Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ePREVIEW ~ 5. RichAmaiz #20 1992-AMA Superbike-National Championship ~ Age: 29 Hometown: Palm Springs, California ich Arnaiz can on ly look back at the 199 1 season as the one that go t away. T he former dirt tracker look ed to have everyth ing in ord er as th e season started: H e was Commonwealth Racing's number o ne rid er; and he was comi ng off a season that saw him win th e Euro pe an Supe rb ike C ha mp io ns hi p . Yes, Mr. Arnaiz looked to be o n the verge of something very big. But every thi ng we nt drasti call y wro ng for Arn aiz in '91 and , altho ug h he ended th e season ranked fifth in the country, he was dr opped from th e Commonwealth team and forced to go back to Eu rope for the '92 season. A practice cras h for the 1991Dayton a 200 left him with a badl y injured hand , yet he bravely carr ied on to finish fourth in the race. But from there it on ly go t worse. More crashes led to con fidence problem s and the o ncecharging Arnaiz seemed to lose his d rive. An d hi s co n fidenc e wasn 't helped by th e success of hi s lat earr iving teammate Miguel DuHam el. If Arna iz can return to th e confidence level he obvio us ly had reached in 1990. he ma y fare well in WorlJ Superbike racin g as part of Oscar Rurn i's Honda team . But the quiet Californian will be missed in AMA racin g in 1992. R 6. DaleQuarterley #32 Age: 31 Hometown: Rockland, Massachusetts lways a threat to fin ish in the top 10, we feel Quarterley will again be hi s usual compe ti tive self in 1992. The New Eng lander would benefit gr eatl y from a factory ride. but his cha nces of th at grow thinner by the season. Still , the tall redh ead will at least be getti ng more help this seaso n than in years pa st as he campa igns th e still-develo pi ng Birnota in '92. If anyo ne can get the front -h ub steering bike sorted o ut, Quarterl ey can. We feel he'll contin ue to accumu la te po ints and will aga in end up back in th e top 10, but barely - in 10th pla ce. A 7. Pascal Picotte #34 Age: 22 Hometown: Granby, Quebec, Canada 16 e expect a big jump from Pascal Picotte in 1992. As a replacement rider for Doug Polen in the Fast By Ferracci squad, Pico tte W started slowly before adj us ting to the unfami liar Ducati late in the seaso n, and he ended the year with a fourt hp lace finis h in Miami. Picotte wi ll start th e seaso n i n Polen 's sha dow a t Daytona, but when the T exan heads off to Europe in purs ui t of a second World Superbike Ch ampionship, the French Cana dia n will occu py th e team 's to p slot. He will be aboa rd th e best Duca ti in the field, fettl ed by ace tuner Eraldo Ferracci, and if he stays uprigh t throughou t the season he sho uld fin ish in the top five. We predict Pico tte wi ll jump up three places and finish fou rt h in th e' 1992 AMA Su perbik e Natio na l Ch ampionship. _ a lo ng the lin e with Guenette and th e Mu zzy Kawasak i team, a nd a t the end of th e season th e pa ir parted com pa ny. T h is season G uene tte will ride Honda RC30s fo r Honda Can ada and his team wi ll be ma naged by former racer Rueben McMurte r. Whether o r not he can come to gri ps with the Honda and the new team will have a direct o utcome o n hi s results in 1992. We see him fin ish in g just outside the top 10. have to give the nod to Kip p, but Smith could pro ve to do the mos t dam age to our crys ta l ball. H e' s capab le of winning races, yet we penci l him in to fin ish sevent h in the cha mpions hip. And wha t about Yosh imura Suzuki 's D a v e Sadowski a nd Britt Turkington? We feel that Turkington lacks th e pu re speed to run near the front, but he will likely put hi s name in th e top 10 o n man y occasio ns. Sado wski, th ough , presents the team 8. Freddie Spencer #19 Age: 30 Hometown: Shreveport, Louisiana hen you look at Fredd ie Spe ncer in 1992 it is im portant to forge t that he is a three-time World Champ ion. Wh en yo u t h i n k o f Sp encer's past, it reall y o n ly clouds hi s future. After all , anythi ng less than an AMA Superbike Nat ional Championsh ip for a man with his credent ials would be a letdown. And although he is obvious ly cap abl e of dominating AMA road racing, it is very diff icult to pick him to do so. Therefor e, we feel that Spe ncer will end th e seaso n as the third-ranked rid er l ::':":'::=:= = ,:!!!!!!!!II!!l1!! in the AMA Superbike Ch ampion ship. H e will win a race, maybe two races, but it is still un certain as to whether or not he is co mmitted enough to be taken serio usly as a cha m pions h ip Tom conte nder. Still, he is fast eno ug h to #16 win races and tha t will be eno ug h to keep him near the to p in the points Age: 23 tall y. Hometown: Time is running ou t for the form er Mentor, Ohio ph en om if he is indeed p lann in g ano ther assault on the 500cc World Championship. If he is to be given ano ther chance at the top level of raci ng, he will have to do minate thi s o m Kipp has earne d himself a series and leave no qu estions as to hi s factory ride for the 1992 seaso n intensity level. and it will be interesting to see SPen cer returns for ano ther year on wh at he does with it. Talented eno ug h Mike Velasco-tuned Honda RC30s run to win a race or two this year, Kip p in th e T wo Brothers Racin g ca mp, and will be a consistent top five fin isher will be o ne of o nly a handful of riders o n the Camel-bac ked Commonwealth to use Michelin tir es. Honda RC30. After all, he had his mo ments aboard wh at was basicall y a pu re-privateer Yamaha FZR750RR. Kipp 's shi ni ng mo me nt in 199 1 came at Mid-Ohio wh ere he led until the lat e sta ges of th e race before ' , event ua lly fini shing th ird. But his best resu lt away from Mid -Ohio was a Age: 22 seventh-place finis h at Road Ameri ca. Hometown: We still feel that Kipp is a year away from cha mpio nshi p conte nt io n, but Laval, when you' re only 23 years old, you can Quebec, Canada wait a year or two. Look for Kipp to finish fifth in 'this year's championship . W 10. Kipp T 9. Jacques Guenette #39 n e of th e yo u ng u p st arts, Guenette 's season was hampered by the hand ,inj ury he suffered at Charlotte Interna tiona l Speedway. The Canadian had just started to mak e hi s climb into the upper echelon when the injury occurred - in fact, it cam e only a race af ter he'd had his best-ever resu lt, a fourth -place fini sh at Road America. After the in jury he was never reall y the same and he finished the season ninth. Some~hing soured somewhere O ***** So that's how we feel last year's top 10 will fare in 1992; bu t wha t ab ou t th e rest. The first name that co mes to mind is former WERA Formu la USA Champ ion M ike Smith. The Georgian will team with Tom Kipp on the Camelbacked Com monwealth Hondas and th ose two sho u ld batt le to the bitter end to see who reall y is the team 's number on e rider. At this point we with a real shot at winning races and if he doesn't, it won 't be from lack of effort. The o n ly qu estion is his health and the ability of the Yoshimura team to put the Suzuki back up front. At th is po int we pick Sado wski to finish ninth in the cha m p io nsh ip wi th Turkington just o uts ide the top 10. The second man in the Two Brothers Racing team is Steve Cre vier. Not short on talent, thi s fiery Canadian co uld also be a sur prise in 1992. H e fin ished third.in Kan sas in 1991 befor e ending hi s season prematurely with a motocrossin g acci dent th at left him with a broken leg. H ow quickl y he can return to form will determine how far he can go in '92. We look for him to finish eig h th in the titl e chase. Larry Schwarzbach will begin wh at is reall y hi s first full seaso n of Superbike racing in 1992. He will learn a lot from hi s teammat e J amie J am es, bu t it's still too early to think of the Texa n as a po tent ial race winner. He will have hi s mom ents of glory, but will counter those with rook ie mistakes and that will keep h im o ut of th e to p 10. Armed with the ex-Sco tt Russell Kaw asaki , Scott Gray is making a full return to racin g ac tion . The northern Californ ian cou ld very easily run near the front at some of th e race tracks on the schedu le, but his consistency ha s alw ays been questioned and that will a lso keep him out of the top 10. If Doug Polen gets th e urge to do so, he could easily p ut h imself in the top 10wit h on ly a few ou tings in AMA racing. The defending World Superbike Ch ampion , though , wi ll devote his energies to th e other side of the Atlantic and it is unknown just how many AMA races he will attend. Wh en he's here , though , he could easily dominate. Cl

• Cover