Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1: Daytona In a alSpeedway tern tion • s tuffed his way under the Geor gian en tering the International Horseshoe. David Estop crashed ou t of the race in the second horseshoe on the fourth lap, and Muzzy Kawasaki's Nobles followed suit one comer later. The lead pack was whittled down to seven on the eighth lap with Smith, James, Crevier, Rothman, Barnes, Hale and Edwards a short distance ahead of Pridmore and Jim Leslie. Tha t only lasted tw o la ps as Pridmore and Leslie somehow managed to get back into the lead draft. On the 14th lap, the top three - Smith, Crevier and James - managed to get clear, and at the same lime Edwards lost touch with the second group. The Texan would circulate alone for the rest of the way en route to a ninth-place finish . Jam es knew his only chance was to tum in a perfect final lap - and he knew (left) The AMAlCCS 600cc Supersport final gets underway at Daytona Inte matlonal Speedway with Colin Edwards II (45) leadi ng eventual winner Mike Smith (68) and Jamie James (11). (Below) Steve Crevier (4), JalMS and Smith battled to the bitter end. By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR 13 h ey don't g e t any closer than thi s one. Only two seconds covered the top nine riders for 13 of the 18 laps in the 600cc Supersport final a t Daytona International Speedway, before the nine was whittled to three for a mad dash to the flag. At the finish line it was Smokin' Joe's Racing's Mike Smith edging Muzzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier by a scant .029-of-a-second with Vance & Hi nes Yamaha's Jamie James just as close in third. Three different brands of motorcycles filled Victory Lane, wit h the 1995 Yamaha YZF600 having an impressive debut in the hands of the hard-riding James. Although he was slightly down on power on the still-developing YZF, James more than made up for it with his late-braking antics and his charges through the infield section of the 3.56mile Daytona In ternational Speedway. Still, when push came to shove, the other tw o simply had too mu ch horsepower for Jam es an d his desperate attemp t to lea d th e way out of the chicane faile d him on the run to the checkered. Prior to the top three separating the mselves from the field, the race up front consisted of nine potential race winners. A flying freight train of supersp ort machinery fled around the high banks in perfect unison. Sm ith, Crevier a nd James, thou gh, managed to break the d raft from the res t late in the race to secure their top three finishing positions. Fourth place went to the impressive privateer, Gerald Rothman [r.. After losing his Yoshimura Suzuki support ride, Rothman went out and got himself a Yamaha YZF600 and seems hell-bent to prove those who didn't sign him up wrong . Rothman stayed in the lead group for the duration, only slipping out of the draft in the final laps. Still, he managed to tum a few heads along the way. Another impressive performance came from fifth -place finisher Michael Barnes. The Floridian rode his Honda CBR600 to head the group of five tha t stayed toget her for the full distance. Barnes led series rookie Mike Ha le and the Smokin' Joe's Racing Honda, privateer Jim Leslie, Kinko 's Jason Pridmore and Vance & Hines Yamaha 's Colin Edwards II across th e line. Au stria's Christian Zwedorri completed the top 10 on his Honda Austria CBR600. The race nearly got underway w ith Canad ian Jon Cornwell still making a mad dash from the pits to his already gridded motorcycle. Cornwell made it, and the flag dropped w ith the always fast- sta rting Edwards putting the new Yamaha at the front of the field . His teammate James, though, didn' t waste any time in taking over at the hea d of the pack. He was followed by Crevier, Smith, Hale, Tripp Nobles, Rothma n and Edwards as they crossed the stripe for the first time. For all practical purposes, there were 18 riders in the lead group as they circulated the banked oval for the second lime. Smith took the lead for the first time under braking for the chicane, but James he ha d to be leading to have any chance at all of victory. Although Smith led the start of the final lap, James was soon by, charging hard through the infield. The Louisianan led into the chicane for the final time, but there was n o way he co ul d stop the other two from flying past on the banking . At the flag it was Smith, Crevier and Jam es - a nd not much in between the three of them. "The chassis on the 600 is really strong," James said, "bu t we 're still lacking just a little on top end. Leading out of the chicane was my only prayer of winning the race. I proved to myself for 19 laps that I cou ldn't stay in their draft."

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