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RACE WATCH
Daytona Beach business as usual
While Aaron “Where’d He Come From” Yates was busy giving the new Suzuki GSX-R its first major race win in 750 Supersport and Miguel Duhamel was upsetting Scott Russell’s try for a Florida “four-peat,” the rest of Bike Week’s races went pretty much according to plan.
Just as in 1991, Duhamel pulled off a Daytona double, winning the 600 Supersport trophy in addition to his 200Miler crown. The defending champ gunned his Smokin’ Joe’s Honda F3 into the lead from the start of the rain-
postponed race and reeled off nearflawless laps. Even a red-flag restart with four laps remaining couldn’t derail Duhamel, who took his fourth 600class victory at the super-speedway.
No surprises in the 250 GP race, either, where Yamaha-mounted Rich Oliver spanked the competition once again-and immediately had to fend off questions about his two-year-plus domination of the 250 series. “Some people have said that I’m a detriment to the class,” he said. “I don’t know how to take that. How would you feel if you go out and do your job as best you can, and people say you should leave? How do you win in that argument?”
Speaking of domination, Jeremy McGrath continued his utter authority over U.S. motocross, taking the lead of the Daytona Supercross midway through >
the first lap and leaving the rest of the 30-rider field to dispute runner-up positions. The win was McGrath’s first on the hybrid SX track carved out of the tri-ovals’ grassy infield. “I wanted to win this one bad and I had to go out and get it,” said McGrath, the AMA’s all-time supercross win leader.
Down the road at Daytona’s Municipal Stadium, the AMA’s steel-shoe battalion got the 1996 Grand National Championship underway with a 600cc short-track race. Will Davis used ATK power to work his way up from a mid>
pack start to take the lead of the 16th circuit of the 25-lap national. The good news for Davis is that he takes the series points lead into the next round, the Pomona Half-Mile; the bad news is that Daytona, the series’ only short-track, is hardly a precursor for the remaining 23 races that make up the GNC season.
Catch this!
A few Superbikes seen at Daytona this spring were already wearing the oilcatch fairings that AMA Superbike rules will require later this year. The idea is to stop, or at least slow, the flow of oil from an engine blow-up onto the racetrack. To quote the rulebook, “The fairing bottom section must be constructed in such a fashion as to form a fluid catch pan capable of retaining a minimum of 3 quarts of liquid. In the event of a major engine/case failure, less fluid will reach the racing surface and the competitor’s rear tire.”
This idea comes from the German national series, where it was implemented last year, and has stimulated a lot of discussion. “Ever try to carry 3 quarts of liquid in a flat tray without spilling?” some ask. “What about when it rains?” others want to know. “Nearby hot exhaust pipes are sure to cause a fire,” assert others.
We agree that the rule is incomplete, but we also believe it contains the germ of something useful. Baffles and/or absorbent materials, plus a “rain-drain” may be necessary to flesh out the concept, but oil on the track has always been a random race-stop>
per and major cause of accidents and injuries. There is even unofficial discussion of the possible requirement of an “engine diaper” in the form of a woven kevlar bag around crankcases. Just how this item would be protected from exhaust-pipe heat isn’t yet clear, but the goal of keeping oil off the track is a worthy one.
Another new and progressive rule that will be put in place for the 1997 season reads, “All Superbikes must be equipped with a dual-system front brake master cylinder capable of providing braking force in the event of brake component failure in one system of the front brake assembly.”
Representatives of brake system manufacturers AP/Lockheed and Brembo were at Daytona and had planned preliminary discussions of how to accomplish this. Such a dual system would, for example, have prevented Eddie Lawson’s 1990 USGP crash, caused by a brake-pad-retention pin having somehow dropped out of one caliper.
NASB’s claim to fame
In its infancy last year, the North American Sport Bike Series (known then as the North American Superbike Series) was doing all it could to draw the factory teams away from the AMA roadrace series. Although this didn’t happen, the NASB is back with a revised and expanded program tailored to privateer racers.
When the NASB kicked off Camel Motorcycle Week at Daytona, its new premier class, Formula USA, surprisingly discouraged the participation of works teams via an aggressive claiming rule. Any machine that qualified for the F-USA feature could be purchased by a fellow competitor or by NASB at a price not to exceed $60,000, figured at four times the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the stock bike. The rule is intended to discourage the use of highbuck, one-off, works-type racebikes and parts that are not available to all Formula USA competitors.
Of all the AMA and World Superbike teams from Honda, Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha in the paddock preparing for the upcoming Daytona 200, only a pair of Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-7Rs, ridden by Doug Chandler and Mike Smith, ventured onto the F-USA starting grid.
Following Chandler’s pair of commanding F-USA wins, his motorcycle >
was claimed by none other than the sanctioning body for a reported sum of $42,800. Chandler’s bike, supposedly ridden by Scott Russell in early ’95, was fitted with gear cam drive, in NASB’s view a true works modification.
Once roadracing’s “anything goes” outlaw class, Formula USA has now patterned its rule structure after that of NASCAR in an effort to allow competitors to have equal access to equipment. The claiming of Chandler’s machine was a show of conviction on
behalf of NASB that it’s serious about its rules and the plight of its series’ regulars, largely the privateer racer.
Survival of the fittest: Grand Prix vs. World Superbike
A schism is developing on the FIM grand prix scene. The latest news from Europe carries the seeds of disaster for the 47-year-old institution at a time when the upstart World Superbike Series is steadily gaining strength.
What is this all about?
Simply, the GP rider’s association, IRTA, has failed to reach an agreement with Dorna, the company that holds marketing and television rights to the series, and has signed to race with another sports-marketing company for the 1997 season and beyond.
A tangled web of contracts holds the whole show together. Dorna pays the FIM for all rights. In turn, Dorna contracts with racetrack promoters to put on events. Dorna then contracts with IRTA to provide the competitors. This final contract is the crucial link that, at presstime, had not been renewed.
IRTA cited the lack of a satisfactory long-term Dorna business plan as the >
ers with good drives in the 1994 Indy Lights series, and got a call from the Galles race team late last year.
Andretti, an avid motorcyclist who admits to being frustrated about never having raced a bike, confirms the wisdom of Galley’ decision. He says, “Lawson is ready. I think it was smart of him not to move to the top class right away. He showed that he has a feel for things and is capable. Now, he’s got a team and a car that will let him show his talents.”
Ricky Johnson also has a shot at the big time, rubbing fenders with established stars in the NASCAR SuperTrucks series. He’ll be competing for Penske South Racing in a Ford F150 sponsored by Red Dog beer. He says, “Sure, there’s still a good ol’ boy system in place, but they’re finding out that some outside influence is good; everybody is looking for any possible advantage.”
Some aren’t as lucky as others. Jeff Ward, who has raced Indy Lights and almost qualified for the Indianapolis 500 last year, had to “settle” for another Lights ride after being touted for football star Walter Payton’s IndyCar team. With a bit of animosity, he says, “There are a lot of guys driving IndyCars that couldn’t hold their own in Indy Lights.”
But Ward isn’t giving up on IndyCar just yet. “If you have the talent, professionalism, dedication and work >
ethic to do it in one sport,” he says, “you’re going to have these things in another, once you get the fundamentals down.”
Jeremy McGrath, supercross overachiever
So far, it’s been a perfect season for motocross magic man Jeremy McGrath, winner of the first five supercross races of 1996.
What are “Showtime’s” speed secrets? Kawasaki rider Damon Huffman, who is the series runner-up at this point, knows first-hand: “He goes fast around the whole track. He stays real low over the jumps, accelerates coming into the corners, accelerates hard going out of them and gasses it down the downsides of all the jumps.”
Bob Hannah, who held the title from 1977 to ’79, thinks today’s riders need to work harder to catch McGrath. He explains, “There are a lot of guys out there that could get their acts together, but are lazy. I don’t think McGrath’s that much better than some guys out there could be; he’s just that much better than those guys are’’
Although Hannah is a Team Yamaha consultant, he has some advice for Team Honda’s McGrath, too: “Back it down a bit and just do your job to the point where you win. I probably should have backed it down a little bit myself. I busted a wrist on a jump that I didn’t need to jump to >
win the race or the series, and it cost me everything.”
Ricky Johnson owned supercross in ’86 and ’88, and he has some news for McGrath’s competition. “There’s only one person who can beat Jeremy and that’s Jeremy,” he says. “People are trying to play Jeremy’s game, and they’ll never beat him at it. What they have to do is piss him off. I would find out everything that affects him, emotionally and on the track. I go by the rule of thumb that Ayrton Senna used: Racing is war.”
Could McGrath’s edge be the might of Team Honda? Johnson, who won his titles with the Big Red squad, thinks not. “I honestly don’t believe that Honda works harder than anyone out there right now. All the bikes are so close, the rider’s gonna make a difference. That’s the beauty of motocross.”
Maybe so, but right now McGrath looks all but untouchable, well on his way to a third-straight supercross crown.
MX champ Donny Schmit dies
Diagnosed with a rare form of anemia just days before, two-time World Motocross Champion Donny Schmit >
main reason for not reaching a new agreement. In a virtual repeat of the failed Kenny Roberts-led breakaway “World Series” of the ’80s, IRTA found a new partner-this time, the heavy hitting, Swiss-based ISL-an international TV and rights marketing group, that has the 1996 Olympics and World Cup soccer in its impressive portfolio.
IRTA speaks with confidence about the attractive financial package offered by ISL. “The teams will come with us when they see the level of investment ISL is offering, and the way it will take GP racing forward as a TV sport,” asserts IRTA boss Paul Butler.
The FIM has gone on record confirming its contract with Dorna, but may have a hidden agenda: regaining sole control of the GP series. Any unrest may play right into its hands.
Dorna has not commented publicly, but insiders suggest that the most likely outcome will be a compromise, probably involving the wholesale purchase of the company.
The worst-case scenario is a pair of fractured series; Dorna and the FIM on one side and the IRTA/ISL faction on the other flank. All concerned see this as suicide for the traditional GP world championship and a triumph for the budding World Superbike series. E3
