Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127383
gINTERVIEW Daytona200 winner Miguel DuHamel e Miguel DuHamel and his fiancee Sylvie at home in Verdun, near Mon treal. Already ready for the top By Colin Fraser .P hotos by Fraser and Ken Faught i th o u t a d oubt, Miguel DuHamel's surprise win in the 50th ru nn ing of th e Daytona 200 is the stuff of legends. The story of the underrated, somewhat mysterious rider from a foreign land, speaking a language other than English, replacing an injured colleague and going all the way for the big win definitely strikes a nerve. Unfortuna tely, from an ins ider 's perspective, that description doesn't fit DuHamel's story. W 24 Although he hasn 't contested a full AMA season before, and isn't scheduled to do so this year, many insiders think that Migu el DuHamel is only just star ting to realize his true potential. By the end of his rookie season of profes sional ra cing in 1988 , DuHamel a lready h ad p eople i n companies such as HRC con vinced he was a star ready to shine. However, DuHamel is more concerned with the fact that observers sometimes th ink he is difficult to get to know, even though most of those people have never tried. To prove the point, DuHamel and his fiancee Sylvie took time out from Canada's tradition al summer-opening long weekend to entertai n a visiting journalist for th is ar ticle. It's a warm Saturday morning during the Victoria Day (Queen Victoria's birthday) weekend in la te May, and DuHamel is in fine spirits, even though his neck still requires twicedaily physiotherapy. While Miguel did get the weekend off from the trips to th e doctor, he still wasn't allowed to play golf. This enforced punishment was a result of th e huge h ighside he suffered at Mallory Park du ring round three of th e six-race TransAtlantic Match Ra ces, endin g his efforts to beat Scott Russell as the top North American point scorer in a dismal weekend. For the past three years, Sylvie and the now 23-year-old DuHamel have liv ed in the tradition a l Montreal working class municipality of Verdun , just seconds from the Saint Lawrence River , Canada's major shipping route. Their second floor duplex apartment is pan of a row of houses typical of many an old- time Montreal neighborhood, and a lot of the residents know and greet the local road racing hero . In side the seven room -a partrnen t, decoration obviously shows either the influence of Sylvie (sleek and modern) or Miguel (troph ies, posters and racing nicknacks), although the of fice tha t Sylvie uses to organize Miguel's efforts does offer something of a compromise. Once a quick demonstration o f Miguel 's powerful CD player has been weathered, .J featuring the works of hard-core rapper Iced T as well as the Righteous Bro thers, DuHamel sits down over lemonade in the kitchen to discuss his famous father, Yvon. " I think some times, with my dad 's reputation of winning races and the way he rode , people expect that of me," he said. " Peop le tell me about seeing m y dad rid e, how hard he went, and it makes me happy. I don 't think I'm a hard charger like him, but other people tell me I am. I definitely don 't think I'm as big a crasher as some of the magazines have suggested." Alt hou gh lo ngt ime AM.A fron trunner Yvon DuHamel is a constant influence on his youngest son 's career, Miguel isn 't exactly a student of the old man. . " When he was racing, we were usually tearing around on min i bikes, so I don't remember much of him riding. I really wish I had the chance to see him on one of those big bikes, to see him at his peak. I missed it all even though I was there." One of Papa DuHamel's tuners in the 1970s was Dave Ray , the 1990s wrench for another teen-aged sensation, Al Salaver ia. At the U.S. Grand Prix, Ray laughingly related stories of Mario, Miguel and little sister Gin a taking on the locals in the paddock wh ile Dad was racing at vari ous tracks across th e U.S. " I didn't know yet about racing, but it 's always what I wanted to do," continues Miguel. "Back then we were basically racing all the time ." . By the time he was 10, Miguel was on the busy Quebec -motocross tour with Mario, learning English from American and Ontario-based riders (as well as Sesame Street and oth er TV shows) , chaperoned by Mom and Dad. Most parents, however, didn't have quite the same credentials as the DuHamels. "I motocrossed for 10 years," said Miguel. " Bu t then something happened, and I didn't like it as much any more. I started off slow like everybody does, and then I started winning and winning. It got tougher as I moved up. but I still did well. I liked supercross best, I actually won a semi in Toronto once and that really sticks in my mind. I liked that kind of jumping and the short races.