Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BROAD RACE Pre-seasonDa tonatest • !T ire e 0\ .. rl By Henny Ray Abrams t.n rl l-l (]) ..0 S. (]) u (]) c (Left) Rob Muzzy and Fred Merkel lis ten as Scott Russell expl ain s how it's d one. (Above) Russell was the fastest rider at Daytona from th e get-go. DAYTONA BEACH, FL, DEC. 23 cott Russell is exiting tum one at Daytona International Speedway, lighting up the rear tire until it smokes, the rear Dunlop slewing side- ways, leaving a perfect black mark , his signature, on the kink leading up to tum two . He does it aga in, and aga in, and again. It is among the mo st awesome S The Aussie invasion sights in motorcycle racing - a rid er at the top of his gam e absolutely abusing his rear tire . Somewhere Dunlop's Jim Allen is smiling. "That's what we need them to do," Allen says. "It 's only a meaningful test when you're doing 50s (one-minute, 50sec ond lap times) and SIs. There are onl y a few guys here that can go that pace ." In the third race of the 1989 season, the USGP at Laguna Seca, Magee was involved in an incident with Bubba Shobert that ended Shobert's career and provoked an outpouring of venomous mail in the American media. The following year he joined Kevin Schwantz aboard the Lucky Strike Suzuki team and, ironically, crashed in nearly the same place that he and Shobert had tangled at Laguna Seca, suffering season-ending head injuries. Though he recovered fully from the head injuries, he was unceremoniously sacked by the Suzuki GP squad, though he did have a few rides on the Suzuki 500 in 1991. For the past two years, he's been racing in the Japanese 500cc championship for Yamaha. This year was his worst ever and, when asked where he finished in the championship th is year, he replied, "I don't know; I h e 1994AMA Superbike National Championship will ha ve a distinctively Australian accent this year when two riders from down under join the fray. Kevin Magee (right), . of Horsham, Victoria, will ride for the Smokin' Joe's Honda don 't care." team com p e tin g Magee was visiting the high banks of Daytona for the aga inst newcomer first time, but the lingering hand injury that he 'd sufTroy Corser, the Wolfered at Suzuka had kept him off a motorcycle since July . longong native likely "Different," is the word Magee said he would use to describe his first impression of Daytona. "The last bank I aboard a Fast by Ferracci Ducati. Of the ' rode was a berm. The bike (a well-used Camel Commontwo, Magee is the more experienced, a SOOcc Grand Prix wealth Honda RC30 superbike) is different than what winner who's spent the last few years racing a 500 in the I'm used to ." Magee had ridden a factory Yamaha Japanese championship. This was a season he would YZRSoo in this year' s Japanese 500cc Championship with rather forget, one that ended with a crash during practice backing from the Japanese telephone company. The key for the Suzuka 8-Hour race. It was there that he caught to learning Daytona was "just understanding how and where to be on the banking. Getting on it, getting along the eye of Smokin' Joe's team owner Martin Adams. ..~ "At Suzuka, he was going like an abso lute house b'tt .tt, getting off it. It's Illird to know where to go unless fire before the accident," Adams said at Daytona. "When you 're with a bunch of guys." the opportunity arose and we were looking for a world "I'm just cruising because my hands are still shitting. class rider, his name returned. I also have to give credit I'm just having a knockaround and find ing where the to my travel agent Randy Warren because he stoked my bumps are. It's a bit easier to figure the infield out than memory. It's a source of considerable pride to bring a the banks. I've been around a lot of flat comers in my man of Kevin's talent over here. I have great confidence life," Mag ee said . that he:ll be a p~~nomeri~I asset t().every ·stage oi this Because the two smallest fingers on his left hand were team ." • . stilI disfigured , Magee hadn't been abl e to train and Superlatives have often been used to describe wasn't in testing shape. The hand d idn't bother him so Magee's career, and the same could be said about his much on the banking, but "corning out of turn one it gets personality. Engaging and likeable, the Australian shaky in the kink and it's hard to hold on. I still have speaks his mind with a frankness and honesty not often shit-all strength in the arm:' found in racing. Mag ee was sched uled to have Dr . Arth u r Ting perThe 31-year old Australian had an impressive debut form surgery on the hand in San Francisco on Monday, in the SOOcc class .,qualifyirig sixth in his first GP at Suzu- Decemb er 6. "I'll go home after they put some plates and ka in 1987 aboard a Kenny Roberts Yamaha, then quali- scre ws in there. I would hope to be riding right after fyi ng second on th e difficult Assen circuit in his first Ch rist m as. That leav es two mo n ths before Daytona, European outin g. He would go on to join Wayn e Rainey which will be a lot better than the last two months." on the Lucky Strike Yamaha team in 1988, winning th e Among his other options for 1994 wer e some World Spanish Grand Prix at [arama before going on to a fifth Superbike an d other AMA Sup erbike teams, as well as a place finish in the championship. return to Japan. As far ,as the GP circui t is con cerned, T 14 .,..........__...... ... ~*_ . i_ ~ Allen's official title is is Road Race Coordinator / Motorcycles, but the title doe sn 't do justice to what he does at the track. With Dunlop handling all of the factory AMA superbike teams, and the top teams in . the 250 and Supersport classes as well, Allen does more than just coordinate. His is year-round job: testing, evaluating, making recornmenda tions, soothing ego s, making tough decisions on who to supply and wh o not to. An argument could easily be mad e that he' s the most important man at the races, to not only the factories, but the majority of the privateers as well. For three days in December, he's in a "I've given up on that. I proved 1 can ride the bikes. I was fifth in Malaysia on basically a parts bin :' Troy Corser was in Daytona largely due to the efforts oHormer World Champion and current Australian resident Barry Sheene. Because ofhis close friendship with the Castigliones, the family that owns Cagiva, Sheene has been keeping his eye out for fresh talent for a number of years. About two years ago he met Corser, charted his progress, and thought now was the time for him to make the mo ve . At the Castigliones' request, Sheene accompanied Corser to Daytona. It was only Corser's third tri p outside of Australia and his first to America. ""He's smooth and very consistent," Eraldo Ferracci said of his newest rider. "I saw some film of him. Everybody has given me a good report." Like many road racers, Corser, 22, began racing on the dirt, first in motocross then in dirt track. Though he didn't begin road racing until 1990, he was instantly successful, winning the Australian 250 Production championship aboard a Suzuki. The next year he rode a Yamaha TZ250 Yamaba to sixth place in the Australian Champi- . onship, moving up to the Yamaha factory superbike team in 1992 and recording a fourth place finish. This yea r he won the Australian Superbike title aboard a Honda Australia factory RC30. Officially, the trip to Daytona was only a test, something he 'd been trying to do for much of the latter part of the year. "I haven't signed anything," Corser said. "We'll see how it g~. I still have to prove myself to them. I have an offer to do the Australian Championships for Honda again. If I get an offer, I'd like to have a look. I'd rather come here than spend another year in Australia. I think there's more competition here; I could learn more here and the bikes are very good. I have to wait for Ferracci to talk to Claudio (Castiglione):' If Corser was uncertain about joining Pascal Picotte, on the Ferracci teamjFerracci wasn't . "I'm very happy. I've got two kids that do whatever I tell them to do. You've got to keep control of the situation," Ferracci said. "We 're going to make it a three-year contract. Pascal will also get a three-year contract. That way you know you've got three years to get good. \"/hen y~)U:re young you can go two ways. You could ~ good, (or) you could be shit:' Ferra cci also said that he hoped to get both rid ers to Mugello some time th is year to test the Ca giva 500. "That's the goal of everybody," he said . "It' s easier to come over here and race - better than Japan," Corser said. "From what I've seen, I reckon it'd be okay to live here ."

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