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RACE WATCH
Hamel dies in Baja 500 crash
An incident from every Baja racer's worst nightmare claimed the life of Kawasaki off-road star Danny Hamel, 23, during this year’s running of the Baja 500 in early June.
The nightmare involves non-race traffic, and that’s what Hamel, of Boulder City, Nevada, ran into about five miles past the early-morning En-senada start while running flat-out aboard his KX500. Hamel was rapidly making up time on the riders in front of him as he proceeded down four-lane Highway One, which leads south out of Ensenada.
The accident occurred when a local policeman engaged to provide track security tried to cross the highway in his personal car. He pulled out in front of Hamel, who was approaching at about l 10 mph. Witnesses said Hamel veered left in an unsuccessful attempt to miss the vehicle, but slammed into the car’s right side. Hamel’s bike broke in half upon impact and burst into flames.
Kawasaki Team Green manager Mark Johnson and Ron Heben, another Kawasaki staffer, whom Hamel had just passed, were among the first to reach Hamel after the incident. They called for help on the team’s radios and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation while they waited for help, which was provided by a medivac helicopter charted by SCORE International, the race organizer. Hamel was flown to Hospital Las Americas in Ensenada, but never regained consciousness.
Kawasaki spokesman Mel Moore said of the incident, “We’re still numb and in shock. What a fine young man Danny was. It’s such a tragic and needless loss.”
In the weeks immediately prior to his death, Hamel, a superbly gifted rider widely respected in the off-road racing community, clinched his fifthstraight AMA National Championship Hare & Hound title, matching the mark set by Dan Smith in 1990.
In the wake of the accident The Danny Hamel Memorial Fund, designed to assist young riders, was established in the Boulder City Federal Credit Union, Boulder City, Nevada. Those wishing to make a donation should telephone the credit union at 702/293-7777 and mention that the fund’s account number is 43878004.
Paul Fish, of SCORE International, said Hamel’s death marks the first racer-vs-non-race-traffic fatality in the history of SCORE racing in Baja California.
Russell moves, Muzzy fumes
Scott Russell’s sensational switch from Superbikes to grand prix racing, regarded within GP circles as a major coup, did not proceed altogether smoothly. The former Superbike world champ did not ride at all the first day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix, his first event with his new Suzuki team. The hold-up? Lawyers were working on a well-timed threat from Rob Muzzy, who runs the Kawasaki team Russell left in the lurch.
In the end, the operative legal opinion for Suzuki and for Lucky Strike, its GP sponsor, was that there was no problem: Russell had not broken his contract with Muzzy, which was worded in such a way that Russell was not actually named as Muzzy's rider. Friday's practice was over before Suzuki and Lucky Strike were sufficiently reassured to let Russell ride.
A statement from Muzzy, through Kawasaki, indicates that Muzzy is considering his options, and may seek legal redress.
Russell’s signing with Suzuki was somewhat cloak-and-dagger. After initial talks between Russell and Suzuki, Russell secretly joined Daryl Beattie to test the bike at Brno, Czechoslovakia. He lel I. breaking toes. That same weekend Russell raced in the World Superbike event at Donington Park in England, and claimed the foot injury was the result of a mountain-bike accident.
He said later of his move to Suzuki, “Ed never put the Superbikes down. It’s a great series and I’m proud to have won the title. But a grand-prix bike must be every rider's ultimate goal, and I couldn't turn down this chance.”
Comparing his Kawasaki Superbike to his Suzuki GP ride, Russell said. “They're both motorcycles, but that's as far as it goes. The GP bike is so fast and accelerates so hard—I'm clicking into sixth (on Mugcllo's front straight) before I get to the pits. The Superbike was nothing like that. The GP bike’s also lighter and stiffen You get a lot more feedback, and it turns a lot easier and quicker. I'm also having to get used to the brakes. I've ridden with carbon brakes before, but a Superbike's heavier, so it gets them up to working temperature more easily. I'm still not using them hard enough. I need to work on braking and turning-in harder, then using the power to get it out fast.”
From his first practice session to his second, Russell cut his lap time from 1:57.8 to 1:56.9 (his Superbike lap record at Mugello was 1:56.305). moving from 15th fastest to 13th.
He said, “I’m starting to enjoy this, but I’m not used to having blue (move-over) flags waved at me.”
Russell was more impressive in the morning warm-up, where he was fourth-fastest. He motored to a solid 1 1th place after getting a poor start in the race.
McGrath: Supercross superchamp. Again.
Ah, the cushion of a championship already won. It was just such a cushion that Jeremy McGrath, the AMA’s 1995 Supercross champion, rested against when it came to the running of the 250cc Supercross final in Las Vegas’s Sam Boyd Silver Bowl.
McGrath already owned the title, his third straight, which he’d clinched by capturing his 10th series victory at the San Jose Supercross. The only thing in question was this: Would he surpass his 1994 record of 10 wins in a single season with a win in Las Vegas?
Nope, he wouldn’t.
Gremlins, in the form of a comprehensive power outage that darkened much of Las Vegas, including the Silver Bowl, intervened. The show was delayed with just the 250 last-chance qualifier, and 125 and 250cc mains, left to run. It was continued only after portable lighting was towed into the cavernous stadium by a licet of pickup trucks. Riders Cliff Palmer, Mike Jones and Mike Healey took a few test laps. After they huddled with officials, the track was declared safe for racing, and the 250 final qualifier and 125 main each took place without incident.
But McGrath, his Honda teammate Doug Henry, Kawasaki pilot Mike Kiedrowski, Honda of Troy riders Brian Swink and Mike Craig, and independent Mike Jones, considered the track unsafe and sat the 250 final out.
That left the door open to Yamahamounted Jeff Emig. He originally agreed with the Unmounted Six that the track was too dangerous to race upon. He changed his mind when other riders started to line up for the final. Emig got a great start, led every lap, and took his first supercross win.
One of the other riders electing to race was Larry Ward. Good thing, too. If he'd stayed on the sidelines, he’d have lost his second-place in the standings to Emig, who in spite of his Las Vegas win finished the season in third place behind McGrath and Ward. E3
