliver (17)/Rick Tripodi (17); 12. Joe PiLLman (16); 13. (TIE) John Sharra"rd (15)/Mark Kowalski (15)/Keith Code (15)/Colin Edwards II (15); 17. (TIE) Jim Bonner (13)/S,eve McKissock (13)/Mike Sullivan (13)/Mark Orchard (15), 17

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