Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·~ ROAD RACE AMANationalChampionshi~_erb_ik_eS_en_'e_s:R_o_un_d_3 _ e ... co N --; .~ ~ ~' Miguel DuHamel (17), Scott Russell (hidden) and Doug Polen (23) were this close for much of the National. Polen passed them both on the final lap to take the win. Scott Russell (1) leads Miguel DuHamel (17), Jamie James (2) and the rest of the pack on the opening lap of the AMA Superbike National at Laguna Seca Raceway. Polen 'ust arel at La una Seca By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams MONTEREY, CA, APR. 18 ast By Ferracci's Doug Polen again proved to be the ultimate tactician, scoring a calculated victory over Muzzy Kawasaki teammates Scott Russell and Miguel DuHamel in a classic fight to the finish in the Toyota 'Grand Prix of Laguna Seca. Polen started slowly, worked his way through the pack and then stalked Russell and DuHamel until the final goaround of the 29-lap, 64.206-mile race at Laguna Seca Raceway, With half a lap to go, Polen took the lead and held the two teammates at bay to win by a scant .421of-a-second. In the winner's circle, Polen dedicated the win to Jimmy Adamo, who was tragically killed in the Daytona 200 in early March. A crowd estimated by SCRAMP (Sports Car Racing Associa tion of the Monterey Peninsula) officials to be roughly 30,000 watched the proceedings on a bright and sunny day in Monterey, and Polen kept them enthralled with his can-he-catch-them ride through the pack. For Russell and DuHamel the finish F 6 was a rather frustrating one. They knew Polen would be coming, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Instead, the two teammates paced themselves in an effort to conserve tires for a final run to the flag. Still, they didn't have enough to hold off Polen and the Ducati. In the neighborhood of AMA superbike racing, Polen is the big cat. At Laguna Seca the big cat simply played with Russell and DuHamel like mice. "1 knew how fast 1 could run and that was the biggest factor," Polen said. "I was monitoring where they were on the race track and what they were doing. I could see where they were on the race track, and I could see how fast I was going on my lap board. Judging from my lap times and where they were on the race track - I knew what kind of lap times they were doing. They were doing mid 30s (one-minute, 30-second lap times) and 1 thought, 'No problem. I can catch them without any problem at all.' I figured if I just ran a decent pace I'd constantly be catching them. 1 knew that would make it more interesting. It would be like, here he comes, here he comes, here he comes - he's there." Because of all the conniving at the front, yet another impressive ride from Vance & Hines Yamaha's Colln Edwards II went almost unnoticed. The 19-yearold started well, but was eaten up by five or six riders in the first corner. At the end of the first lap he found himself in 11th place. Twenty-eight laps later the young Texan was up to fourth and closing on the lead trio. Although he got the leaders in sight, he didn't have enough tire left to partake in the battle at the front and he was forced to settle for his second fourthplace finish of his debut superbike season. . Equally impressive was the return ride put in by his veteran teammate Jamie James. Back after a long layoff because of a bad hand injury suffered in a preseason testing crash at Daytona, James's return. was magnificent. The Louisianan held third at the start of the race and ran with the pair of Muzzy Kawasakis for seven laps before being hauled in by Polen. A couple of big slides slowed James' progress until he was eventually caught by Edwards - but he gamely held on to finish fifth despite a lack of time on the bike and an unfamiliarity with this year's crop of Dunlop tires. Sixth place went to Camel Honda's Mike Smith, in a rather lonely ride for the Georgian. Smith finished well ahead of a battle between Fast By Ferracci Ducati's Pascal Picotte and Tom Kipp on the sec. ond Camel Honda. Team Mirage's Dale Quarterley and Muzzy Kawasaki's Takahiro Sohwa filled the top 10. Yoshimura Suzuki's Thomas Stevens was the last of the factory riders to finish, struggling with an ill-handling motorcycle to cross the Ilne in 11th place. Polen's second victory of the season and the single championship point he earned by capturing pole position ~ee sidebar) vaulted him into the lead in the point standings, 98-95, over Russell, who likely saw action in AMA racing for the final time in '93 as he will return to Europe to try and capture the World Championship Superbike Series title. DuHamel sits third in the standings with 86 points, 15 points clear of Tom Kipp's 71. Quarterley lies fifth with 68 points after three of 11 rounds. For his efforts, Polen took home the $11,000 winner's share of the $65,000 Camel Superbike final purse. Russell's cut was $7500 while DuHamel earned $5200 for finishing third. The 29-lap National began with DuHamel taking the lead as the pack crested the turn one hill and headed down into turn two. Russell was tucked in behind his teammate with James, Quarterley and Picotte in tow. Polen was 12th and Edwards was also mid-pack. "I was about fifth or sixth in (tum) one, but I broke so early for (tum) two it wasn't funny," Edwards said. "At least five or six guys went by me." By the end of the first lap, Russell had taken over from DuHamel and those two, along with James, had pulled out a gap over Quarterley and a host of others. Polen was 10th, Edwards 11th. On the second lap a Toyota banner found its way onto the race track: "It was like someone dropped it in the middle of the track," Polen said. "It was wild. Guys were busting right through it and pieces were going everywhere. Wait until you see the video (Polen had a camera mounted on his Ducati)." "I thought, 'This is a sick joke, guys:" DuHamel said. "Scott (Russell) looked back at me like, 'What in the hell is this?' I thought a red-flag would corne out" By the time Smith managed to work his way past Quarterley to start the fourth lap, the top three were long gone. "I had to stuff him (Quarterley), squeeze him out," Smith said later of the pass in turn one. "I waited a little long to do that, but I kind of thought Pascal (Picotte) would take him out or bump him wide." Polen was next to move by Quarterley and he was quickly on Smith's rear wheel. On the fifth lap, Polen was fourth and closing in on James, who was starting to lose touch with the two Kawasakis. On the eighth lap, Polen moved by James and into third place. Lap 12 would see Polen turn the quickest lap' of the race, a 1:29.64, to move right in behind the Kawasakis. Edwards, meanwhile, took longer to get going than Polen. On the fifth lap he cracked into the top 10 for the first time with a pass on Sohwa in tum two. He then quickly disposed of Stevens before passing Kipp in similar fashion to Sohwa in turn two. Four laps later he was by Smith and beginning his pursuit of Jarrtes. On lap 18, Edwards moved past his teammate to take over fourth place, a position he would hold to the flag. "1 just kept up the same pace," Edwards explained later. "After I passed Smith I thought this was where I was staying. Then 1 caught Jamie and I kept getting closer, closer and closer. By this time I thought I had a shot at catching

• Cover