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/127658
~" ROAD,RACE >, . ... ' :' " ',U ;SupertlikeNationaJChampionship 5eries" ,S o Round 1: Daytona International Speedway F~~ll~ ~~f~ai;o~~a#~~eP;~i~~o~~~~t~~i~;r~ . ' running of the Daytona 200, and he did it in record-breaking fashion. The French Canadian was fast throughout the 45-minute qualifying session and he ultimately set a new lap record of one-minute, . 50.068-s€conds at an average clip of 116.437 mph. Picotte was just as surprised as everybody else with his accomplishment, which earned him $1000 and a Rolex Daytona wristwatch. -: "I thought my mechanic' did wrong on my p it board because it said 50.3(1:50.3)," Picotte said. "1 thought it meant a 53 (1:53). The next lap 1did a 50.2 then) knew I was right there. When you run in the second group, you know what the first group did so '" . you have an idea of what you have to do - but 1never expecte~ to be as fast as 1 was. 1 knew 1 was riding pretty well, 1did some ice racing this winter, and 1 learned to slide the bike more in the infield. The first time we tried this bike we .put the radar gun on it and it was on 180' mph. 1said to (Eraldo) Ferracci, 'If we don't win this year, we're never going to win: " The pole position was Picotte's first-ever in an AMA National, and it shattered the ",mark seta season ago, in 1 993, by Muzzy Kawasaki's Scott Russell, who lapped the tJi3.5~mile road course in 1:50.194. 0., . Russell was tlle man many expected to be sitting on the pole when the Daytona 200 by Arai got underway on Sunday afternoon. The Georgian was impressive during preseason testing at the Speedway, and many expected him to be the first rider to dip into the 1:49-range. It didn't happen, and Russell was left somewhat frustrated after posting the second quickest time of 1:50.386, slower than his record time of a year ago. Russell o said he'd used all his qualifying tires by.the end of the session, ~nd could do nothing + but sit and watch Picotte. " . " .. "We're here for the 200 now, aren't we?" Russell said . "We're in good shape. We went as fast as Jamie Games - the ,.third fastest rider at 1:51.413) with our race tire. 1 always like to be the .fastest guy and I'm no t happy when I'm not. That's the way 1am. I've lacked the fire all week...just haven't been into it. I've just been lacking the will to come to Day tona and put it all on the line again. I've got a World Championship to defend, but I'm back. I'll be ready for the 5O-miler. We just came in and we've struggled all week. We thought we had what it took. 1 was trying not to listen to what was going on in the first group, but 1 think this year 1 thought abou t it (winning the pole) too much. Those guys haven't d one anything near 51s (1:51 lap times) on race tires. We'll be okay:' The fastest rider to come from the first group of qualifiers was Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie James . The Louisianan clicked off a 1:51.413 in the earlier ses- - ~ "It took up a little more time as far as getting aggressive in the first group," James said. "I ran a race tire for the first half of the session. The qua1ifying tires were so much different and it took me a long time to get to their potential - bu t 1 don' t think 1 could have matched Pascal's speed. We'll put on the race tires and see who has what with the harder tires:' The fourth fastest rider was Australian Superbike Champion Troy Corser, who was turning heads with his impressive debut at Daytona. Corser was aboard the second Fast By Ferracci Ducati, and he lapped the Speedway road course in 1:51.462. Yamaha's four -time World Champion Eddie Lawson (1:51.519); Smokin' Joe's Racing's Doug Polen (1:51.520); DESMO Ducati's David Sadowski (52.414); Muzzy Kawasaki's Fred Merke l (1:52.484); Lucky Strike Suzuki's Donald Jacks (1:52.494); and Vance & Hines Yamaha's Colin Edwards II (1:52.609) rounded out the top 10 qualifiers. With many expecting the top riders to dip into the 1:49-range, and only two slipping into the 1:50s, there was some grumbling among the riders that the Dunlop tires most were using were of a harder compound than those used during the December tire tests. According to Dunlop tire techn ician Jim Allen, though, there was no such change in compounds. "In July, tire X was good, and in the October race it was good," Allen explained. "In the Decemb er tests they did 51s on production tires. I'm mystified, but it's the exact same tire. 1 don't think it's us. 1 don't know what to say. We thought they'd qualify with 49s. There's a lot of squawking, but 1don't think it's our fault :' . ~ 0\ 0\ T'""'i (f) N ] III ::;EPro1 onaJ rider depicted during c1osed-eourne event 00not attemlll these maneuvers. Dress properly foryour ride witha helm~ eye P"1lOdion. long-sleeved shirt, longtrousers. gloves and boots. y~ and the Moto~ Safety Fou,:!ion encourage you toride safely and respect the environment. 00notdrink and ride. h is illegal and aangerous.SpecWlCalions SU tochangewit outnotice. C1994""maha MotorCorporation U.SA (Cyp~. 90630) bJect h . 0 l(km ~ ..... D.I.D _ #.,,~~ • ~- ~ f!!l!J . . ...