Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RC AMA National Championship Road Race Series Preview AE ~ Finally, they race again O"l O"l ,......; . By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams f absence indeed makes the heart g row fond er , than AMA road raci ng fans should be head-overheels in love as the cha m pionshi p series finall y resumes at New Hampshire International Speedway so me 98 I Superbike National Ch a mp ion Doug Chantller finished third, and th e 1989 champ Jamie James fin ished second. Bubba Shobert captured the crown in 1988 after finishing third a t Da ytona. If yo u based everyt hing on .recent da ys aft er the Daytona .200. And the n in e-r a ce series won' t end un ti l Nove mber 10. And you ,th ough t the NBA seaso n was long. But it should be worth the wa it, With the cancellation of the longstanding Road Atlanta round of the series in ear ly May, the majority of the riders will use the Brai nerd round of the World Championship Superbike Series as a way of cleaning the mothballs out of their equipment. In addition, many of the top riders took pan in what was, for the Americans, a horrid TransAtlantic Series in England during the extended break between Nationals. But come June 16, the championship fig h t will begin again in earnest as the men a nd their machines hea d to New England for the second round of the championship a t the trac k most still refer to simply as Loudo n. Daytona is Daytona, but seldom are cha m pionships won or lost by performances a t the most fa mous ven ue o n th e calen dar. Last year, Da vid Sadow ski won the 200, but failed to cap ita lize o n hi s success in the seaso n opener and finished tied for fou rth in the championshi p. The year before th e race was wo n by J ohn Ash mead, who wen t o n to finish sixth i n t h e cha mpions hi p. But let 's not belie ve tha t Daytona holds no importance as far as wi nning cham pionshi ps goes. It is important to leave Florida with points. Last year 's history you would come to the co nclusion th a t this year's to p three in th e 200 are th e only ones with a shot at the 1991 Superbike Cha m p ionsh ip . T ha t tr io is co mprised of Miguel DuHamel, J am ie J a mes and Thomas Stevens . Bu t it's rea lly no t that sim p le. And the real q uesti on may be whether or n o t a nother Doug Chandler will emerge from th e field in 1991 to do minate the series, or will it consist of ma ny men wi n ning a few races each. If a rider is to emanate from the fray, it is most likely to be Doug Po len . Bu t that really wouldn't be anything new. After all , the Texa n's been here before, narrowly losing the title to Shobert in 1988. But can the Fast By Ferracci Ducati rider come back from scoring zero poi nts a t Daytona to win the title wi th o n ly eig h t races left on the schedu le? Apart fro m Dayton a, Po len 's seaso n has started well. He currently leads the World Championship Superbike Series, tha nks to three wi ns in four star ts, a nd has bu ilt him self q uit e a reputatio n with the foreign press. Bu t none of that means anyth in g to the riders he has to battle here for . the AMA cha mpions hi p. After all, he sti ll has a large points defici t to make up on his sta teside competi tio n. And that list of competition is lo ng. Looki ng a t the rest based o n Daytona resu lts al one - you must exa mine Canadian Miguel DuH amel fir st . Although, since he will m iss two rounds of the series because of his contract wi th Kawa saki to compete in the World Endurance Championship, his chances of winning the Superbike title are virt ually nil. DuHamel was the star of Da ytona, winning both the 600cc Su persport race and the Da ytona 200, a nd he did so with the flair of a cha m pion. Few who watched his comer-exit slides on the CBR600 will forge t the sigh t, Despite his lack of title hopes, the Co m monwealth Racing rider will win his sha re of races on the Ray Plumbprepared Honda ROO. Next up is Vance & Hines Yamaha's J a mie James, th e 1989 AMA Superbike little to help his co nfiden ce, but by season 's end there was little doubt that he was a potential Superbike class race ' winner. Stevens is back for a second year on the Steve Johnson-prepared V&H Yamahas, after finishing an equal fourth in the championship with then-teammate Sadowski in 1990. If ' Commonwealth Racing's Rich Amaiz can put a stop to the .cras hes that' have speckled his career, he too has to be considered a favorite to win the championship, Amaiz bravely finished fourth at Daytona after suffering a serious hand injury only a week prior to the race. National Champion. James has obvious ly adapted quickl y to the Yamaha FZR750RR, and seems to fit nicely into the Terry Vance-owned team. J a mes was always in the hunt a t Dayton a, fin ishing second behind DuHamel in bo th the 600cc Su persport race a nd the Daytona 200. In 1990, J ames rode th e bike currently being campaigned by Polen, the Fast By Ferracci Du cati, but he slipped to ninth in the cham pio ns hi p after a season of i ncons is te ncy. More is expected of the frie ndly Lou isianan in . 1991. James' Vance & Hines teammate Thomas Stevens finished third a t Daytona and is hoping to finally put a c h a m p io n sh ip -w i n n i n g se as o n together. The Floridi an has parked the team 's FZR600an d will concentrate his e££ortssolely o n wi nning th e su perbike crown, and in itially his first-ever Na tio nal. His numerous cra shes in the 600cc Su persport class last year did The 1990 European Super bike Champion will also benefit from riding the team 's Ray P lum b-p rep ped ROOs. The former din tracker will al so ride th e team's Honda CBR600 in the 600cc Supersport Championship. Team Muzzy Kawasaki won the 1990 AMA Superbike National Championship with class phenom Doug Chandler. Well , Chantller has ventured to Europe, a nd the land of former AMA Superbike Champions, but the team's ZXR750RRs will be in the capa b le hands of Georigan Scott Russell. Tactical mistakes kept Russell from finish ing higher than fifth a t Daytona, but he's tak en enoug h points with him fro m Florida to keep his championsh ip hopes al ive. His last-to-secondplace Mid-Ohio ride of a year ago was arguab ly the most impressive outing of the season - if he can tum his four 1990 second place finishes into wins, he can fill Chandler's shoes admirably. 1991 AMA CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES J une 14-16 New Hampshire Intern ational Speedway/Loudon, New Hampshire J une 28-30 Road AmericalElkhart Lake, Wisconsin J uly 4-6 Charlotte International Speedway/Charlotte, North Carolina August 2-4 Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourselLexington, Ohio August 9-11 Texas World Speedway/College Station, Texas September 6-8 ....... • • • • • • • ••• ••. • •• •Heartland ParkTopekalTopeka, Kansas Sep tember 20-22 Willow Springs International Raceway/Rosamond, California November 9-10 Miami Street CirCuit/Miami, F1orida.

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