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RACE WATCH
Thomas Stevens, draftdodger
It was shaping up to be yet another of Daytona 1990's hyper-competitive races. Yamaha rider Jeff Farmer was mixing it up with Vance & Hines teamsters Thomas Stevens and David Sadowski throughout the 600cc supersport race. But in this race, it was privateer Farmer who had the horsepower, not the factory riders, and by the last lap, Farmer had pulled ahead by a few bikelengths. Stevens resigned himself to second, and as he came off the banking for the final lap, he swerved sharply to keep Sadowski from drafting by. Sadowski didn’t like that.
“I got frustrated with my teammate for his antics on the banking. I thought it was pretty unsafe and unnecessary. Especially fora race that doesn’t pay enough to take the crew out to dinner,” said Sadowski. “It upset me for a while, but I had time to gather my composure in the trailer. I sat by myself for a halfhour and cooled down and focused my attention on the 200.”
Stevens didn’t understand the problem. “That was some of my250 racing showing. If I didn't swerve, he would have had me~" he said.
CONTINUED
Daytona 250 GP highs and lows
It was tough for Team Marlboro's Rich Oliver to celebrate his victory in the Daytona 2 50cc GP class. Even though he overcame a severe hand injury (sustained in practice) to win the race by a wide margin, his thoughts were with teammate Gary Cowan. Cowan crashed while lead ing early in the race and was seri ousl injured. `I'm worried about Gary right now,~' Oliver said im mediately after winning. "He's con cerned when I go down, and I feel the same about him."
Cowan, who lost control of his Yamaha on the 3 1-degree banking and tumbled to the bottom of the track, currently has not regained movement in his legs. The Irishman earned Kenny Roberts' attention last year for his aggressive riding style. so Team Roberts had Cowan take John Kocinski's place in the U.S., while Kocinski would race with Cowan's number 19 in Europe. Now, Oliver will hold up the Rob erts banner in the U.S. by himself.
