Cycle News

Cycle News 2019 Issue 16 April 23

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE T he graph line on Mike Hale's stock in 1995 was shooting skyward. It was Hale's first full season in AMA Superbike class. At Pomona, in April of that year, he gave Honda its first AMA Superbike victory in three years. He led the championship through eight rounds of 10 before a me- chanical at Sears Point cost him a real shot at the championship. He also scored a podium in his first FIM World Superbike race weekend that season. He ended the year at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix with a victory. The future was bright, and the offers came flowing in. American Honda saw Hale as the future and very much wanted to keep him in the series. The problem was the team had the two best riders in the series in Duhamel and Hale. Even Hon- da's considerable racing budget could not match the offers Hale's management team was entertain- ing. In a last-ditch effort to keep Hale on the squad, they offered him a path to Grand Prix racing. It was a route that Nicky Hayden would follow a few years later. In his heart, Hale knew the Honda offer was solid, and the GP part did make him stop and seriously consider what might be the best path forward. But the money being waved in front of him in Europe was just too good to turn down. He P100 THE FATEFUL DECISION I understood. But the difference in the two offers was not even in the same ballpark, and I had never had been offered contracts that were multi-year with that many commas, and with what appeared to be good equipment and all the right ingredients. So that's why I made that decision." Unfortunately for Hale, the Power Horse offer ultimately proved to be a mirage. The team experienced financial difficulties and the budget dried up, leaving Hale, the crew, and even Ducati, which was supplying bikes to the team, scrambling just to finish the season. A season of injury and lacklus- ter results with the failing team put Hale's career into a down- ward spiral. He had enough tal- made a crucial and ultimately career-changing decision. He would choose a lucrative offer from Promotor Racing Ducati, a factory-backed World Superbike squad sponsored by one of the earliest energy drink makers Power Horse. "At that point, we were just on such an arc," Hale recalls. "It was crazy the phone calls and people that were calling offering rides. Ducati at the time was world superbike champs. Troy Corser was a good friend of mine. To be honest, I did want to stay with Honda. I really, really did, but they just didn't have the budget. They had Miguel, and he had just won the title. He was in the middle of a multi-year deal, which was a heavy-hitting contract, too, which Mike Hale (center) was on the top of the world after winning the 1995 AMA Superbike season finale at Firebird Raceway. PHOTO: HENNY RAY ABRAMS

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