Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127648
• · Je~T:·SE$$lo:tf Harley-Davidson VR-1000 Private Test . This time two machines and two riders were on hand: French-Canadian Miguel DuHamel, who the factory had signed to contest the AMA Superbike National Championship for a fee reportedly in excess of $225,000, spent most of his time on a machine with a half-fairing, and rent-a-rider Fritz Kling, who piloted the second bike, was covered with what appeared to be a white Kawasaki ZX-7 fairing. At DuHamel's signing, a Harley spokesman said that a second rider would be added, likely before Christmas, and Kling was hoping to be that rider. But he came to Daytona with no promises and said that Harley was paying him for two days of testing. Kling finished fifth in the AMA/CCS 750cc Supersport Series and tied for eighth in the WERA F-USA Series. Now Harley is not so certain they'll have a second rider in place by the Daytona 200. "We're still debating," Harley public rela tions man Art Gomper said on .Mond ay, January 3. "Having two riders for Daytona is a tough get. It's no t a question of finding the appropriate rider, but Daytona is a big deal. We may be better off concentrating on one rider for Daytona, but we may change our mind." Of the two days, the bes t laps were turned in late on the second day, though I By Henny Ray Abrams DA¥rONA BEACH, FL, DEC. 21· hen Harley-Davidson announced last month that they . had signed Miguel DuHamel to ride the new VR-1000 su per bike, they added a caveat: the fuel-i njected, fou rvalve V-twin would not be seen on a race track until it was competitive. Judging from a recent two -day test at Daytona International Speedway, it could be some time before the machine is fired in anger. Following a test two weeks earlier . when one rider and one bike were brough t to the famed trioval, and only half a dozen laps were completed over two days, Harley went back to Milwaukee, put the liquid-eooled, 63-degree-angle twin on the dyno and reported ly tried to work out a bug in the electrical s y s te m . They tho u g h t the problem was fixed , but two more days of frustrated testin g proved that they hadn't made the sort of progress t hey' d hoped for. (Top) Miguel DuHamel looks down to find what is believed to have been a blown clutch during Harley-Davidson's recent VR-1000 Superblke test session at Daytona. (Above) Both the updated vers ion that DuHamel rode (top) and the older vers ion ridden by Fritz Kling (left) feature liquidcoo led, 63-degree, 1000cc V-twin . powerplants. they had a hard time stringing more than two laps together at a time, and DuHamel had to be towed in by a Speedway pickup truck at least twice. Though the track was open at 1:00 p.m., the pair didn' t get going u ntil close to 2:00 p.m. and the n were bac k in q u ic k ly . DuHamel did one lap, Kli ng two. Kling went back ou t, sto p ped in the In te rna tio nal Horses hoe, did a U- turn and rode slowly back to the pits. N early an h o u r passed befo re DuHamel made it back on the track, circula ting for one lap before p ulling in . He went back out about 40 minutes later - did another lap , pitted , then went back out only to come to a stop in the second,