Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE B ubba Shobert and Doug Polen took completely dif- ferent paths to motorcycle racing stardom. Both were Texans – Shobert, a native born from the West Texas town of Lubbock; Polen, who moved to a Dal- las suburb when he was a kid. Shobert's family was in the meat business and Bubba's personality reflected the down-home friendliness of someone from a ranch- ing community. Polen's dad was a tech man, working for Xerox and Doug reflected that upbringing, being an early techie - into laptops, cell phones, the internet and digital video well before any of those technologies came into the mainstream. Slow talking, but with a quick wit, when Shobert spoke people listened because he chose his words carefully and his dialog was often filled with humorous anecdotes. Polen, on the other hand, had a semi-Texas accent, but the pace of conversation was more remi- niscent of someone from the urban East Coast. He had such broad interests and was an expert in so many things, he found it hard to throttle back when in con- versations and as a result he sometimes came across as cocky. In addition to their contrasting personalities, Shobert and Polen came into racing prominence by completely different paths. From his youth, Shobert learned his craft on the dusty dirt tracks of Texas. Polen came to racing on his own later in life as pure road racer, hav- ing been part of a seemingly unending string of riders who emerged from Texas club racing to become leading road racers of the country and ultimately the world. Even though they came from the same state and both were motorcycle racers of roughly the same age (with Polen slightly older), the two probably never raced against one another before 1986 or '87. The divergent paths of Shobert and Polen finally in- tersected in a big way during one intense season of Superbike racing. The year was 1988. AMA Superbike fans were fresh off of enjoying one of the most hotly contested campaigns between epic competitors Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey. Shobert vs. Polen wasn't quite as heated a rivalry as Rainey-Schwantz, but the competition was nearly as good. While not great friends, Polen and Shobert seemed to at least have mutual re- spect for one another and when they interacted, there wasn't the palpable tension you'd feel between Schwantz and Rainey. But 1988 was still a big clash and a continuation of the famous Honda vs. Suzuki Superbike battle of the era. It was also a tire war with Shobert on Michelin and Polen with Dunlop. Shobert was an established star coming off an in- credible run of three consecutive AMA Grand National championships. He was really digging into becoming a road racer by now and obviously had the talent for the job, something fans first realized when he shocked the road racing establishment four years earlier by riding a specially built Honda to the AMA Formula One win in the rain at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Never had a rider with so little pavement experience been able to come in and show the nation's best road racers the way around the track. Polen conversely was at the start of his meteoric rise from club racing standout. It was fairly obvious from the start of the year that the '88 AMA Superbike title would be between Shobert and Polen. Polen took the early advantage. He finished second to Schwantz in the Daytona 200. Shobert's bike was running so badly on the warm-up lap that he pitted to have it looked at by his crew. For whatever reason a "burping" of the quick-fill fitting did the trick and Shob- ert's factory Honda VFR750 fired to life after the rest of the field was off and running. He managed to mini- mize the damage though by gradually slicing his way A TALE OF TWO TEXANS P116

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