Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~·.' lNtERVIEW.· ·Jam am ieJ es . . . .. . '. -----~---------'---''--------------------' now and man y look to him as the man who may just win the championship in 1994. By Dean Adams Photos by Henny Ray Abrams t one point last. year, 1988 AMA Su perb ike Na tion al Champion Jamie James seemed to be on his way out of roa d racing. He had badly injured a hand in a tire-testing crash at Daytona in December of 1992, and was forced to sit ou t the 1993 series opener the Daytona 200. That race was won by four-time World Champion Eddie Law- A son, riding as James' replacement on a variation of his Vance & Hines Yamaha FZR750. To make matters worse, the Van ce & Hines team seemed to somewhat lose inte res t in James, spend ing mor e time and resou rces on his young teammate, Colin Edwards II. Never one to complain, James went about his bus iness as he waited for the injured hand to heal. In the meantime, James observed and partici pated in stock car racing, and for a time thought of changing to a car rae- ing career. He moved from his home in Louisiana to North Carolina so as to get closer to the Bus ch Gra nd National scene, and even had a few outings in a race car. Backing his sponsor's car into a wall or two was one of the things that stopped him from makin g the change. James came back strong following his injury, putting in some intensely spirited charges during the last few races of . ' the season - most notably the Mid-Ohio round of the series when he relentlessly p u rsued Dale Qua rterley. Jam es ha s been ri ding Yamahas for fou r seas ons We'll ask th e mill ion do lla r question first, How much longer are you go ing to race motorcycles ? Are you satisfied enough with what you have accomplished to walk away from the sport? As long as I feel like I do now, and I'm hea lthy,. I'll probably st ay a t it . I' ve worked really hard for 10 or 12 years to ge t to where I am, and it would be a shame to quit now tha t I'm reaching the kind of p osition I've tried so har d to attain. I had some injuries that I had to wo rk around last year, but those are all mu ch better now. As for the way I feel going into Dayto na, I feel better than I d id going into the tire test when I was hurt a yea r a n d a half ago. I actually feel stronger than ever. I'm not really going to pu t a limit on how much longer I'm going to race. As lon g as I feel stro ng and competitive, and feel like I can still go out and give 110 and I feel like doing it - then I will "10, continue to race. I'd have to say that I'm fairly satisfied. I feel that I've accomplished a few of my goals, but I have also made some mistakes in the past, and I'm just learn ing the whole business end of it. I feel like I'm now getting it together as far as the overall pictu re goes. I've been working with Yamaha now for four years, and that feels really good . I really need to have a good year to make myself feel good about that whole situation, and to even str engt hen my rela tionship wi th Yamaha. The word is that you and Colin will race YZF600s in the AMAlCCS 600cc Supersport race at Daytona. Will you race that class all season long? Many feel that a Supersport ride could lessen your ch ances of winning the U.S . Superbike National Championship. We're going to, in speaking with th e race gu ys at Yamaha, get thro ugh Daytona and see how it goes and make a decision from there. I think in this sport it all comes d own to how you menta lly look at a situa tion. In 1989 - when I was rid ing e veryt h in g und er the sun - I d idn' t feel like it (riding Superspo rt) hu rt my Superb ike effort any. Now that I have much more experience, I should be able to deal with it better. I think that's the only way I can look a t it. I mean, when you take on something like this, having a positive atti tude is 90"10 of it. You must really look at racing differently now as compar ed to when you started. I really' do n't look at it an y d ifferently. Of course, I look at it as more of a business, the more you learn about this bus iness makes you a bet ter rider. As far as the actual racing goes, I may approach it a little d ifferently, ma ybe a little mo re tactfully, or whatever. I try to use my head as much as p ossible, p r ob ab ly much more than I did in my younger days. Other than that, I'm out to do the same thing, which is to give 110"10 to win as man y races as I can . . No doubt, I am thinking more abo ut my racing now as compared to when I

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