You can point to very few races as seminal or game changing, but the 1986 Suzuki GSXR Cup Finals at Road Atlanta was one such event. The GSXR1100 final was simply unbelievable with the race coming down to Doug Polen and Dan Chivington. Chivington turned in one of the all-time great last laps in American road racing to take the victory. “Everyone else had 1mm overbore on their bikes,” Chivington recalls. “Mine was stock bore and it would get killed off the corner, but on the big end I could draft by them with no problem since my bike would whistle on up another couple hundred RPM. I stuffed David Emde in that same turn back in my 250 days and pretty much did the same thing to Polen. I drafted by at the last possible second on the back straightaway and then if you’re going to outbrake me you’re going to end up in the pit lane.” The Suzuki GSXR Cup for the first time paid club racers enough money that if they won they could actually turn a profit. It also helped launch what would become the most successful line of sports motorcycles of all time.
Doug Polen leads Ron Ewerth and Dan Chivington in the 1986 Suzuki GSXR1100 Cup Final held during the WERA Grand National Final at Road Atlanta in November of 1986. Chivington took over the lead on the final lap to win the race. (Larry Lawrence photo)