Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROA DRACE AMA/CCS 600ce Su~rt Series: Round I - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - -- - - .~ ·Sadowski comes back in sty=- -=-le_ _ L Miguel DuHamel (17) leads Jamie James (7) and the rest in 600cc Supersport, DuHamel starts day right By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAITONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 10 anadian Miguel DuHamel made sure that the race track in trod uction of Honda's new CBR600 F2 was a successful one as he managed to hold off the advances of Van ce & H ines Yamaha's Jamie James to win th e red, flag shortened opening round of the AMAICCS 600cc Supersport Series at Da ytona International Speedway. DuHamel sho wed what the much ballyhooed CBR600 F2 is capable of as he led the twice restarted race from start to finish. Remarkably, it was DuHamel's first-ever 600cc Supersport race and his first ride on the new Honda. But Yamaha was in no way disgraced with their year-old FZR600. Thanks to the hard riding of James, las t year 's . dominant mo to rcycle was able to thwart Honda's hopes of a Victory Lane sweep. Third place went to defending class champion David Sadowski on another Honda CBR600 out of the Commonwealth Racing garage. Sadowski was hired on as a replacement for Rich Arnaiz after the Ca lifornian crashed his superbike in practice and broke the little finger on h is left hand. The Commonwealth team decided to let Arnaiz concentrate his efforts on the Daytona 200, and thus Sadowski was gi ven a las t-minute entry into th e race and the chance to wear th e number one plate he earned in 1990. Desp ite th e fine fin ish of James, th ere is li ttl e doubt that Honda's new CBR is now th e middleweight motorcycle to be reckoned with, at least at Daytona. With th e exception of James and lOth place fin ish er James Lesl ie, th e .to p 10 was filled with the new Hondas. Ironically, fourth and fifth place finishers Tom Kipp and Michael Barnes rode bikes prepared by Sadowski 's new high-performance sh o p , Atlantic Motorsports Group. Sadowski 's plans for Daytona didn 't include raci ng until the Commonwealth offer came forth , and he spe n t his week riding th e fence between racer and team owner. Sixth pl ace went to Ru eben McMur- . ter af ter a frantic battle with Scott Zampach and McMurter's teammate Yves Brisson. All th ree were Honda mounted, with Lesli e rounding ou t th e top 10 fi ni shers o n h is Yama ha FZR600. . DuHamel led all 15 laps of the race C 24 that was sch edu led to run 18 laps. A thi rd red flag on th e 16th lap ended the race prematurely wit h DuHamel leading James, who had been with the Canad ian for the majori ty of the race. " It feels great!" DuHa mel said. "T ha t was a tough race, a gr eat race. Jamie James did a real good job. Being a DuHamel and having number 17 on th e bike, those are big shoes to fill ." The latter co mment in regard to h is fath er, Yvon , having competed for over a decade in National and International road races carrying th e number 17. The man who benefitted the most from the red flags was Sadowski. On the opening lap he was involved in a crash with Two Brothers Racing's J eff Farmer and when a third rider wen t down in the tum one area a lap later the red flag was flown , giving Sadowski a chance to rejoin the field. On the restart, Sadowski again took to the grass after colliding with other riders in tum one. A second red flag gave Sadowski new life and again the Georgian rejoined the pack for the restart, The third time was the charm for "Ski" and he gently went through turn one before beginning an assault on the field that would carry him to a third place finish. Sadowski explained his day: " Go ing into tum one I saw one of the Vance & H ines bikes goin too hOL It locked up the front wh eel, smoked it up. I think that spooked J e£(. (Farmer) and he hesitated to see where the bike was going to go . He put o n the brakes real hard, to avoid a collision, and I was carrying too much speed. I was in the full-on charge mode and was carrying too much speed to stop and I smashed in to the ba ck of Jeff so hard it broke the fairing and bent it onto the steering damper, so it wouldn't go back to th e right, I couldn 't turn it, so I ended up tumbli ng off. " After I ran into the back of some other guy (on the seco nd restart), I said: 'I guess it just isn 't my day .' And then th e red flag came out again and I said: 'Maybe it is my day ." T he man wh o gained th e most from the third and fin al red flag was Kipp, whose Honda had coas ted to a stop on the 19th lap . Since the results were tabu lated fro m the running order on the 18th lap, Kipp was credi ted with fourth place. The best racing occu rred in the racelong battl e for sixth between McMurter, Brisson and Zampach. ast year's AMAlCCS 600cc Supersport Champion and Dayton a 200 winner Dave Sado wski made a surp rise appearance in th e 600cc class at Daytona International Speedway, after initially opting to skip the event because of h is oft-inj ured back. Sadowski, however, was gi ven the op po rtu n i ty to race agai n when Commonwealth H onda 's Rich Arn aiz bro ke his little fin ger in a practice crash. And he made th e mo st of it , fighting his way through the pa ck to finish th ir d after benefitting fro m two red flags . Sadowski , who is scheduled to undergo back su rgery o n April 2, took the offer to ride the brand new 1991 Honda CBR600 F2 in what will mo st likely be hi s only AMA race of the season. " I came here as a team owner with Tom Kipp and Micha el Barnes, but when Rich got hurt I took th e opportunity to race again," Sadowski said. " I want. to prove to these guys that I'm still competitive and that I still wa nt to ride. My goal after surgery is to rehabilitate my back and then co me back and win the WERA F-USA final at Road Atlanta in October." Sadow ski started from the back row in his heat race and moved up to as high as II th before running off the track in turn one while trying to pass a slower ride r. The Buford, Georgia, resid ent th en moved back through th e field to finish 12th. In th e final , he rode the Honda to a th ird place finish 'after an unlikely set of circumstances saw him off th e track twice in tum one. " T hat's th e hardest I' ve ever had to work to get into th is circle," Sadowski said from Victo ry Lane. " I had problems with turn one all day." After riding a Van ce & Hines Yamaha FZR600 in 1990, Sadowski was able to com pa re the Yamaha to the popular new Honda. " I think a big advantage with th is bike is the bigger contact patch (on the rear tire ) because of the wider rims," he said. " You can use 750 tires on 'em. When Vance & H ines was finished with the Yamaha it was a real good motorcycle, but yo u can do half the work on th is one and it 's better." Some have complained that the CBR600 lacks midrange, Sadowski says the probl em is easily cured: " It's just getting the needles righ t and putting a good · pi pe on it, " " Wh at a racei" Zampach said. " We'd be go ing int o tum one four abreast, bea ting on one ano ther. It was war for the whole race; it was contact sports. Rueben McMurter and I were fighting for the draft off the #27 (Brisson) bike and I would lean on him then he would lean on me. We were perfectly side by side so it wasn't a fight, We were just trying to occupy the same space in the · other bike's draft," McMurter had mixed feelings about having to race with his teammate, who actually rides McMurter's bike. " I kept seeing my other bike in there and I didn 't want to cause him any problems racing with him so I moved over for him a few times," McMurter said. "This is his first time here so I kept making more room for him. Myself and Scott Zampach were both having quite a time fighting for the draft off Brisson's bike. We both wanted his draft and we moved into each other a few times. It was a good race." m Results HUT I: Jcfl Fanner (Hon); 2. Larry Schwanbach (Vam); 3. Vves Brisson (H on); 4. Oaig Glcawn (Vam); 5. James Lealie (Vam); 6. Scou Zampach (Ho n); 7. John Condron (Va m); 8. J ohn Choate (Va m); 9. Titian Bue (Vam); 10. Danny Roberu {Yam]: II. Fabian ConattJ (Hon); t2. Lee Pounder. (Hon ); 13. Joseph Pru ssian c 1II (Vam); 14. David Leach (Va m); 15. Jim Sabi n (Hon); 16. Brian White (Vam); 17. Chris Reiner (Va m); 18. Thomas Dinardo ( Yam ]: 19. Esko KuF.rinen (Ho n ); 20. MilCh Boehm (Ho n); 21. Roy NIcholson (Hon ); 22. Ken Pru itt (Yam]: 23. Morgan Murphy (Hon); 24. J. Andrew Miho n (Yam) ; 25. Paul Sch wem mer (Hon ); 26. Do ug Carmichael (Ha n); 27. Clayto n Oliva (Ya m): 28. Brett Ra y (Vam); 29. Scou Cona way (Vam ); 30. Dean Ha yes ( Yarn): 31. Michael McKin ley ( Yam): 32. David Adang (Kaw); 33. Timolily Tnmble (Va m); 34. J ohnny Page (Vam); 35. Riclcy So les (H on) ; 36. John Clark e (Va m); 37. Louis Saccoccio (Hon); 38. La psley H ope (Vam); 39. Michael Lehning (Vam); . 40. Ou emher Weiclcen (Hon ). Time: 10:20.320 Distance: 17.5 milo Av~ra.s:r S~: 103.302 mph Ma rgl n O(ViClory: 0:01.350 HEAT 2: I. Migu el DuH amel (Hon ); 2. Ja mi e James (Vam); 3. Tom Kipp (Hon); 4. Ruehen McMuner (Ho n); 5. Rick KIrk (He n]: 6. Micha el Bam es (Ho n); 7. Tripp Nobl es (Ho n) ; 8. Frankl in Knigh t (Hon): 9. Mike Moores (Yam): 10. Robert WriKht (Ya m): II. DouKla. T oland (Ho n); 12. Har old Winkles (Yam): 14. David Sado wski (Ho n); 15. K~in Graham (Yam ); 16. Ken K05ieracki (Ya m ); 17. John Ram ..y (Ho n); 18. Ronald MeGill (Ho n); 19. Owen Weichel (Vam); 20. Roben Delie (Vam ); 21. Jim Shoemake (Hon); 22. Tom MorltOn (Vam ); 23. Brian Kent (H on); 24. Will iam White (Vam) ; 25. J im Kusar (Vam) ; 26. Scou Stum p (Hon); 27. Evan Semolf (Hon); 28. Kimm o Knpra (Hon); 29. Bryan Bcrnisderfer (Vam ); 30. J im Eriaon (Hon ); 31. Rodney Sherm an (Vam); 32. Jea n Duhe (Hon ); 33. Crai g Gilliam (Vam~ 34. Tim Morris (Hon); 35. Ch ri. Cuomo (Hon); 36. Vance S~du (Vam ); 37. Buzzy Clevenger (Va m); 38. David Anderson (H on); 39. Kevin Siezewski IVam); 40. Richard tnman (Vam); 41. James Schae er (Vam). T ime: 0:10:12.480 Distana: 17.5 mi les AvcrllJl" Speed: t04.624 mph Marpn o( Victory: 0:07.030 600 SlSP RT : I. Miguel Duhamel (Hon); 2. Jamie James (Vam) ; 3. Dave Sadowski (Hon); 4. Tom Kipp (H on) ; 5. Mike Barn es (H on) ; 6. Reuben McMuner (Ho n); 7. Scott Zampach (Hon); 8. Vves Brisson (H on); 9. Tripp Nobles (Hon); 10. Jam.. Leslie (Vam); II. Josepb Prussiano IfI (Vam ); 12. Doug Toland (H on); 13. Mike Moores (Vam); 14. John Choate (Vam); 15. Joh n Condron (Vam); 16. Titian Bue (Vam) ; 17. b avid Leach (Va m ); 18. Roy Nicholson (Hon); 19. Esko Kuparinen (Hon); 20. Owen Weichel (Vam); 21. J im Sabin (H on ); 22. Doug Carmichael (H on); 23. Ken Kosicraclci (Vam); 24. J on Roberu (Vam) ; 25. 'Thomas Dinardo (Vam) ; 26. kevin Graham (Vam) ; 27. Lee Pounden (H on); 28. Pa ul Schwemmer (H on); 29. Riclc Kirk (H on); 30. Morgan Murphy (H on); 31. Brian Kent (H on); 32. Jim Kusar (Vam); 33. J . Andrew Millon (Vam); 34. Ken Pruitt (Vam); 35. Bryan Bemisderfer (Ya m]; 36. Evan Semoff (Hon); 37. Dean Hay es (Vam ); 38. Rodney Shennan (Vam ); 39. David Adang (Kaw); 40. Cla yton Ol iver (Vam ); 41. Jim Eriaon (H on ); 42. T im Trimble (Vam); 43. T om Morgan (Vam); 44. Will iam White (Vam ); 45. Buzzy Oevenger (Vam); 46. upsJey Hope (Vam); 47. Kevin SJezewski (Vam); 48. Lo uis Saccoccio (Hon ); 49. Johnny Page (Vam); 50. Michael Lehn ing (Vam);5 1. Vana: Spec/1t (Vam); 52. T im Morris (H on); 53. Chris Cuomo (H on); 54. Craig Gilliam (Vam ); 55. Robert Wright (Yam); 56. Michae l McKinl ey (Vam) ; 57. David Anderson (H on ); 58. Craig O leasoe (Vam); 59. Brett Ra y (Vam) ; 60. Dann y Roberu (Vam) ; 61. Franklin Knight (H on); 62. Larry Sch wanbach (Vam ); 63. Scott Stump (H on); 64. Gu enliler Weiclcen (H on); 65. Ch ri. Rein er (Vam) ; 66. Ji m Shoemake (Hon); 67. Riclcy Soles (Hon). Distana:: 18 laps . 64 miles. AMAlCCS U.S. Twin SportsSeries: Round 1 Gale strikes again DAYTONA BEACH. FL, MAR. 10 alfway into the Harl ey-Davidson T win Sp orts ra ce at Daytona Intern ational Speedwa y, the only 'sure bet was tha t a H arl ey 883 would win the race, that being the on ly bike eligible to com pe te in the event. Three riders, La ncas ter H-D's reigning National Ch ampion Randy Texter, Bartels' H -D's Nigel Gale and H

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