Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ RA O DRACE AMA Su~rbike National Cham~ionshi~_:R_ou_nd_7 _ ~ Doug Chandler (10) leads eventual winner Miguel DuHamel (97) and Scott Russell (22) in Kansas; Chandler wrapped up the title with a third-place finish. DuHamel's day, Chandler's year in Kansas By Paul Carruthers Photos by Werner Fritz TOPEKA, KS, SEPT. 9 o sh im u ra ' Su zu ki 's Miguel DuHamel put his famous racing surname back into the AMA record books with his first-ever AMA National victory today at Heartland Park Topeka, but he shared the moment with Team Muzzy Kawasaki 's Doug Chandler, who wrapped up the AMA Superbike National Champion. ship with his third-place finish. DuHamel, the son of five-time AMA National road race winner Yvon DuHamel, put together an impressive performance as he charged to a 3.787second win over Chandler's Kawasaki teammate Scott Russell after 24 thrilling laps. DuHamel averaged 84.311 mph in winning the event in front of an estimated three-day attendance total of 11,300. Ironically, four of Yvon DuHamel's National wins came in the month of September with his first coming 19 years ago on September 5, 1971 at Talledega, Alabama. DuHamel's win ended a four-race Chandler win streak, but it didn't prevent the 25-year-old Californian from taking his first-ever National titl e. Chandler tallied four wins, a second and two thi rd -place finishes to date on th e Merlyn Plumlee-tuned ZX7 to clinch the title with one round remaining. The new Superbike Champion held the lead for more than half the race, but when he realized he couldn't shake DuHamel and Russell he opted to take no cha nces and backed down to finish a comforta ble third. . " Miguel and Scott were really going well and I wasn't up to the pace toda y," a happy Chandler said. "I had so many th ings going through my mind. If I wasn 't in a pos ition to win a championship, I think I could have raced with them, but there was a big chance of being taken OUL Y 8 "You can't work hard all year to get to this position and then let it all go." Fourth place today went to Vance . &: Hines Yamaha's Thomas Stevens , . who finished just ahead of Commonwealth Honda's Randy Renfrow. Sixth place went to three-time Wor ld Champion Freddie Spencer on the Mike Velasco-tuned Two Brothers Racing Honda RC30. After a somewhat disappointing return to racing in Miami, Florida, earlier in the season, Spencer came back more prepared for the task at hand and put together 24 consistent laps in near 100· _ degree temperatures. Vance &: Hines' David Sadowski, Yoshimura's Rick Kirk, Wiseco's Tom Kipp and Monette Sport's Jacques Guenette Jr. rounded out the top-10 finishers. After seven of ei g h t rounds , Chandler's 122-point total is now insurmountable. Renfrow holds down second in the standings with 87 points while Russell (73), Sadowski (56) and Stevens (54) fill out th e top-five point gatherers. Q u a lifyi n g The AMA previewed its new qualifying method in Topeka, unveiling the timing system the association used a t the World Superbike round at Brainerd, Minnesota. Qualifying was held on both Friday and Saturday ala World Superbike and Grand Prix racing, except that only one 45-minute session on each day was timed. In addition, the AMA still had a qualifying . heat race after the timed sessio ns, dubbing it the Race for th e Pole. So in essence, th e racers actua ll y qualified to qualify. The AMA also said they would black flag riders not circulating within 115% of the pole position earner's lap times during both the Race for the Pole and the National in an effort to lessen traffic for the leaders. As it turned out, this wasn't necessary. . After the second of · the two timed sessions, it was Chandler showing the .superiority he's shown all year. The factory Kawasaki rider clocked a time of one minute , 45.947 seconds (84.948 mph average) in the last session, setting a new-lap record in the process, breaking the old recor d set by J ohn Kocinski last year on his Yamaha TZ250. Chandler predicted he could go faster. "I think I can do mid-45s, " he said confidently. Next up was Stevens, clocking his fast time in the waning moments of the final session. The Floridian turned in a 1:47.247 lap (83.922 mph) to earn the second starting position for the Race for the Pole. Russell and DuHamel were the riders Stevens surpassed in those late minutes of the second session. Russell held on for the third quickest time , despite being able to only do five laps in the second session due to an oil leak on his ZX7. Russell turned a 1:47.414 to top DuHamel's 1:47.467. DuHamel was getting used to a new chassis modification on the Yoshimura Suzuki. Welds close to the steering head showed that the unit had been stiffened: "I can go faster without a big prob lem," DuHamel said. "We've been getting used to a new chassis , and we've got it to where it works ." The stiffened chassis was designed to make the Suzuki more rigid in an effort to allow DuHamel "to push the front more." This was also the Canadian's first trip to the Kansas facility . Following DuHamel in qualifying was Renfrow. The Virginian was suffering a little from a lack of riding time between the last National at Mid- Ohio four weeks ago and this one. He was one of the few top riders who hadn't raced or tested since Mid-Ohio. Ren frow clocked a I :48.125 for the fifth quickest lap. Sadowski was sixth followed ~by Spencer, who had tested at Will ow Springs two weeks ago , Kipp, Quarterley and Kirk. Kirk had been the victim of two practice crashes, one on Thursday and one on Friday, and he'd received 12 stitches in his right arm as the result of the second crash . Russell and Kirk were the only riders in the top IO who didn't improve on their first session qualifying time. Quarterley, who was rebuilding his RCO on Friday with updated parts from the factory and'without the help of engine builder George Vincensi, missed all of Friday's practice. Chandler proved that his fast qualifying time was no fluke as he led the field into the tum one/two, right/left chicane to start the eight-lap Race for the Pole. Chandler started the race on the same Dunlop rubber that he'd qualified on in an effort to see if they 'd hold up to race distance on Sunday. For all practical purposes, he was doing the testing for the rest of the Dunlop runners. The rest of the top riders had fresh rubber and Chandler didn 't shake them like many thought he would. At the end of the first lap Chandler led Du Hamel, Russell and Stevens in tight formation. Renfrow, meanwhile, led Sadowski, Kipp, Guenette, Kirk, Tatsuro Arata, John Ashmead and Spencer. The top three Chandler, DuHamel and Russell - would pull away from Stevens , whose Yamaha was suffering from what was later diagnosed as an electrical problem that would eventually drop him to sixth,

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