Rider Files

Alan Scott (44) leads teammate Kenny Roberts Jr. (17) along with Michael Graves (177) and Danny Walker (101) in an April of 1991 WERA AirTech Formula 2 race at Willow Springs Raceway. Nick Ienatsch (not shown) won the race with Scott hanging on for second over Roberts Jr. Graves took fourth.

Alan Scott (44) leads teammate Kenny Roberts Jr. (17) along with Michael Graves (177) and Danny Walker (101) in an April of 1991 WERA AirTech Formula 2 race at Willow Springs Raceway. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Mike Brown (3) leads the pack at the start of Anaheim I in 2003. You can also clearly see Chad Reed (22), Michael Byrne (32), Daryl Hurley (106) and Larry Ward (10). Reed won the race. This photo was taken from an aisle on the front row with an Olympus E-100RS with a Olympus B300 1.7x extender attached. This made the little Olympus digi-cam into a 600mm beast. The 1 megapixel sensor didn’t offer much resolution, but for small images for the web it worked fine.

Mike Brown (3) leads the pack at the start of Anaheim I in 2003. You can also clearly see Chad Reed (22), Michael Byrne (32), Daryl Hurley (106) and Larry Ward (10). (Larry Lawrence photo)

In 1987 Doug Chandler was transitioning from a career in AMA Grand National Flat Track to road racing. He got a ride on a Freddie Spencer Racing/SuperTrapp Honda 750 Interceptor in AMA Superbike. For being a Superbike rookie Chandler proved to be a quick learner. He was a consistent top-10 and then top-five finisher. His experience on Formula 1 bikes over the previous three seasons had to help.

Here at Mid-Ohio, on Aug. 2, 1987, he finished fifth behind Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Jimmy Filice and Bubba Shobert. On this day he finished ahead of road racing specialist such as Doug Polen, Gary Goodfellow and Dan Chivington.

By the end of the year Chandler earned his first AMA Superbike podium in Sonoma, Calif.

Doug Chandler en route to a fifth-place finish in the 1987 Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike race. Chandler raced a Honda VF750 sponsored by Freddie Spencer. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Kurt Hall (60) gives chase to Canadian Jeff Gaynor (228) in a WERA B Superbike race at what looks to be Roebling Road. Gaynor held on to win this race over Hall. Gaynor recorded two Canadian Superbike National wins during his racing career.

Jeff Gaynor (228) and Kurt Hall (60) battle in a WERA B Superbike race. Gaynor won. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Bruce Lind in full tuck exiting a turn at Seattle International Raceway in 1991 on the Hutchins Racing Yamaha. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Washington State rider Bruce Lind’s racing career spans over 40 years. He began racing motorcycles in the mid-1960s and as far as I know he’s still racing today. He was driver of a three-time AMA Sidecar Championship winning team with the late Jack Hart in the mid-1980s and he continued his professional career in the AMA 250 Grand Prix class through the late 1990s. In 1999 he scored a seventh-place finish at Brainerd in his last year on the pro circuit.

Here Lind races the Hutchins Racing Yamaha in a WERA Six Hour National Endurance at Seattle International Raceway in 1991. Lind teamed with Mark Haskins that day to finish third overall on the Stewart Hutchins-built FZR1000.

The crew swarms around the Dutchman Racing Suzuki during an endurance race pit stop. Tom Kipp sits on the bike ready to ride. Dutchman Racing was the most successful endurance team in AMA racing. The team won the AMA Endurance/SuperTeams Series three years in a row, from 1989 to 1991.

Dutchman Racing makes a pit stop during an endurance race in the early 1990s. Rider Tom Kipp sits on the bike. (Larry Lawrence photo)

This is a photo Doug Whelan (310) will be proud to show friends and family for years to come. The rider from Marietta, Ga., was racing in his home AMA Superbike race and found himself in the right place at the right time when this photo was taken. Whelan was in front of Kevin Schwantz (34) and Wayne Rainey (behind Schwantz) as Schwantz and Rainey battled for the lead late in the 1987 Road Atlanta Superbike race. You won’t blame Doug if he fails to mention that Schwantz and Rainey were moving up to lap him. From Whelan’s point of view it’s a photo of him “ahead” of two future world champions.

Doug Whelan was in front of Kevin Schwantz (34) and Wayne Rainey (behind Schwantz) as Schwantz and Rainey battled for the lead late in the Road Atlanta Superbike race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

I didn’t have a photo pass, but that didn’t stop me from finding a vantage point to shoot the start of the Battle of the Twins race at Road America in 1984. On the far left you can just see Gene Church (8) on Lucifer’s Hammer, Harry Klinzmann (37) on aboard the Krauser BMW, Syd’s Cycle’s Malcolme Tunstall (266) and Team Leoni Cagiva’s Jimmy Adamo (1). I think that’s Devin Battley on another BMW on the outside of the front row. Adamo went on to win the race.

Gene Church (8) on Lucifer’s Hammer, Harry Klinzmann (37) on aboard the Krauser BMW, Syd’s Cycle’s Malcolme Tunstall (266) and Team Leoni Cagiva’s Jimmy Adamo (1) at the start of the 1984 Road America Battle of the Twins race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

St. Paul, Minnesota, racer Chuck Kurkowski (31), riding a Yamaha FZ600, leads Doug Polen (23) and his Honda 600 Hurricane during the very first AMA 600cc Supersport Championship race at Daytona International Speedway. Kurkowski rode to a respectable 26^th-place finish in Supersport’s debut, while Polen won the race. A total of 60 riders raced in the historic event.

Kurkowski earned his career-best AMA 600 Supersport finish of 12^th at his home track of Brainerd International Raceway later that summer. Polen went on to win the Supersport crown that year.

Chuck Kurkowski (31), riding a Yamaha FZ600, leads Doug Polen (23) and his Honda 600 Hurricane during the very first AMA 600cc Supersport Championship race at Daytona in 1987. (Larry Lawrence photo)