Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE AM! National Champiooship_S--,,-up_erb_i_eS _'es_: _ou_nd_3 k _ R en _ ' ~ Scott Russell (17), Freddie Spencer (19), Pascal Picotte (34) and Jamie James (hidden) on lap one of the Superbike National, a ames nails down Charlotte win By Paul Carruthers Photos by George Roberts CONCORD, NC, MAY 3 J I am ie J am es is a realist. He know s if you don 't cont in ue to win races it becom es lik ely that some young gun may end up stealing your factory ride. With tha t in mind, the Van ce & H ines Yam ah a rider went out and won a straig ht fight wi th the best in the bu siness to take the AMA Superbike Nat io na l victory at Charlotte Mo tor Speed way. " I love what I'm doing and I jus t want to keep my job," J ames said after winning hi s first National of th e season and the th ird of his career. " I'm just glad I got tha t first win of the yea r. " 6 - And it was earned. The likeable rider followed three -time World Champion and fell o w Louisian an Fr eddie Spencer for nine of th e 19 laps in the second portion of the red-n ag interrupted race , before taking the lead he wou ld hold to the finish. In what was a battle ag ainst tire wear o n th e high -speed superspeed way Dun lop tire techni cian Jim All en classifies as th e least tir e friendl y track in the coun try, J am es and hi s Yam aha were fast yet kind to their Dunlops. As a result, he was abl e to ho ld off the late charge from Muzzy Kawasaki's Scott Rus sell to tak e the win. The Geo rgian had moved into second place after Sp encer' s rear Michelin tire chun ked four laps from the fin ish . Third p lace went to Ru ssell 's Kawasaki teammate Thomas Stevens, the defending AMA Superbike Na tional Ch ampion making hi s first trip to the winner's circle in 1992. Veteran Dale Quarterley had his best o ut ing since 1989, putting the Team Mirage Kawasak i int o fourth p lace aft er a last -lap pass of Ca mel Honda 's Tom Kipp, who ended up fifth. Kipp 's team mate, Mike Smit h , was also involved in the three-way tussle for fourth pla ce, but he came out on the losing end and crossed the line in sixth pl ace. Wisconsin 's Scott lampach had his best fin ish of the season in seventh pl ace on h is Ya maha FZR750, with Fast By Ferracci 's Pascal Picotte, Kawasaki Canada's Mich ael Taylor and Peter Brady Racing's J ohn Ashmead ro undi ng out the top 10. J am es earned $4600 of the $25,000 superbike purse for winning the race as a cro wd estimat ed a t 10-15,000 look ed on. T he re were some names among the no n-f inish ers, most notab ly World Superbi ke Champion Doug Po len . The Texa n crashed in the make-sh ift chicane on the th ird lap, caus ing the red-flag stoppage of the race. Althoug h he was unhurt, the Fast By Ferra cci squad co u ldn ' t repa ir th e crashed Ducati in tim e to make the restar t. Pol en 's absence from the fin al results gave Ru ssell a big boos t in th e championship, alt ho ug h Polen will miss two AMA races du e to World Superb ik e co m m i tme n ts, anyway. Still, Ru ssell now holds a 14-point lead over Smith, 54-50, with P91en third at 37. Stevens is fo urt h in the cha mp ion ship point standings with 33 points, and J ames j umped a ll the way to fifth foll owing his victor y with 30 po ints. Br ill ia n t sunsh i n e a n d warm temperatures greeted the start of th e race (o riginally sched uled for 26 laps but later shortened du e to 'tire wear prob lems detected after the red flag ), bu t the start was an yth in g but brilliant fo r Yo sh i m u ra Su zuki 's Dave Sadows ki, Honda Ca nada 's J acques Guenette, J r., and Eaken-Sponseller Racing's Larry Pegr am . The th ree coll ided in the first corner, a 90-degree left-h and er th at takes the riders fro m the superspeedway 's ba nking to the infield section of the 2.25-mi le race track. Only Pegram would cir cul at e agai n, fini shing 25th, some four laps do wn on the leaders. It was Ru ssell escap ing th e first co rn er wi th th e lead , foll owed by Smi th an d Spencer. Ru ssell led until the start of the fourth lap, wh en Sm ith moved by heading into turn three. It was all for na ugh t, tho ug h, wh en Pol en , who was ru n ni ng fo urt h, cras hed in the ch icane. " A ha y balehi t the front brake lever a n d lock ed th e fro nt," P ol en exp lained. " I saved it from that, but cras hed when I h it the bales comi ng o ut the back side. I got a rid e back to th e pits from Ran dy Ren fro w (who was spectating on a mini-bike), but they wo uldn't let me start with my back-up bike. In Wor ld Superbike you can ro ll the o ther one out and it' s no biggy. That's what the back-up bik e is fo r. But th ey would n't let us here . . . on ly in th e AMA." A decision was made by the AMA to run on ly 19 more laps after the restart, based on the well-known ti rewear probl ems th at Charlotte creates. Of th e top r un ne rs, on ly Spencer (Micheli n) and Pico tte (Dunlop) o p ted to fit new rear tires during the break pri or to the restart. Spe ncer and his new rear tire jumped into the lead from the drop of th e flag, and it appeared the form er m ulti-t ime cham p ion was trying to mak e a break from the pack. He led Ru ssell , Picotte, Quarterley, James, Smith and Stevens at the end of the first lap. James was o n th e move , though , and on the second lap he moved int o second p lace. "I knew if I didn't start inch ing away a t him he'd get too far away ," Jam es said . A lap later a n d J a mes was o n Sp encer, with Picotte in tow foll owed by Ru ssell and Stevens. Quarterl ey was having hi s finest ride in two years, and he headed the Camel H ondas of Kipp and Smith. " Hey, Quarterl ey's n o slo uch," Sm ith would say lat er aft er being beat en by the veteran. For all practical purpo ses, the race for th e lead was on ly disputed between Spe ncer and James. T he two Louisiana ns p ulled clear from the pack o n the eig hth lap, with J am es taking over for the first tim e o n the ni nt h lap , after learn in g a lilli e bit from Spe ncer. " Freddie showed me the smoothest way around the race track, then 1 fig ured it was time to make a move," J am es said later. . J a m es was n' t h eaded agai n as Spe ncer's run at the front ended with a ch u nked rear tire o n the 16th lap. He pitted and the Two Brothers crew filled another rear tir e, but he could only man age a 20th place fin ish. Russell , mea nwhile, had been biding hi s tim e, not wanting to burn up h is tires . " I knew I could lead, but I might have had tire pro blems," he said later. "I could have led it fro m the word go - but that wou ldn 't have been the sma rt th in g to do." Inst ead , Russell work ed at saving the left side of hi s rear tir e, o nly pu shing i t th rough th e right-handers to save the left side for th e banking - the portion of th e track which had th e most negative effect on 'tire wear. "I'd baby it through turn two," Ru ssell said . Russ ell ended up in a du el with his teammat e Stevens and 'the Ducati of Pi cotte. Begi nning th e 15th la p , Picotte took himself ou t of the running wh en he ran stra igh t in turn o ne, and was forced to back tra ck. " I pu shed a lillie too hard and mi ssed th e corner," the French Canadi an said. " It was too lat e aft er that. The bik e was running very good. It 's a pl easure to ride that bike. I tho ught I would be able to fini sh third - mayb e second when Freddi e sto p ped." Stevens was struggling by that point and Ru ssell stuffed it past hi s team mat e going into turn o ne to start the 18th la p. " I pl ayed it the way I wa nted to play it," Stevens said. " With four laps to go, I picked up the pace but th at was the best I could get it to go . I was pus hing it as hard as I cou ld, but I co uld n' t stay wit h Scott. I thou ght I had more left, but th e tires took care of tha t. I'm lucky to have finis hed." Ru ssell was awa re of Stevens' problem : "He was riding harder than I was," Russell said . T ha t left R ussell to cha rge after J am es, but despi te turn in g h is fastest lap (1:16.10) on the Iin al rgo-a round , he cam e up some two seconds short at the finis h. " If I had to do it over again , I'd have gone af ter him earlier," Russell said . " Pico tte got by me once ther e at the end and it slowed me a bit. But who k nows .. . I'm ha ppy. Second is good." Behind Stevens came Quarterley, after passing Kip p in the ch icane on th e final lap. "I hav e the abi li ty, I just don't ha ve the equipment," Quart erley said. "I trained hard th is winter and I've continued to train. I had to rebui ld the motor myself on Saturday and J broke it in this morning . I was short shifting for the first 'half of the race and then I said, 'Ah, screw it,' and went for it." Smith finished six th, after finis hing third in the openi ng two ro unds. " I had a bad start an d I cou ld n 't catch anybody," Sm ith said. "I go t a lap ped rider goi ng onto the ban kin g on the last lap an d he wanted to race with me - they (Kipp and Quarterl ey) shot by and I cou ldn' t do anything."

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