Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ePREVIEW 1992 AMA Superbike National Championship I Rating the road racers ........ By Paul Carruthers ry penciling in your predictions on a top 10 in the AMA Superbike Nationa l Championship and yo u quickly realize that this may end up being the most co m petitive season in recent history. And you thought last year was tough. Some of the answers will come in the 5 1st running of the Dayto na 200, but the champ io nsh ip will be won not in Florida but in the m iddle of a season that heats up during a three -race, backto-back-to -back mo nt h of racing in J une. . But it never helps to get a leg up on th e co mpeti tio n wit h a stro ng performance in th e 200 an d, after all, it is still the mos t important motorcycle race in the United States. Keep this in mind, you have to go back to 1987 to find the last time a rider (Wayne Rainey) won the Daytona 200 and then went on to win the AMA Su perbike Nationa l Championship. The last four champions since, however, a ll fini sh ed in Victory Lane befor e going on to the titl e. The 1988 cha mpion Bubba Sh ob er t fini sh ed third at Dayton a that year; in 1989 J am ie James fin ished second; in 1990 Doug Ch an dler ended up third; and in 1991 Thom as Stevens also p laced thi rd. Here's o ur loo k at ho w the to p 10 fin ishers in last year's cha m p io nship will fare in the comi ng seaso n. T 2Scott Russell # 22 Age: 27 Hometown: Jonesboro, Georgia "J ust win, baby" seems to be the creed that Scott Ru ssell likes to foll o w. Each and every tim e he takes to the race tra ck, th e la nky Georgian is o ut for on e thing and one thing o n ly - victory. But those victories have yet to be parlayed into a Superbike Nation al Championship. Instead, he's been a cham p io nsh ip runner-up twi ce,losing out by a combined seven points. It won 't happen aga in in 1992. Russell has proven that he knows how to win races, now he o nly has to sho w tha t he is smart enough to earn a cha mp ions h ip in the AMA' s premier class. The battles betw een himself and hi s teammate Steven s will likel y be heated, but Russell 's experience with th e Kawasaki and his edge in pure speed should lead him to th e tit le. And his knowledge of the Kawasaki will be further enhan ced by the extremely competent duo of tuners who will fettle his ZXR750 - Merl yn Plumlee and Gary Medley. Plumlee is back in AMA racing aft er a season of World Superbike racing with Fred Merkel and the Ru mi Ho nda team, and Medley returns for a second year with Ru ssell. 4. Jamie James #2 A 30 ge: Hometown: Prairieville, Louisiana iguel DuHamel won th e Daytona 200 in 1991 , and it was hi s o nly victory . Still, th e Canadian made h is mark on AMA Superbike ast year there was some q uestion initially as to who reall y was the number one rider o n the Vance & H ines Yamaha team . Prior to the sta rt of the seaso n it appeared that Thomas Stevens was number o ne, but when Jamie J ames beat Stevens at Dayto na i t' loo ked as tho ugh th e pendulum had swung towards James. T hat dissent io n contin ued unti l Stevens took co ntrol of the championsh ip la te in the seaso n. But for' '92 Stevens is gone, and there is no lo nge r any doubt as to who is number one. James will lead the team th is year and any su ccess the team has will com e as a direct result of his efforts. After all, th e team's number two rider Larry Schwarzbach is really on ly beginning hi s first full season of superbike co m pe tit io n. James will be linked with Stevens ' ex-tuner Jim Leonard and the Califor- raci ng and h is ta lents didn 't go unnoticed. He fini shed the season as the third-ranked rider, yet may have made the biggest impression. _ During the off-sea son, Du Hamel had his first o ut ing o n a 500cc Grand Prix bike during an international race in Spain and his resu lts there prompted Chris tian Sarro n and the Sona u to Yamaha team to snatch h im away from Mart in Adams and Commonwealt h Racin g. So ins tead of providing Russell an d Stevens with the ir to ug hest competitio n, Du H amel will test the waters of 500cc World Championship road racing o n o ne of the Yamaha YZR500s fielded by the French GP team. nian has proven that he knows how to get the mo st out of the somewhat dated Yamahas. J a m es won the R oad America National las t year , al tho ug h it was more gift than an yth ing when both Ru ssell and DuHamel retired wi th mech an ical prob lems. Still, th e 1989 AMA Superbike Champion al ways run s near the fro nt a n d he will continue to be a factor at each and every race. He charges hard no ma tter what the circu mstances and he sometimes cras hes because of it. We predict th at the likabl e southerner will drop two spots to fin ish the 1992 season as the sixth ra nked rider in the series. 3. Miguel DuHamel #97 Age: 24 Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada M L 1. Thomas Stevens #1 Age: 27 Hometown: Sanibel Island, Florida lar ge load was ·lifted from the shou lde rs o f Th omas Steven s wh en h e 'wo n th e Mid-Oh io ro und of the 1991 AMA Superbike Na tio na l Cha m pio nship. Pri or to that first Nati on al win he had led the cham pionsh ip points chase witho u t scori ng a victory, and he had no doubt heard th e snic kering th at went along with that distinction. Whether Stevens rode conserva tively with o nly the cha mpio nsh ip in mind, or wh ether he just lacked the speed to win mor e races will never be kn own. But in 1992 Stevens has the perfect oppo rtu nity to silen ce the critics. Muzzy Kawasaki 's Scott Russell won four races to Stevens' lone win in 1991, and at times Stevens pointed toward hi s riva l's Kawasaki as o ne of the reasons for th e results. So Stevens took the if you can't beat 'em , join 'em out look an d jumped from the Vance & H ines Yama ha team to Mu zzy's Kawasa ki sq uad. Armed wit h what ma ny feel to be the bes t mo torcycle in the class , Stevens plans to attack the '92 championship wit h a different type of intens ity. T he man wit h the number one plate is aimi ng to do th ings di fferently - he plans o n wi nni ng races. And he will, but on ly enough to finish second in the championship. The title will instead go to his new teammate, Scott Russell. A 14 As if Russell 's fire wasn 't spa rked enough by a second narrow loss in the cham pio nship , the off-season hiring of his 199 1 rival Thomas Stevens by team owner Rob Muzzy shou ld be enough to cause ignition. T he o nly th in g tha t may stand in the way of Ru ssell winning ' h is first AMA Superbi ke titl e wou ld be early success in the World Championshi p Superbike Series. Ru ssell will compete in the first three ro unds of the World Championship, and th ree outstanding resu lts there cou ld force Kawasaki a nd Muzzy to keep him overseas. If not, we see him winning the AMA Superbike National Championship in 1992.

• Cover