Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BROADRACE e AMA Superbike National Championship_:F _al_r_ou_nd _in _ I • Championship rivals Scott Russell (22) and Thomas Stevens (II) batt le in the National. The cit y of Miami is the backdrop as the G ra nd Pri x of Miami gets underway. Freddie Spencer was dominant on the street circuit, winning his first race since 1985. Spencer's back, Stevens crowned in Miami By Paul Carruthers Photos by H enny Ray Abrams MIAMI, FL, NOV. 10 here was really only one th ing that cou ld upstage T homas Stevens win ni ng his first AMA Superbike Na tio nal Championshi p , a nd it happen ed on th e stree ts o f Miami Fred die Spe ncer won a race for th e firs t time since August II , 1985. T hat was th e 500cc Swedis h Grand Prix , this the G rand Prix o f Miami but Spe ncer look ed a lot like the Fas t Fred die of old, leaving his signature black marks all over do wn town Miami as he strea ked to h is four th career AMA National victory. Ironically, this win T 6 .came a t the same circuit where Spencer began his Su perbike com eback in July, 1990 with a DNF whi le running midpack. Wh at a difference a year - or so - mak es. Wh ile th e th ree-tim e World Cha mpion 's victo ry brough t out the hi story . books, Stevens p laced his na me in the reco rd book by cap tu ri ng hi s firs t-ever Na tio nal Champio nsh ip with a third place finish . In addition , Ste vens' title was the first fo r Ya ma ha in th e l4 -year history o f th e Superbike champ io nshi p . T he on ly man wit h a shot at stopping Stevens's title march was Mu zzy Kawasaki's Scott Russell. The Georgia n trai led the Floridia n by four points go ing into the fin al ro u nd, and he needed to wi n wit h Stevens ge tting thi rd in order to tak e th e title. T ry as he m ight, tho ug h, Russell could n 't ca tch th e £lying Spe ncer a nd the titl e - belonged to Steven s a nd th e Van ce & Hines Yam aha by two points, 123-121. " T here were a lo t of things said ear lier in th e year abo ut me a nd th e kind 'o f seaso n I was havin g," Steven s said. " But I went o u t a nd did wha t I had to do to win the championship. You can call me what yo u wa n t, bu t make sure yo u call me champion." Steven s' ma rch to the ti tle co nsisted of one win, one seco nd, th ree th irds and two fourth-place finishes . . Following home the top three of Spencer, Russell and Stevens was 21yea r -o ld Fr ench Ca nad ian Pa scal Pi co tte o n the Fast By Ferracci Duca ti, It was the best finish of P ico tte's impressi ve rookie sea son o f AMA Superb ike racing. G eorgia n Mik e Smi t h p u t t h e Yoshim ura Suzuk i in fift h p lace, topping the Ca me l-backed Co m monwealth H o nd a of Ri ch Arn aiz and the Two Brothers Racing H onda of mul titime Nationa l Cham pion Mike Bal dwin. The Boys' Dale Quarterl ey and Van ce & Hi nes' La rry Schwarzbach rounded o ut th e top 10 fini shers. Rem arkabl y, th e top five finishers were aboard five different brands of motorcycles - H onda , Kawasaki , Ya maha, Du cati and Suzu ki. At first it appeared th e Mia m i G rand Prix would be th e race that never was. After all , it took two restarts to finally get th e Miami Grand Prix co mp leted. The first attempt to get the National underway lasted only two laps before J ohn Cox sent his Yamaha throug h the chain-link fence between turns o ne and two, br inging out a red £lag. The second start lasted longer - six la p s. This tim e th e red £lag was brought o u t when Wa rr en Elliott cra sh ed his Duca ti in the secon d ch ica ne on Biscayne Bou leva rd. And by this time o ne of th e pre-race favori tes, Mi gu el DuH a m el , was a lready out a nd a concer ned spectator to the Elliott cras h. But not unti l p roving h imself as th e man to beat. After leading th e firs t and seco n d st art, Du H am el' s Camel backed Commonwealth Hond a RC30 threw a chain wh en the rea r sprocket was lit erall y sawed o ff th e alu m in u m hub. Wh en the second red £lag ca me o u t, DuHam el pushed the RC30 back to th e pits whe re hi s crew hastily repai red th e bike. Although five la ps down, DuHamel re-started th e race a nd fini sh ed 29th, g iving th e cro wd a wheelie demonstra tion in th e process. T he 30-lap Nationa l first got u nderway under blue skies with coo l tempera tures - a pleasant cha nge to the almos t unbearable heat o f last year 's race . . Bal dwin was th e first to enco unter problems as his RC30 en ded th e warmup lap billowing smo ke. The bike was checked on pit lane a nd give n th e goa head by officia ls a n d Baldw in rejoined the pack prior to the gree n flag. It was DuHam el leading th e field into the funnel -li ke tum on e, ahead of Spencer a nd Stevens. At th e en d of th e second la p , th e red £lag was thrown and the race stop ped. Perh aps th e luckiest man at th is point was Arnaiz. A cras h in tu rn three had damaged his RC30 to th e point of him call ing it a da y, bu t the red£lag allowed hi m to get back to the pi ts for rep airs. T he ra ce would be restarted from the beginni ng, a nd Arn aiz was able to ta ke his position o n row two o f th e grid. " I was on th e outs ide o f (La rry) Schwarzbac h a nd he j ust moved over o n me a nd I got ou t in the sand," Arna iz explai ned while crew mem bers repaired th e yellow Hon da. Bal dwin was also gett ing repairs. The smoke was diagnosed as comi ng from th e oi l-soaked asbes tos which in sula ted th e exhaus t system. The asbestos was removed a nd Bal dwin was smoke-free for the restart . At the seco n d dro p o f g ree n, DuHamel again nailed th e start to lead Spencer, Stevens a nd Ru ssell into th e firs t corner. But DuHam el on ly co m pleted a la p before help lessly coastin g to a stop. At tha t point, Spencer took over, but four la ps later th e proceedings again ca me to a halt wi th Elliott cras hing ha rd at the chica ne. The cha m p io n sh ip protagonists, Stevens and Russell, took adva ntage of the situa tion to re-shod th eir rear wheels in new Dunlo p tires. Spe ncer, how ever , chose to keep his exis ting Mich elin . " If I cha nged it, I'd be 10th for th e first fo ur laps," Spe ncer exp lained. " T he Mich elins j us t don 't come in fast enough." The th ird start was very nearly botch ed w h en n um erou s rid ers jum ped th e gu n, but everyone moved back to the ir positions before the starte r wa ved th e £lag for th e final 24 la ps of th e 30-lap race. .R ussell, now start ing from the fro nt ro w, grabbed the hol esho t, bu t was quickly passed by Spence r. From there the th ree-tim e Wor ld Champion and his Mike Velasco-tuned Ho nda RC30

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