Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: ROllIld 7 e Donald Jacks won both legs of the F-USA race at Moroso Motorsports Park. Jacks, Oliver dominate Moroso By Brent Plummer WF5T PALM BEACH, FL, sm. 20-21 onald Jacks dominated every aspect of Formula USA competition at Moroso Motorsports Park. From timed qualifying, where he easily assumed the pole position with nearly a second and a half to spare over his closest competitor, to the two-leg F-USA feature event itself, in which he ran away to a pair of convincing wins. In doing so, Jacks pocketed the $5000 winner's share of the $17,650 F-USA purse. "I did everything I could," said Michael Martin, Jacks' Valvoline Suzuki teammate, after taking second in both legs and second overall. "I went faster at Moroso than I ever had before, but Jacks' speed and home-track advantage were too much for me to beat," Last year's highest placing four-stroke rider, Chuck Graves (who took third overall at Moroso in 1991 behind the two Marlboro Yamaha YZR500s>- was disabled and out of competition even before Friday's timed qualifying. Graves crashed in an early practice session and broke his left collarbone. Fritz Kling, who managed to get more time off from his night-shift carpentry job and made the long drive from Michigan to southern Florida, finished third overall on the Dutchman Suzuki GSXRllOO. Ex-Two Brothers Racing tuner Mike Velasco was on hand at Moroso, helping out Jacques Guenette with his Action Accessories Yamaha OW01 superbike and the pair m~st have worked well together because, Guenette took fourth overall, and was the highest placing superbike rider on the weekend. "Our (Team America) endurance bike . is still basically Supersport-spec," said fifth place finisher Michael Barnes. "But even with a slower bike, it was great racing with the Formula guys." Indeed, Barnes was charging hard, and if given 40 D 16 or 50 more horsepower, he would surely have run with the front-runners. Top two-stroke honors were earned by Moto-Liberty's Danny Walker, who scored sixth overall on his Yamaha TZ250, and led a slew of similarly mounted riders home: Red Line Oil's Rich Oliver, Doug Carmichael, Hall'N'Still's Bruce Baldus and Dianetics' Donny Greene rounded out the top 10,.and all rode Yamaha TZ250s. Speculation was heavy before Friday'S official timed qualifying - a huge field had showed for Moroso, and who would. be the fastest? Valvoline Suzuki's Jacks, Martin, and Graves had proven themselves fast at Moroso a year ago; Yoshimura's David Sadowski had been breathing more fire into his Suzuki GSXR750 Superbike; former Daytona 200 winner John Ashmead had Scott Russell's 1991 Muzzy Kawasaki superbike and home track advantage; and there were a slew of wildcards present. Kling had been nothing short of brilliant this year in FUSA, and was hoping for another win; and Guenette was also searching for an upset victory, as was regional fast-guy Mark Chin. But Jacks also benefited from the "home track advantage," and had his Suzuki GSXR1100-based machine working well right out of the truck. "It's not hard at all to get the bike fast here," said a relaxed Jacks before qualifying. "There are no bumps, no place where it gets light (over elevation changes) - it's easy to set a bike up here - you could probably have it totally off and still go fast. I feel really good about this race, if the bike holds up, it should be a good one forme." Jacks' feelings proved to be correct, because he set pole position at a oneminute, 20.6-seconds, and the only com-. Michael Martin finished second overall, with two second place finishes. plications came the next morning when he grenaded second gear in his transmission and coasted in to the pits. Jacks' tuner, Tom Houseworth, soon had the bike up and running again, and the path was cleared for Jacks to dominate the rest of the weekend. Graves did not even get a chance to qualify. "I was braking for turn five, and the front end just washed out," said Graves of the crash which broke his collarbone. . Martin earned second on the grid with a 1:22.07: "Qualifying went fair," he said. "I really didn't get a chance to do some full speed practice. We were trying to do a few things, trying to get the bike to run better. But I never do that well in qualify. ing, second for me was just fine." Many placed their faith in Yoshimura's Sadowski, who had a midsized "Don' Juan" (named after Yoshimura's engine builder, Don Sakakura) 880cc Cosworth kit installed in his otherwise AMA Superbike-spec Suzuki GSXR. "The new (88Occ) motor is great," said Sadowski. "The power delivery is very smooth, so I don't have to fight the swingarm going into violent gyrations as the power suddenly comes on, like it does with the 750cc motor." Sadowski, io his first appearance at Moroso Motorsports Park, qualified third overall with a 1:22.50. But even the best of motors does a racer little good if the power cannot get to the ground, as Sadowski well knows. "The power of the motor is exceeding the clutch's capacity," explained Sadowski after the first leg, in which he had been pitched off the bike after the slipping clutch - which was fried off the starting line - suddenly grabbed in midcomer, resulting in a violent highside. Sadowski, who has an uncanny ability to walk away from the worst of accidents, was not injured, though terribly sore, and did not return for the second leg. The next eight qualifiers - occupying 'the fourth through 11th spots - all ran times in the 1:23 range. Kling edged Michael Barnes by one-hundredth of a second for fourth overall, and Walker did the same to Oliver for sixth. Behind Oliver came Yamaha FZR1000-mounted ,Chin, and Jamie Bowman aboard his Yamaha TZ250. Ashmead rounded out the top 10, followed by Guenette in 11tho Formula USA The big question at the start of the first F-USA heat revolved around Graves, and whether or not he would race. The championship was on the line entering this second-to-Iast round, and Graves trailed Jack~ by a single point; he was det.ermined to compete. A friend of Team Valvoline Suzuki's, Dr. John Marshall, was on hand as a spectator and viewed the X-rays that Graves had brought back with him from.his brief hospital stay on Saturday morning. Marshall's answer was grim - due to the knife-edged horizontal break in the collarbone, there was a severe risk that if Graves crashed again: a major artery would be severed, and considering that the closest hospital was 20 minutes away, Graves' prospects of recovery were not very good. No advice came down from the Valvoline Suzuki management - they would not decide the championship between teammates. Still, Graves was determined to race. But when Sunday rolled around, Marshall phoned in with worse news; there was a nerve packet near the bone that could be cut, so even if Graves survived another crash, he could lose the use of his left arm, permanently. To the team's and everyone else's relief, this swayed Graves and he wisely sat out the race. And so Jacks was left without his main competition. At the flag to start the first race, the Floridian dashed straight into the lead, an uncharacteristic move for the normally slow starting Jacks. Martin was close for the opening lap, as were Kling, Ashmead, Guenette, Sadowski, Chin, Barnes, Oliver and Walker - all strung along in a huge train of racers. . Sadowski went out on the second lap, his faltering clutch locking up mid-eomer.

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