Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1992 07 08

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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> ~ ROADRACE AMA Superbike National Championship_: _OU_Dd_7 R ~ Championship leader Scott Russell (17) leads the superbike field on the opening lap of the National at Road America. Russell (17), Jamie James (2), Thomas Stevens (1) and Freddie Spencer (19) fight for the lead; The foursome was soon whittled down to three with James taking the win. James heats it up at Road America By Paul Carruthers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 28 ne rider had hetter cornering speed, one had the fastest motorcycle, and one was a little better on the brakes. It all added up to a stirring three-rid!,!r battle that went the distance, giving Road America the best race of the AMA Superbike season thus far. In the end, you could chalk it up to the late braking of Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie James. James, using his AP Lockheed carbon fiber disc brakes to the fullest, won for the second time this season, this time after a thrilling battle with Muzzy Kawasaki's Scott Russell and O 6 Two Brothers Racing's Freddie Spencer. The race came down to the final three laps. At that point, James, who only the day before was sick with the flu, was able to get by a lapped rider a little cleaner than his two pursuers and that proved to be the difference. Still, after 16-laps and 6Q miles of ferocious action, James only just won, by .516-of-a-second over Russell with Spencer less than a full tick of the clock behind in third place. The win was James' second straight at Road America and the fourth of his career, and this one came in front of a crowd estimated at 35,000. For his efforts, James claimed the $6900 of the $37,500 superb ike purse, averaging 104.012 mph in completing the 60 miles in 34 minutes, 36.681 seconds on his Jim Leonard-tuned Yamaha FZR750RR. Riding to a lonely fourth place was James' Vance & Hines Yamaha teammate Larry Schwarzbach. The Texan tried to keep pace with the lead -group, but eventually lost touch to finish fourth, matching his previous career best. Defending AMA Superbike National Champion Thomas Stevens was with the lead trio until the 13th lap when tire failure forced him to back off, allowing Schwarzbach to move by, and dropping the Floridian to fifth. Veteran Randy Renfrow turned in a remarkable ride to finish sixth on the McMurter Racing Honda RC30, in his, first superbike ride since serIously injuring his right hand prior to the 1991 season. It w,as just like old times, with Renfrow battling longtime rival Dale Quarterley to the finish line, with the Team Mirage Kawasaki rider settling for seventh place. Fast By Fe-rracci's Pascal Picotte weathered through a front-end problem to finish seventh, ahead of Two Brothers Racing's Steve Crevier. Camel Honda's Tom Kipp, meanwhile, never matched his fifth-fastest qualifying pace and finished the day in lOth place. James' vIctory moved him three points closer to Russell in the championship point standings, but he still trails the Georgian by a substantial 17 _ points with only two races remaining in the nine-race series. Picotte is third with 70 points, two ahead of Stevens and seven ahead of the tie between his absent teammate Doug Polen, who was busy trying to defend his World Superbike Championship in Austria, and Spencer. Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the start of the 6O-mile National, held at the impeccable Road America ......,..-- _ facility. With the drop of the flag, Russell led the way as the 24-rider field headed down the ultra-long front straight and into the high-speed, righthand turn one. At the end of the first lap, the Kawasaki rider still led, with Spencer, James, Stevens, Yoshimura Suzuki's Dave Sadowski, Picotte and Schwarzbach in close company. By the second lap, the top four had broken away, still led by Russell, with Picotte, . Schwarzbach and Sadowski forming another group in a battle for fifth. By the third lap it became obvious that Russell, who qualified a full second quicker than Spencer (see qualifying sidebar), wasn't going to be able to leave the others behind. In fact, it was James leading across the stripe on the third go around, happy with an engine change that featured a different gea.rbox. Russell, Stevens and Spencer followed closely, some two seconds clear of Schwarzbach, who in turn had left Picotte and Sadowski behind. Russell led laps four, five and six; James led seven and eight; Russell led lap nine; James had another tum on lap 10; Russell took it back for laps 11, 12 and 13; and James held the honors on lap 14 and 15, obviously the most important. Spencer, meanwhile, was with them throughout. James' break had come on the 13th lap, as he clicked off the unofficial quickest lap of the race - a 1:17.05. With that he took the lead. A couple of lapped riders ("They shut the door on me," Russell said. "The second guy came down on me," Spencer added. "1 should give him a bonus," James joked), and SQme hard braking was the difference. "1 don't know if they (his carbonfiber front discs) were a factor," James said later. "I've always been later on the brakes here than anybody else. I had a little in store, I saw a lapped rider, made a good, clean pass and put my head down. I got a good drive (out of the final corner, turn 14) and weaved like crazy." At that point, there was nothing Russell or Spencer could do about it. Spencer' tried to go under Russell in the final comer, but he knew even if he did it wouldn't do any good. The very powerful Kawasaki would have simply drafted by before the finish line. "The only way I would have beaten him was to Shut the door and take him out," Spencer, who used Michelin tires while the other two used Dunlops, said with a smile. "1 knew he could draft by. Neither of ~s (James or Spencer) could have gotten by him if he led on the front straight." Spencer had stayed with the lead duo by being able to run higher cornering speeds: "1 commend Jamie and Scott both," Spencer said. "I've run many close races and this was a lot of fl,m." With hindsight being 20/20, Russell thought he may have chosen the wrong compound rear Dunlop, opting for the harder 474 rather than the softer 624. "Jamie (James) used a 624," Russell explained. "That's the tire I qualified on, but I tried it this morning for a race dis, tance and it tore it to shreds. It's just something about the Kawasaki. He (James) gambled, but I was in the points lead so I hasl to b~ safe. I had to trade off a lot of grip to finish the race. I was sideways everywhere, but that's okay - we finished." Stevens, who opted for' the 624 Dunlop, said the tire choice had nothing to do with his tire problem, stating that he thought the problem may have been a construction failure. "From lap five on I told my crew I was going to go for it," Stevens said. "1 moved to secqnd and was ready to go

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