Yoshimura history -28

#32 Doug Polen leads the pack in the 1989 Suzuka 200km, followed by his Yoshimura teammate #4 Yukiya Oshima and Yamaha factory rider #40 Yasutomo Nagai. Polen is able to ride in a way that does not put too much stress on the tires or chassis. His experience in box-stock racing, where unmodified motorcycles with grooved tires compete, is really paying off. Photo courtesy of Osamu Kidachi.

1989 Part 1, Following a Run of Bad Luck in Daytona, a Ray of Hope Shines Through the All-Japan Series

1989 Godspeed the Man

Doug Polen was a rider of a type that Fujio had never encountered before. He never pushed his riding to the limit, and avoided running away with a big lead. He would overtake his opponents in the final stages of the race to win by a narrow margin. Sometimes he would race at 100%, but he would only do that for a few laps. He races as if to say that the only thing that matters is winning, regardless of points or prize money, and that he is not concerned about the number of seconds he wins by. Off the race track, he was a quiet indoor type. His hobbies were computers, games and, since coming to Japan, pachinko (Japanese pinball). He had no interest in a life of luxury.

In 1989, Yoshimura decided to enter Polen in both the TT-F1 (GSX-R750) and TT-F3 (GSX-R400R) classes of the All-Japan Road Race Championship on a full-time basis, and he also obtained an MFJ (Motorcycle Federation of Japan) license. In order to make his life in Japan easier, Yoshimura arranged for him to live in Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture, near the company headquarters. The team was set up with Polen (two wins in the All-Japan TT-F1 the previous year, 2nd in the AMA Superbike rankings) and Yukiya Oshima (1987 All-Japan TT-F1 champion, 4th in the TT-F1 rankings the previous year, 9th in the TT-F3 rankings the previous year) in both classes.

The All-Japan season opened on March 5th at Suzuka 2&4 (only the TT-F1 class was held).

It was raining on and off on the Saturday when the qualifying round was held. In the two qualifying groups, Polen was unlucky enough to be in the group that got caught in the downpour, and he ended up on the 16th grid (4th row). Oshima, on the other hand, got the 2nd grid.

The final race was dry, but as is often the case in 2&4 races, the track surface was definitely not in good condition, with tire bits (known as “marbles” in the car racing world) and oil spills from the 4-wheel race still remaining. On the opening lap, #4 Oshima, who was in 3rd place, stopped at the Degner Curve due to electrical failure and retired. Polen was unable to advance his position as he was held up by the slower pack, and although he made up ground, he eventually finished in 4th place.

#48 Jamie James was born in Louisiana on March 9th 1961, and like Polen, he came from the GSX-R Cup Series (Suzuki offered prize money for designated races). In 1987-1988, he was a member of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, and competed in the WERA Endurance Series and AMA Supersport. In 1989, he joined Yoshimura and won the AMA Superbike and 750 Supersport title.
Photo courtesy of Yoshimura Archives.

Right after the race, Polen jumped on a plane and spent over 20 hours travelling to the US East Coast to compete in the 48th Daytona 200 in Florida. The final race was on Sunday, March 12th, but Free Practice starts on Tuesday, March 7th, so the schedule was extremely tight.

Then, in the Timed Practice (the qualifying session to determine the top 10 grid spots for the 1st and 2nd rows) on March 8th, he clocked the fastest time and took pole position. The Suzuki GSX-R750 occupied the first 6 grid positions.

In the Heat 1 of the 50-mile heat race (held with entrants split into two groups) to determine the grid for the 3rd row and beyond, #23 Pollen led the race but retired on the 3rd lap due to fuel line issues (his starting grid spot had already been decided by his pole position). In Heat 2, Yoshimura Suzuki’s young hopefuls #22 Scott Russell and #48 Jamie James finished in 1st and 2nd place.

The 57-lap Daytona 200 final race began. Russell was left stranded on the grid at the start, and as the riders behind him were unable to avoid him, the two bikes crashed, and the race was red-flagged.

The race restarted without any change to the format of the 200-mile, 57-lap race. Once again, Polen got off to a good start and took the lead. However, on Lap 6, #11 Gary Goodfellow, who was chasing Polen, slipped on an oil spill and crashed. As a result, for the first time in the history of Daytona 200, a NASCAR-style pace car was brought in for safety reasons.

The pace car lap is slow. The tires cool down and the pressure drops, and if you go off the line you will run into the tire bits. There’s no guarantee that it won’t affect the engine, either, because the radiator and oil cooler are set up for racing speeds.

After the restart of the 1989 Daytona 200 final race, Russell had to make an unscheduled pit stop due to chain adjuster issue. After the repairs, he was about to leave the pit lane, but unfortunately it was during the pace car lap, so as this photo shows, he was stopped by a marshal and put at the back of the formation. Born in the U.S. state of Georgia on October 28, 1964, Russell joined Team Yoshimura in 1989 with James, who also came from the GSX-R Cup race, and came 2nd in the AMA Superbike rankings that year.
Photo courtesy of Tomoya Ishibashi.

On Lap 11, as the pace car left the track and the race resumed, Polen took the lead. However, he slowed down after Lap 24, as his oil cooler had cracked.

This put teammate James in the lead, but the troubles for Team Yoshimura were far from over. After leading for 55 laps, James’ bike came into the pit with two dead cylinders. The pit crew suspected that he had run out of gas and sent him out with a small splash of fuel, but the actual cause was a drop in battery voltage. James managed to finish the race in 2nd place. The winner was privateer #37 John Ashmead on a Honda VFR750F, and 3rd place was #43 Kevin Rentzell on a GSX-R750.

Russell’s bike was repaired by the Yoshimura R&D staff and he managed to make it back in time for the restart, but they were unaware of the damaged chain adjuster so he had to return to the pits for repairs after the restart. In the end, he finished the race after 53 laps.

“Such an unlucky week for me. I’ve never had a week this unlucky in my life. I’ll get even at the Japan GP!” said Polen, revealing his emotions unusually intensely. However, his bad luck continued even at the Japan GP, the opening round of the World Championship at Suzuka on March 26th.

At the Japan GP, #35 Polen made his GP500 debut riding a Suzuki factory RGV-Γ. However, he had very little time to get used to the machine, and in the qualifying session on Friday he crashed, an unusual occurrence for him, and was placed on the 20th grid. In the final race, he retired after 5 laps due to brake issues. #34 Kevin Schwantz won the Japanese GP for the second year in a row, defeating #17 Wayne Rainey (Yamaha) in a match race. In 1989, both the Daytona 200 and the Japan GP were indeed unlucky races for Polen.

However, when he entered the All-Japan TT-F3, which was held in conjunction with the Japan GP, he took pole position and won the race for the first time. Regardless, it is unprecedented for a rider to enter both the World 500 Grand Prix and the All-Japan TT-F3.

Doug Polen came to Japan with his wife, Dianne. The two are always together and very close. Dianne also gets along very well with the Yoshimura crew and the All-Japan teammates, looking after them well and quickly became the star of the paddock.
Photo courtesy of Osamu Kidachi.

The Round 2 of the All-Japan TT-F1 was held on April 23rd at Suzuka. The starting grid was #32 Polen in 5th position and #4 Oshima in 6th position. The final was a rain race. Oshima finished in 3rd place and made it onto the podium. Meanwhile, Polen was plagued by a fogged-up helmet shield and finished in 11th place. His bad luck continued.

The Round 2 of the All-Japan TT-F3 was held on April 30th at the Nishi-Nihon Circuit (later renamed the Mine Circuit, but closed in 2006). There, #9 Oshima won the race from pole position. Nishi-Nihon was the race track where Oshima had honed his skills in the past, and it was here that he wrote a letter to Mamoru Moriwaki of Moriwaki Engineering, which led to his joining Yoshimura, and the start of his success story.

Round 3 of the All-Japan TT-F3 was on May 14th at Sugo, and was held in conjunction with the opening round of the World TT-F1 Championship. In the All-Japan TT-F3, #32 Polen qualified 2nd. The track surface in the final race was half-wet, but it was drying out quickly. The tire choice was cut slicks on the front and slicks on the rear. Polen, who came out on top in a close battle with #28 Nobuatsu Aoki on a Honda NSR250R in the final stages, took his second win.

In the qualifying round for the World TT-F1, Yoshimura took 1st and 2nd with #2 Polen in pole position and #23 Oshima in 2nd position. The final was dry, and Polen was unable to get the settings right and finished in 6th place. #23 Oshima was unable to catch the leading Yamaha rider #7 Michael Dawson, but he came in 3rd place in a close race.

On May 28th, at Round 3 of the All-Japan TT-F1 in Tsukuba, #32 Polen started from pole position and stayed in P2 until the middle of the race, and as if he could foresee the whole race, he took the lead on Lap 11 of the 25-lap final race, and crossed the finish line to take his first All-Japan TT-F1 victory in 1989. #4 Oshima, who was fighting for 2nd place, crashed out with 5 laps to go.

At the 1989 Suzuka 200km, Team Yoshimura achieved a 1-2 finish with the winning #32 Polen (center) and 2nd place #4 Oshima (left). 3rd place went to #40 Nagai from the Yamaha factory. Polen reads the race and follows the strategy he has prepared in advance. Even if the race develops in an unexpected way, there are always several countermeasures ready. So he never loses his cool.
Photo courtesy of Osamu Kidachi.

The Suzuka 200km on June 11th, which is considered a warm-up race for the Suzuka 8 Hours, is Round 4 for both the All-Japan TT-F1 and TT-F3. In the TT-F3, #32 Polen, who took pole position, carefully started with slick tires on the front and rear while observing the half-wet track surface. He took the lead after 4 laps and gradually pulled away from the 2nd place rider to win the race.

The 200km TT-F1 race started in perfect dry and sunny conditions. Starting from pole position, #32 Polen set off cautiously and rounded the opening lap in 4th. Then, with some of the other riders experiencing machine failures and crashes, he took the lead on Lap 14, and although he dropped back a little after a pit stop, he regained the lead on Lap 25 and went on to take the checkered flag. 2nd place went to #4 Oshima, who had won a close battle with Yamaha rider #40 Yasutomo Nagai, giving Yoshimura a 1-2 finish.

In Round 5 of the TT-F3 at Tsukuba on June 25th, #32 Polen finished 5th. And in Round 5 of the TT-F1 at Sugo on July 9th, #32 Polen finished 2nd and #4 Oshima finished 6th.

To be Continued in Part 2 (Episode 29)

Stories and photos supplied by Yoshimura Japan / Osamu Kidachi / Tomoya Ishibashi
Written by Tomoya Ishibashi
Edited by Bike Bros Magazines
Published on August 14, 2024

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