Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Thomas Stevens (11) was the best of the Suzuki men. He finished eighth, one spot behind Mike Smith (68). (Above) Miguel DuHamel (17)and the Harley·Davldson VR1000 lasted for 20 laps; hera he's about to get lapped by Troy Corser (19). uled pit stop on the 25th lap, effectively putting him out of contention after his crew had mistakenly mounted the wrong tire (too soft of a compound) during the intermission. "I think I could have won that thing, " James said. "You don't want to say you could have won it, but I had as good a chance as anybody. We had a rear tire problem and had to make an unscheduled pit stop in the second part of the race. I ju st kept m y head down after that, and hoped they'd have to stop for fuel. I did all I could. I feel good about my performance." The battle up front continued, and it was strictly Russell vs , Corser. By this point it had become apparent that barring a problem of some sort, the race would be won by one of these two. Polen and Lawson were unable to keep pace, and although Picotte looked strong, he was a lap behind. By the 43rd lap, the leading pair led Lawson and Picotte by 8.9 seconds with Polen even further off the pace. Quarterley was fifth, but the New Englander would ultimately crash in tum one on the 55th lap; though he would rejoin the race, he couldn't finish any higher than 10th. "I was just coasting in , like every other lap, and the front end went," Quarterley said. "1 had to push it for 20 seconds to get it started. It's a good thing I've been training . The pit stops went good for us ; the tires were great. I was just sticking the pace and we were right there. We had a sixth place bike and th at wou ld ha ve given us th ird place points {because Rus sell, Lawso n and Polen will no t be contesting any more rounds)." Russell pitted on the 45t h la p, his crew topping off his fuel supply bu t not gi ving him a fr es h rear ti re . Russell thought he'd received a new rea r tire until his crew told him ot herwise - in Victory Lane. On the 48th lap, Corser held a 20.7second lead on Russell, who had exited the p its behind Lawson and Polen - in fourth place . Corser then pitted, giving the l ead to Lawson, wi th Polen just barely holding off Russell. Corser's stop was longer than Ru ssell's, w ith the Auss ie's Ducati getting fitted w ith a new rear tire - he left the pits in fourth place. Polen pitted on the 50th lap and dropped back to fourth. With five laps to go, Russell led Corser by 11 seconds. Though he would gain considerable ground, Corser came up. 2.91 seconds short of catching the two-time Daytona 200 winner at the flag. Lawson ended up a lonely third, with Polen fourth, James fifth, Crevier sixth, Smith seventh, Stevens eighth, Magee ninth and Quarterley 10th. "I just had a lot of fun, lea ving big black marks everywhere," Russell said . "I knew we had 'em beat in the pits. The only thing that could've messed me up was that unscheduled pit stop. I wa s having a bit of trouble with the front going into one, and that was hold ing me back some. I ju s t rode a good, safe pace." Corser was low-key in finishing second, even though the red flag probably cost him a victory in the Daytona 200. "Scott and Eddie are good riders," Corser said. "I was out there trying my hardest and I did my best. I tried to be consistent and would ha ve liked to have won it. The Ducati is awesome. It's got heaps of power. I was making a few mistakes, especially on the back chican e. Scott was quicker than I was through there - that's where he was making his ground. Each lap I was getting be tter and better. I was watching him, but I just couldn't get in there as hard as he could. I think that's where he was beatingme." Polen was relatively p lea sed w ith his first ride on the still-developing RC45: "We came in and had to get a splash of ga s so we co u ld d efinitely make it," he said. "I decided I was losing so much time with th e tire that I was running, that we changed it, too. If I'd gone six more laps with that rear tire, I actually would've lost eve n more time. It onl y took three extra seconds to pu t on a so ft ti re , a nd I mad e those three seconds up in the very first lap I wen t out. And I made up three seconds every lap after that from wha t I had been running - so it wasn't much of a gamble." Smith spent the last portion of the race battlin g with Ed wards, the Georgian unaware that the Texan was a lap behind. To make sure Edwards couldn't draft past, Smith slowed on the final run through the ch icane, and wa s almost ca ught by a hard-charging Stevens on the Luck y Strike Suzu ki. Stevens had ba ttled various p roblems throughout the 200 miles. "In the first part I ran with the hard tire tha t I hadn't tested," Stevens said. "I was two seconds slower on it. I told the cr ew to put on a softer one , but that didn't happen. But we ' re not sure if it would ha ve lasted anyway - the bi ke was boiling water ou t after the warm-up lap and I started pulling it off the grid. I just decided to go out and hope it didn't spit me off in the first tum. We stiffened the suspension at the red flag and used the softer tire. Then the bike overheated again and I almost stalled it on the start; it ran hot for the rest of the race. I just nursed it home. We came here and we showed that the Suzuki gu ys have picked up the pace a littl e bit. We walked away with some points, and it's a long year." Aussie Kevin Magee' s debut AMA race saw him finish ninth and still struggling with the ne w Honda RC45 : "I barely had a sweat," Magee said. "It (the RC45) doesn't do an ything, an ywhere. You just can't push it or you 'll bust your ass. It's just a big mix-up right now, but we' ll get it sorted out and get it a lot closer. It's toug h coming to a place like this wi th a new bike. We basically just got the thing. " "We got a little bit sideways there and couldn't keep up," Lawson said . H was It one of those days. Not much you could d o about it. We gotta come back here and make up for thi s on e. We thought we were in pretty good shape there in the firs t leg. But I don't know, ma ybe we made a wrong tire choice - we just went a backwards in the second leg." Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 13, 1994 SUPERBIKE Q U ALI FYINC: I. Pasca l Pi colte (1:50.068); 2. 5co1t Rus sell (1:50 .386 ); 3. Ja mie James (I:5H13); 4. Troy Corser (1:51.462); 5. Eddie Lawson (1:51519); 6. Doug Polen (1:51520); 7. David Sadowski (1:52.414); 8. Fred Merkel (1:52.484); 9. Do nald Jacb (1:52.494); 10. Colin Edwards 11 (1:5 2.609 ); 11. Steve Crevier (1:52.892); 12. Thomas Stevens (1:53.281); 13. Tom Kipp (1:53.359); 14. Takahiro 50h wa (1:53.359); 15. Da le Quartc rl ey (1:53.376) ; 16. Ak in Yan.lg awa (1:53.529); 17. M ike Smith (1:54.162); 18. Be rnhard SdUc k (1:54.625); 19. Kevin Mal:'"' (1:55.055); 211. Edwin Weibel (1:55.260); 21. Andrew Stroud (1:55.398); 22. Don Canet (1:55.929); 23. Jacqueo C uenette Jr. (1:56.035); 24. Chuck Craves (1:56.23 1); 25. Karl Truchess (1:57.40S); 26. Li nn ley Cl ar ke (1:57.463) ; 27. Ma rti n Wi mm er (I :S7 .6 38 ); 28 . Larry Pe gra m (I :S7 .680); 29 . Ricky Graham (1:57.726); 30. Phil Burley (1:57.157); 31. Keith Pinkstaff (1:571106 32. Miguel DuHamel (1:57.844); 33); Alan Cathcart (1:58.1>41); 34. Eric Moe (1:58.186); 35. Jay Springsteen (1:58.324); 36. John Hoppemad (1:58..566 ); 37 . Jo h n As h mea d (1:58 .614 ); 38 . Michel Simeon (1:58.692); 39. Roger Bennett (1:58.931); 40. Lee Shierts (1:58.970); 41. Marc Smith (1:59.067); 42. Jesus Rodriguez (1:59.118); 43. Kev in C ra h.om (1:59.147); 44. P>blo Real (1:59.585); 45. Darrell Oingerman (1:59.765); 46. David Kieffer (1:59.864); 47. John Long (1:59.911); 48. Tom my "..• . '1 . '". ·.rle'.";:' .;: . ..:" :.. '. S 'f ' the·first pn.stop. l .:vanted to get out there and start c~lling sOITl.e ·re·~pectable.lap .tinies. I · . . (·Y.i • •. .' . . . . was dOIng 55s and 56s and Iwas.catchlng up · . " .., .. . ... . . . • . .. .. . ' . .. . .: . to people-.Uke. I:said,:some .days you come · Dirtt rack . Ie g e ~ d . Jay ·S'prliigllt~en was :'.·here and s~t the world fire , '~nd other ~ys : · scratched from the Daytona 200 by'Arlil on '. you break.' : ' . .' .. : ' '. . ' : S·unday. morning:after injur.ing his ~hoi.o!dei " . ": : : . , . . ' . :;. . '" · afldbreaklnga bone h .hiswrist In a crash Ill'. ' Cycle Wo~d magazine s Don Canet was run-: the Harley·Davidson,883 .C .traCk final" on ". rling strongly in his'fi rst·ever .Daytona'200 titl ~atu'rcjay night .Springer, .who.was.set to ride . before the head gasket .went on the maqa· a SKip .Eak Racing Honda RC30 tne;', zlne'sYamaha VZF750 project bike-.The.like- . .en· ·200; finished'a respectabte 10th' i1) his TWin ". aIJle Califomian had the bike as high as 13.th .50.qualijier 0:' Thursday: '. ". . : in the early stages 'of.the race. He.pufled off . " .' ' '. .': the trilck J/) the seco nd. horseshoe on the . . . " ' . ..' . .. . · Dirt tiacker Larry Pegram completed ,24 laps . 17th·lap. . . . ' ". . 9n his Ducati before the V·twin blew up. '"We . .. . .. . , .. . were out ttie~ and iunning prettY good: the ' MuzZy Kawasaki's Takahlro Sohwa gets tfie' · Ohioan ·Said'·' . was following Dave Sadowski ' . ironman l!ward for racing in.the ·Dayto!Ul 2oo. iInd,.1 guess, had run up toabout i6 th: Then ' .·aft.er breaking his collarbone Inacrash m'!M footpeg felloff it. I couldn't Me n without a .: Thursda y's Twhi 50 quali.fyi?g race . The . footpeg, so we had to stop and fIX that. Then ' .Japanese aceended ~p fi/)lshlng 13th. :The: we went out and.were following Mike Smith; race .was okay. I made a big mistake in the .and the motor blew. 'I:m upset becausetbe : 50-mile race.. I crashed and broke my conar-: bike.blew: butwe were. running.with some ' · bone: (right). Today; I had no feeling in my pretty good boys and I'm happy with the way. . right hand. Nothing. That was very difficult. I·. ·the. bike was ·runni"ng before it blew 'up: I :had too muchof a wobble in.the fast come.rs. · appreciilte everybody coming out • especially ' Very scary. I"got to ninth, but then I pinedand ' the dirttraCk fans. who rill partial to." . .. ' .... . :they fixed the back of the .bike.· lt took too · . ' . . ' . . . . . ' '. '.. much iiine; but then U was easy to ride. I: Daytona 200 'winne r Scott RuslIel l" pur: .' 'wa nt to win the supsrbike championship. I .chased a brand new Acura'NSX' prior to eern- : . ~arited some points today, so I'm happy.".In: ingto Florida ; and' the Georgian .drove ii . order 'to shake hands, Sohwa had to li~ his . down.tothe Speedway.from' his home In . right h.and with /:lis left ' ' . . Atlanta..Russell purchased the .new car from . .' '., . . '. : ' : ~ ..:" .. ',' . ". -, : · Honda man'and Daytona. pit announcer Bel) : One of those who had a rather disappo ,intlng ' Cheatwood. . . '.' . .; . , .' . ' ::. .... , finish in the 200.was venee & Hines Yarna-, ' :-- .., ,.. ' . .: . 'ha's Colin Edlllards .II.. The young Texan Former.Daytona 200 winner Dave Sadowski : . ended Lip .12th, a lap doWn on the leaders. "It . · compl. te\l:onIY.15 laps before his' Desrno-.: .was atci~gti ·day ;·.Edwards said. OWe had ' e backed Ducatiexplred. "You' come here and ' . problems at tne beginning of the race. .The." you've 90I·.everything ioge~r and you Can't .' bike just:-vasn't h'ooklng .up like '1like It: We · do anyth wrong: ' Sadow~kj"Ss.: : . on In ' < ; ' . . •

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