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RACE WATCH
Polen: Did he jump, or was he pushed?
Perhaps the most stunning piece of news as the World Superbike series prepared for its 1995 season-opener at Hockenheim in Germany was that Doug Polen, who won a trio of championships for Ducati before defecting to Honda Racing Corporation for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, is looking for a ride.
After a season of profound and apparently mutual dissatisfaction, Polen and HRC parted company in midApril. Polen told Cycle World that following Daytona, “Honda came to me, in a nice way, to find out what my thoughts were. We started discussing it, went back and forth, and I decided this was best for me and for HRC. Honda bought me out of my contract. Now I'm in control. Nobody can say to me, ‘Sorry, we do it this way.”’
Rumors from Europe suggest that Polen was fired. This Polen denies. Neil Tuxworth of Team Castrol Honda, to which Polen was contracted through HRC, didn’t respond to a faxed query on the nature of Polen’s departure.
For the three years prior to his association with Honda, it was Polen, Ferracci and Ducati, as Polen brought 851/888 Superbikes to a pair of World Superbike championships and a single AMA Superbike title in 1991, '92 and ’93, with Eraldo Ferracci turning the wrenches. It was a tight and effective little team with all the appearances of a family.
Then, with Honda about to come online with its RC45 Superbike, Polen surprised the racing community by signing with HRC. His reasons, Polen said at the time, involved wanting to experience Honda’s organization and thoroughness. But in signing-on to the Honda way, Polen apparently overestimated his own ability to conform to Honda’s ways. And he apparently discounted the competitiveness of Ducati’s then-new 916 Superbike. He thus consigned himself to a season-plus of frustration and disappointing results as he was unable to come to terms with Honda’s slow-to-develop racebike, which seemed to suit teammate Aaron Slight far better than it suited Polen.
In making his move to Honda, Polen burned his bridges with Ferracci and Ducati. Now, says Ferracci, “He can never be on one of my Ducatis. He broke his contract with me and caused me grief and embarrassment with the factory. They told me, ‘Ferracci, we thought you had everything under control.’ Now, I consider him to be just another customer. It’s the same with the factory, I think.”
Speaking of his reasons for departing his Honda World Superbike ride, Polen said, “Daytona was very difficult. The motorcycle wasn’t working the way I wanted it to, and trying to get that point across was very difficult. I’d been there (with HRC) for a year of that. Honda was different from what I’d expected. It’s not anything I want to comment on. I’m not out to > slam anybody. Last year was just very difficult. Even when things went right, we struggled.”
What next? The Laguna Seca round of the AMA Superbike series in April saw Polen aboard a rented ex-Ferracci 955cc Ducati 888 for a one-off ride. A gamble with tires did not give Polen the result he’d hoped for. He finished 13th, after being gridded in 3 1st position, a lap down, on the restart of a rain-delayed race. Freddie Spencer convincingly won the Laguna race, his first AMA Superbike victory as lead rider for the Ferracci team.
Team Castrol Honda said through a press release that it will conclude this season with Slight as its sole World Superbike rider.
Meanwhile, European press reports that John Kocinski will occupy the vacant RC45 World Superbike seat at Team Castrol Honda appear to be premature. Kocinski’s companion and spokesperson, Totti Latorre, said Cycle World’s query about this was the first she’d heard of it.
“John is training hard for professional water skiing and he’s very serious about this. He might not return to motorcycle racing this year,” Latorre said.
Will Kevin Schwantz call it quits?
ICevin Schwantz, bothered by lingering effects of hip and wrist injuries suffered during the 1994 racing season, announced in early May that he’d sit out the Spanish and German Grands Prix in the hope that he’d be strong enough to be effective by the time of the Italian GP in mid-June.
But there are indications that Schwantz, who earlier announced that the 1995 season will be his final year of GP competition, may not return.
Schwantz, 500 GP’s 1993 world champion, raced the first three rounds of this season aboard his Suzuki, but was said to be suffering because of his injuries.
“It’s clear that by the time he got to Japan he was having problems with his hip as well as his wrist. He was in constant discomfort and unable to sleep,” said Garry Taylor, Suzuki’s team manager.
Sleep isn’t the only problem. Schwantz apparently is unable to lock his left wrist to fully support himself during the heavy braking that is so much a feature of his riding style.
“This is a massive drawback. We’re obviously worried about the situation,” said Taylor.
Following the Japanese GP, in which he finished sixth after winning the event four times in previous years, Schwantz sought advice from his physicians in Texas. He was told to take some time off to allow his injuries to heal.
Jim Schwantz, Kevin’s father, told reporters in Europe that the odds on Kevin’s return this season were no better than 50-50.
Schwantz’s comments in a Lucky Strike/Team Suzuki press release seemed to hint that he might not return to the GP circus.
“I hope that a seven-week rest will mean 1 can come back for (the Italian GP), but I’m making no promises until I see how I feel,” he said.
Taylor added, “We’re all just waiting now to give Kevin’s injuries a chance to settle down. We’re putting no pressure on him either way.”
British independent Sean Emmett will replace Schwantz for the Spanish and German races. An unofficial list of possible full-time replacements for Schwantz for the remainder of this season already is making the rounds of the GP pits. It includes Kevin McGee, Doug Polen, John Kocinski, JeanMichel Bayle and Eddie Lawson.
