Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; ROAD RACE AMA Superbike National Cham~ionship: Round 2 e Georgian Scott Russell (22) dominated the Superbike National from start to finish. Miguel Du H amel rode a lonely race to fin ish a distant second behind Russell. • Russell In aclassof h isown at Loudon By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams l.OUDON, NH, JUNE 1 6 eorgian Scott Russell picked up where his former Muzzy Kawasaki teammate Doug Ch andler left off, as he decimated the rest of the field en ro ute to winning the 68th running of the Loudon Classic at New Hampshire International Speedway. Russell turned in a stunning perfor- G m an ce to win th e sec o n d AMA National of hi s career, topping Daytona 200 winner Miguel DuHamel by an unexpected 28.750 seconds. And th e rest were even further behind as the ultra-impressive Russell lapped all but eigh t riders in the 50-mile race. Third place went to Van ce & Hines Russell earns the D-"--ole.:.-.-. M 6 o ther N ature guaranteed ~cott R u ssell (righ t) the pole position by dousing the New H ampshire International Speedway with a rain storm just prior to the third and final qual ifying session on Saturday, thwarting the chance of anyone eclipsing his second session time. . In fact, none of the 47 who attempted to qualify for the Natio nal tested themsel ves aga inst the elements in th e wet session , as the track remained emp ty. Russell and the Muzzy Kawasaki were the only combination to break the l -minute, IS-second barrier on th e twisty, l.6-mile track set deep in th e hea rt of New England. Russ ell turned a 1:15.800 in the second session for an average speed of 75.989 mph to earn his first Superbike pole of the young season. "1 was going to go faster th is time , bu t I didn't get the chance," Russell said. ''I'm not worried if it ra ins tomorrow , I kn ow what I can do in the rain. We' ve go t a good rain setup and I' m confiden t in the ra in. But I want a dry race so we can go o u t there and coo k." The co nfiden t Russell predicted the race pace to be in the h igh 1:15 range if th e rain stayed away. Second q u ickest was the Vance & Hines Yamaha of J amie J ames, the Louisianan beco ming increasingly mo re familiar with the Yamaha with each and every lap. J am es clocked a 1:16.127 in th e second session and was hoping to go quicker before rai n put a damper on the proceedings. " Iwanted to try and better it," James said. " I was p ush ing pretty hard, bu t I feel like I co uld have gone a tou ch faster. The bike 's mu ch better. The guys ha ve been working a lot , a nd we've made a lot of chassis changes. It's righ t around wh ere I want it for the rest of the year. I don' t think you 'll see it cha nge much from here. I wish I had it like th is in Daytona." Dayton a 200 winner Miguel DuHamel put the Camel-backed Commonwealth . H onda RC30 on the front row wi th a 1:16,249 in th e second session. " Bei ng on th e pol e wo u ld be great, but my ou tlook is just to be on the front row," the 22-year-old said. "If yo u' re on the front row, you 've got a good shot at it. My fastest laps were set on the race tire, so we're pretty happy. I: wanted to go out Ya maha 's Thomas Stevens ' a fter a spirited ride in which the Floridian passed his teammate Jamie James on the' fina l go-around. DuHamel 's Camelbacked Commonwealth Honda teammate Rich Amaiz finished fifth after fi ghtin g off Iaceshield-Iog-induced blindness for the majority of the race. And he was not alone. Ghastl weather invaded New England 0 Saturday afternoon, making Sunday' race a blustery and cold, yet dry, affai and faceshield fogging problem plagued more than o n e. P re- rae favorite and current World Champion ship Superbike Series leader Dou -----. in the rain, but everyone is telling me that the wea ther report is good for tomorrow. So we didn't go out. If it rains, it will be the same for everybody because nobody went out. DuHamel, ike most of the others, predicted that a group of five or six riders would race together at the front. " If there's a group, I'll stay in the group," he said. "But if someone tires to break away, I'll try and go with them." Doug Polen's Fas t By Ferracci Ducati filled the front row, his fourth quickest time of 1:16.301 also coming in the second session. Polen was trying to make his AMA-spec Ducati feel like his World Superbike-spec bike, despite the 20 some pounds of extra weight and five less horsepower. "We didn't have an o pportunity to make sure and check things out and get a final set up for tomorrow," said the Texan who has been do minating the Worl d Championship Superbike Series.. "Based on experience, the setup I've got now is probably fairly close. I was fourth in both sessions, but I'm a closer founh than I was before. They (his competition) look like they 're really motivated to go, but I think this track is too tight for someone to split. I think there will be a good group at rhe .front." : To date, Polen had yet to ride the Ducati in the rain, but he felt confident that the fuel -injected V-twin would have "better rideability than the carbureted bikes." And if it rained? " We'll soften it up, front and rear, and put rain tires on it. That's pretty much it." DuHamel's teammate, Rich Amaiz, led the second row with a 1:16.790 lap, wit h The Boys-backed Dale Quarterley (1:16.913), Yoshimura Suzuki's Mike Smith (1:16.993) and Two Brothers Racing's Freddie Spencer (1:17.133) filling the second ro w. " 1 was hoping we could do a little better," Arnaiz said. " We' ve got a couple of things to try. The bike's not handling bad or anything, the traffic is just messing me up . If it rains, everybody's in the same boat. I've ridden in it , but I don't like it." Vance & Hines' Thomas Stevens, Muzzy Kawasaki's Pascal Picotte, Cio.Ca, Moto's Jimmy Adamo, Yoshimura's Tommy Lynch, Wiseco's Tom Kipp and New York Motorcycles-backed Phil Kress rounded out the top 15 qualifiers. The 40th and final qualifier for the National was William Beesch, stopping the clock at 1:25.117. With the top seven qualifiers separated by only a second, the National, if weather cooperated, looked to have the makings of a gem. I

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