Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DuHamel also disposed of Edwards, his pass coming under braking for turn 11. By the third lap the battie up front was a two-man affair. Gr ay just ahead of Dul-larnel, an d those tw o 1.56 secon ds clear of Ed w a rd s . It was al so o n the third lap that DuHamel took the lead for th e first t ime, a n d i t w a s a le ad he w ould maintain th e res t o f th e way des pi te co ming un d er h e a vy atta ck through out. ' W he n Po len fina lly p ick ed u p th e pace to mo ve in to third on the sixt h lap, he trailed the lead ing pair by 2.72 seconds as Du Hamel circ ulated in the low one -min u te, 43-secon d range . At th at point, Po len seemed conten t to sit and wait th is one out. On laps eight through 10, the ga p back to Polen rem ained identical at 2.63 seconds . Meanwhile, the s truggle fo r fourth pl a ce was h eatin g u p . Edwa r ds was falling into the grasp of both James and Qua rterley w ith Ja mes taki ng over the fo ur th spot on th e 12th lap. Canadian Steve Crevier was also becoming a factor at this point, moving his Mar c Cruz Ducati up to eig hth and making a serious charge at finishi ng much high er. On the 17th lap, Crevier m ov ed by both Stevens and Edwards and w as on th e rear wheel of the Jam es /Quarterley battle. On th e 21st lap, h e collid ed w it h -ja m es a nd crashe d in turn 11, a slow rig ht-hander th at lea ds on to th e fro nt straightaway . "They wo u ld n't let m e go," s a id Crevie r of Jam es a nd Q ua rterley. " I d rov e under Jami e in 10, he went in to 11 deep. I was committed to a line and he acce lera ted and drove across my fro nt whee l. That 's racing, but I basically got ta k en out . I go t a b ad star t and go t bounced around like a ball . I was jus t ridi ng a clean race. I jus t want a ride next year and I do n't need to be knocked down . I would have driven away from those guys no problem - my 'tire'sstill bran d new." James explained: "I go t a little w ide, I turned it light and we collided. I tried to pick it up, b ut he wasn't going to ma ke the corner. We were both in a little ho t, The race came down to Miguel DuH am el (17) vs. Doug Polen (23). DuHamel was able to hold off the champion in the final laps. but he go t the ba d end of the stick. I feel sorry for him because it messes up your , day w hen yo u d on 't fin ish on e of these things." Crevie r late r h a d words with Qu arterley because he thought the New En gl ander was hol d ing him up . "The collisio n w a s 100 % Crevier's faul t," Qu ar te rl ey said . "Jam ie was gong through that corner the same way nearly ev ery lap , He'd run in too ho t and have to turn and squ are it off," Gray was d ea lt a bad hand in th e race at the fron t on the 17th lap when he was balked ba dly by a ,lapp ed rider in th e fast es t section of the track, a h ighspeed gaggle o f esses that leads back towards the turn 11 hai rp in. The res ult was Du Hamel ge tting clear, and Polen coming past in to turn 11. It w as then that Gray made his decision to ch ill out. "It was (Brad) Hazen I was lapp in g," Gray explained. "But it was my fault for not a ttacking it. I was going a ro und him, he came out on me and it cos t me a t least a secon d , Late in the ra ce m y knees started cramping a nd it s tarted sliding around a bit. I got real ner vous and d id n't wan t to d o anything stu p id , I just decided to back out. I've been in the hay bales her e too many times." T h at left it d ow n to tw o rid ers DuHamel and Polen. Was the Texa n just waiting for a la te race pass, or d id he re ally ha v e his h a n ds full w it h the French Canadian? The a nswers came quickly. Polen trailed by 1.22 seconds on the la p h e moved in to second place. He quickly erased that margin as he closed in on the rear of the Kawasaki on the 20th lap. O n the 22nd go-aroun d, Polen tried the inside of DuHam el in turn 11, but to no avail. Du Hamel wa s giving no qu arter on braking . The la p times, mea nwhile , had co me dow n a nd th e lead d u o w ere now circulating in the 1:42 range, close to the quali fying mark se t by Polen. "I was hitting my brake m a rke rs exac tly right," DuHamel exp lained later. "I had to sacrifice some cornering speed to g e t a good drive. I wo u ld hit the brakes as hard as I could and hug the inside." It all came d own to Polen's last-ditch effort on the final lap . "We actually spli t a lap ped rider (in turn 10)," Polen said. "I went outside, I was going to square it off a n d come underne ath. He (DuHamel) flicked it back left and I had to go the other way. I ended up close to th e wall on the outsid e and there was 5

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