Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE AM! Superbike National Champ_ion_shi----"--'p_:R_ou_nd_6 ~ Scott Russell (22) had his hands full with Miguel DuHamel (97), but th e Canadian crashed and Russell won easily. Fonner World Champion Freddie Spencer finished second, his best sin ce 1985, Russell wins his third , pencer nd a sa S seco in Kn s By Paul Carruthers Photos by Werner Fritz TOPEKA, KS, SEPT. 8 iguel DuHam el left Heartland Pa rk Topeka with th e co nsolation of knowi ng he was th e fastest man o n th e ra ce track; Thomas Stevens left th e Kan sas facili ty feeling ill but with his point lead intact; and Scott R ussell left the track with a wi n, th e lion 's share o f the $25,000 Superbike purse that came with it and his cham p io nship hopes rekind led. But the biggest winner may have been Freddie Spencer. The three-time World Champion departed Kansas with his head he ld high as he finished seco nd for his first rostrum finish since he won the 500cc Swedish GP in August of 1985. Spencer had earlier p ro ved that he co uld cu t a fast la p, a nd at Mid -Ohio he sh owed th at he could go the distance when he finished M 8 fifth. On Su nday, the Two Bro th ers Racing-backed rider showed that he was ready to do battle and he left an impression on all wh o wat ch ed him as he slid the Honda RC30 around th e 2.5-m ile ra ce tra ck , lockin g th e rear wh eel under brak in g a nd slidi ng th e bike into th e co mers before grabbi ng a handfu l of throttle on th e exi t. "When Freddie got by me - I was in shock for a lap or two," said T om Kipp , an eyew i tness to Spencer's cornering techniques. "I cou ld n' t get over how he was riding. I was amazed. Every tum there was smoke and black marks, but he was so smooth. I was so impressed I lost concentration and crashed." Kipp was runn in g third, behind Russell and Spencer, when he high- sided hi s Wiseco Yamaha, sen ding him end o ver end and leavi ng him with a badl y bruised right foot . . For Russell, th e Superbike wi n was th e Muzzy Kawa saki rider's third of the yea r, and he did it in im p ressive fashion, topping Spe ncer by over 16 seconds after slow ing the pace near th e finish . Stevens , mea nwhile, fini sh ed fourth aft er battling a head co ld and the pr essu re of leading th e cha m pio ns h ip. The Van ce & Hines Yamaha teamster ra n off th e tra ck while running seco nd be hi nd Ru ssell on th e II t h lap, regained h is co mposu re to fini sh fourth, a nd maintained hi s cha m pio nsh ip po ints lead over R ussell , 93-84, . with two rounds rem aining. And DuHamel? Well , the Common wealth Honda-mounted French Canadian proved o nce aga in that he was th e fastest man on th e track at Heartland Park Topeka, bu t the defendi ng race champion crashed af ter runni ng into a lapped rid er o n the ninth lap after o pe n ing up a small gap on R u ssell. H is ch a m p io n sh ip hopes appear to be a ll but das hed as he trails Stevens by 22 poi nts and Russell by 13. . Steve Crevier added to what was Two Bro th ers Racing's fine st da y o f racing with his third p lace finish behind hi s teammate Spencer. It was the Canadian 's first -ever visit to the wi n ner's circle at an AMA Superbike Na tion al. Fourth went to Steve ns with Ca n-ad ia n Pascal Picotte ro u ndi ng ou t th e to p five fi nis he rs o n h is Fa st By Ferracci Duca ti. Vance & H in es' Jamie J ames salvaged a sixth-place finish after fightin g back through th e pack following an early off-trac k excursion ; Dal e Quarterl ey finished seventh on th e The Boys-backed Honda RC30 and Mik e Smith ca me off the disabled list to finish eigh th on th e Yoshimura Suzuki. Red Line Oil-backed , H on da RC30-mo u nt ed J oe Bret t Williams an d Gold Hi ll Ra cing's John H opperstad filled the to p 10. Russell averaged 82.485 mph in winning the 60-mile race in front of an estima ted 12,000 fans on a wi ndy , yet sunny , Kansas day, earning $4600 for h is efforts. The sun came as so mew ha t o f a su rp rise after Saturday's final qualifying session was washed out as torren- _ tia l downpours swept through th e pl a ins of Kansas. Su nday morning wasn 't much better as dark clou ds ho vered a bo ve the facil it y, but by race tim e, th e clouds had gi ven way to b ri ll ia nt sunshi ne a nd hi gh win ds. Wh en the 32-bike fie ld st rea ked around the tra ck for th e first ti me th ey were led by Russell , who was tryi ng to ma ke a ru n from DuHa mel , Stevens, Kipp , Quarterl ey, Tommy Ly nch , Jamie J a m es a n d P ascal P ico tte. Spencer was 12th. . Wh ile the Muzzy team had o ne rider a t th e front, th eir second rid er, Jacques Guen ette, J r., pitted a t th e end o f the firs t la p wi th a n ill -runnin g ZX7. He rejoined the race for another la p, bu t th en ca lled it quits for th e da y wh en th e problem co uldn 't be diagnosed. J am es was seventh after running off th e tra ck in th e second chicane on the V&H Yamaha, before slipping even further back after near ly ru nn in g o ff agai n. "The brakes weren't bedd ed in," J a mes sa id. " I saw- smoke coming off the rotors and I knew I was n't goi ng to make it. I went straight and let everyo ne go by. Then I got to turn one a nd th e sa me thing happened. It too k th ree I ps before th ey ca me in right." Mad Dog 's Mik e H arth was .next to go with a blown motor on h is Yam aha FZR750 with Yoshimura Suzuki's Tom my Lynch following suit on th e fourth la p wi th a bro ken rear shock. Commonwealth H on da 's Rich Arnaiz's poor luck co n ti n ued .as his RC30 blew up on the third la p ; V&H Yamaha's Larry Schwarzbach had a similar fate on the same la p wi th fifth fastest qualifier J immy Adam o also su fferi ng bad lu ck as he was forced to pit a sick Du cat i on lap seven. Up front, Russell contin ued to hold th e lead w ith DuHam el now brea th ing down hi s neck. Those two led Stevens by a lmos t six seco nds after th e first four laps a nd th eir battle seemed destined to go th e di stance. On th e six th lap, tho ug h , DuHam el clicked off a on e-minu te, 46.92-second lap and with it took over th e lead. H e sta rted to p ull clear and on the eigh th lap turned the quickest la p of the race, a 1:46.63, to lead R ussell by 1.81 seconds. O n the ni nth la p, though, DuHa mel made a decisio n he would lat er regret whe n he dove un der a la p ped rider a nd cras hed. " It was going to be a nice tig ht pass, bu t he came back insi de for no reason," a deso lat e DuHa mel exp la ined la ter. " His elbow m ust have hit my front brak e. I'm reall y d isa p po inted, to say it poli tely. I was the fastest guy o u t th ere - I was just riding my pace. I j us t ca n' t believe what happened. It' s (the ch ampionship) not over unti l it's over, b u t I think it's over. Some of these guys should go to raci ng school. It's th e same in q ua lifying; th ey make four or five corne rs ou t o f one tum." Russell took hi s inheri tance from DuHamel and ran with it, building a lead o f nearly 21 seco nds over Stevens , who was about to have troubles o f his ow n. On the 12th lap, the Florid ian ran o ff th e tra ck in th e same spot his tea m ma te J a mes ha d tried earlier. "They (Du H a mel and R ussell ) were going at it hard - har der than I cou ld go today," Stevens said. " I was settli ng for third. Wh en I saw Miguel had fal len, I jus t tired right ou t. T he co ld just kill ed me; it suc ked the life rig h t o ut o f me a nd I ran off in th e chicane. I went up o n the cu rb a nd in to th e gravel pit. It was eithe r slow down a nd fall or give it so me stick a nd go rig ht th rough it. T his wasn't my weekend. My co ld go t th e best o f me, but we're sti ll winnin g th e cha m p ions hi p ." . Suddenly, Kipp was second, ahead of a battle between Picotte's Ducati and

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