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RACE WATCH
Russell leads Daytona assault
It’s confirmed: Scott Russell is back on a Superbike. The affable Georgian swore off four-strokes when he defected from Kawasaki midway through last season’s World Superbike Series to chase the 500cc grand prix crown for Suzuki. Now, “Mr. Daytona” is looking for his thirdstraight win and a chance to put his name in the record books as the only man to walk away with four victories in the Daytona 200.
Considering that the all-new GSXR750 is an unproven wildcard, Russell’s was a tough decision. Point blank, he said early on, “I’m not coming back to Daytona to get beat by a Kawasaki.” After extensive testing in December, Russell gave the thumbsup to his Lucky Strike team bosses. He posted a best unofficial lap time of 1:50.60 at Michelin’s three-day tire test, less than a second off his track record of 1:49.85. For comparison, Brit John Reynolds and Aussie Kirk McCarthy, who will be running the entire WSB series for Suzuki, were about 2 seconds off Russell’s pace. “Testing has shown me that the bike is > in the ballpark, but we’ve still got some work to do,” admitted Russell.
Mike Hale and teammate Troy Corser, who will be riding Daytona and then contesting the World Superbike Series for the Promotor Ducati team, set the best times of the Michelin test on Fast By Ferracci-prepped ’96 machines. Hale unofficially shattered Russell’s lap record by .37 second. Corser also snuffed Russell with a 1:49.60.
The Fast By Ferracci U.S. team, now consisting of Aussie Damon Buckmaster, recently signed Shawn Higbee and ex-flat-tracker Larry Pegram, was also at the session, but on last year’s equipment. The latter pair ran in the 1:52 range, while Buckmaster, in his first outing at the intimidating track, posted high 55s.
Ten days earlier, at Dunlop’s Daytona tests, the new Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-7RRs were the fastest bikes on the track, as Anthony Gobert posted a 1:50.73-almost a full second better than he pulled off last March. Team Owner Rob Muzzy was his usual calm self, saying, “This is the first time the
new Superbikes have turned a wheel. We anticipate some teething problems, but you always have that with new machinery.” If there were problems, Mike Smith and Doug Chandler ignored them. The new U.S. duo turned in 1:50.86 and 1:51.0 times, respectively.
To nobody’s surprise, Miguel Duhamel led the the Honda team. With a fast lap of 1:50.89, he eclipsed his race qualifying time of last year by almost a half-second. New Smokin’ Joe’s teammate Steve Crevier, in his first major outing on the RC45, was almost 3 seconds off the pace.
The biggest surprises came out of the Yoshimura camp. Pascal Picotte turned out to be the most rapid Suzuki rider, taking his ’96 GSX-R around Daytona half a second faster than Russell did at the Michelin tests.
In the Vance & Hines Yamaha camp, Tom Kipp and World Superbike contender Colin Edwards did almost identical 1:50.99 and 1:51.0 lap times. In Jamie James’ absence, Kipp was a busy man: He had five Superbikes and two supersport machines to sort out.
Under the Harley tent, Chris Carr and new teammate Thomas Wilson were looking for horsepower. Both went faster than Chandler did on the VR1000 last year, but couldn’t better a 1:54.32. Of his very first outing on the bike, Wilson said, “The chassis is pretty stable and helps make up for the power deficit. I don’t expect to kick butt and take names, but hope it’s a bit more than a year of development.”
Team Green wins eighth-straight Baja 1000
Covering l l 46 miles in just 19 hours and 31 minutes, the Kawasakimounted trio of Ty Davis, Ted Hunnicutt and Paul Krause beat every bike, truck and most light aircraft to the finish of the Baja 1000. Mounted on a KX500, Davis took control of the race at the 12-mile mark from Johnny Campbell, who was teamed with Cycle World Off-Road Editor Jimmy Lewis on a factory-sponsored Honda XR628. Davis, the recently crowned National Enduro Champion, held a 15-minute lead over Campbell at the end of his 450-mile sprint. After completing his own 680-mile (!) dash, Campbell handed the bike to Lewis, who fruitlessly chased the Team Green speedsters for 466 miles through the dark. Lewis, less than happy with second place, said, “This was a great opportunity-the perfect bike, the perfect team, everything.”
Would he do it again? “I’m over Baja; it’s too dangerous,” said Lewis, who is preparing for the 15-day Granada-to-Dakar rally. “There are twice the people there used to be, 10 times the cars and five times the cows, it’s just not safe. Everyone I pre-ran with hit a cow, it was berserk.”
In the end, Krause brought the big Kawasaki in eight minutes ahead of Lewis, the winning team averaging 58.72 mph for the duration. With joy and sorrow surrounding its eighthstraight victory in the 1000, Team Green dedicated this win to the late Danny Hamel, who was killed at the Baja 500 earlier in the year.
Chris Carr, a rookie?
According to top AMA honchos, former Grand National Dirt Track Champion Chris Carr was the most impressive roadrace rookie of 1995. That’s why they bestowed upon him Superbike Rookie of the Year honors at the 1995 AMA awards banquet, held in Las Vegas.
And which of the nominees took Pro Athlete of the Year award? How about 250cc Supercross and Motocross Champ Jeremy McGrath? Nah, he only won 17 of the 26 major
U.S. races he entered this year. Carr, the racing chameleon? Forget it, he couldn’t even decide if he wanted to be a roadracer or a dirt-tracker this year; and hey, he only won three races and finished third overall in the dirt and 12th in the Superbike ranks. Okay, what about hillclimber Paul Pinsonnault? Too obscure, besides, this third-generation hillclimber has only three national titles to his credit. Dirt-tracker Scott Parker? No way, he competed in just one class all season long and only walked off with 10 of the 23 races he started. You say it must be double roadracing champ Miguel Duhamel, the man who singlehandedly threw U.S. roadracing on its collective ear with six-straight Superbike wins and nine 600cc supersport victories? Precisely.
All the King’s men
King Kenny Roberts’ 500cc grand prix castle has a new group of characters. Team Marlboro Roberts, with three 500cc titles to its credit, has been in flux since the career-ending injuries of three-time world champion Wayne Rainey during the 1993 season. Last year, an uncompetitive > YZR500 and a Dunlop tire factory crippled by the Kobe earthquake almost conspired to burn down the King’s empire. Even a pair of lateseason victories from Italian Luca Cadalora and some strong showings from Japanese newcomer Norifumi Abe couldn’t please KR or his main sponsor, tobacco giant Marlboro.
Though he admits that his team has the most monetary support in the paddock, Roberts blames his problems on a shrinking budget. “Winning has a way of making people complacent,” he says. “Yamaha won three championships in a row (1990, ’91 and ’92) and there were some
people asking us to slow down. We won and won and won; the budget got smaller and smaller and smaller; the competition got better and better and better. At some point, it just had to catch up with us.”
With all this turmoil, the rumors flew. It was said that Roberts had lost his drive. He talked to other manufacturers about buying bikes, he tried to snag world champ Mick Doohan away from Honda, he even considered selling the team and getting out of racing.
Instead, Roberts is, in effect, starting over. Cadalora is out, Abe stays and in a surprise move, Kenny Roberts Jr. and Jean-Michel Bayle move up from the 250 class to ride YZR500s.
Roberts is quite excited about the prospects of getting back to what he likes best, bringing up-and-coming riders to the forefront. The three-time world champion ignited the American reign in grand prix racing in 1978 and wants to see it continue. Nostalgically, he says, “I’d just like to hear our national anthem played again.” □
