Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"For a kid wh o n ever went over there to come out of the first tum leading the race, pret ty slick no matter what," sa id Ferracci, w ho acco m panied Corser to the race. With Sheene se rving as an inte rmedia ry , Co rser ha d b een in v it e d to test at Dayt ona in Dece mber of 1993. It was his first tri p to the U.S., his first time on the Duca ti, and his first time a t Daytona. By the end of the test he was just off the ra ce pace and gaining . Not only that, but he ra n a fu ll loa d of fuel th ro u gh th e yea r-o ld Du ca ti to tes t his, and the tir e' s, en d u ra nce. Uninti mi dated by the specta cle of the day, Co rse r ran a close second to Scott Russell in the Daytona 200, closing at the end. Had it not been for s lo wer pit s to ps , he just mi ght ha ve b een th e fir st across th e -stripe. "He's going to be beautiful at Daytona no matt er what other guys do," Ferracci says. Da yton a is a fairly easy track t o learn a n d h e h ad pl enty o f practice. What impressed Ferr acd mor e was Corser's run in Europe. And wha t shouldn't be forgo tte n is this: He was seeing vi rtu ally every tr ack in 1994 fo r th e firs t time. The Mugello circu it, just outside of Floren ce, in Italy, is another daunting tra ck, but one tha t he ad ap ted to ea sily. "T he tr ack is very d ifficult to learn, very difficult. Whatever Troy does surprises the hell ou t of me," says Ferracci, but Corser was less awed. " Su r p risi n g ly, Mugello didn't t a ke m e v ery long to le arn. 1 th ought it was go in g to because it' s got a few chicanes, really fu nn y chicanes that come back on the mselves ." The first race result w as a third and in the second one, a rear sp rocket failed, end ing his day prematu rely. If th ere is one rider w ho Ferracci has wor ked with th at mo st reminds him of Corser it ' s th e ve te ran Doug Po le n . Pol en an d Ferracci tea med up for two World Su perbike Ch ampionsh ips and one AMA Superb ike ti tl e . The bikes were so good, Ferracci says, and Polen was so ade pt at setting them up, that he co u ld dial in a track in a hand ful of laps . "Doug wo ul d go around five tim e s, s to p, s ay ' it' s a p iece o f cake:" Ferracci reca lls. Co rser, he says, "is like Doug, but a little mo re aggressive. If .h e' s in fro n t, he doesn ' t need somebo dy leadinll him . He can ga uge himself. He's' a figh ter . He knows wh en to a t tack. You att a ck , yo u b a ck off, you ' re finishe d. Wh en he passed you he 's go ne." . The maturity Co rse r showed in ge tti n g th e bike re ady fo r th e race was so meth ing that Ferracci didn't exp ect. Instead of coming in after his first few laps on the tra ck a n d requesting changes, Corser would work his way up to about 85% of the pace before making a change . "Instead of wasting time fixing the bike he would go around a little more, a little faster. We would do some suspension work. In the end, the bike was perfect:' Ferracci said. "1 think a new tra ck, in some ways, can be a bit of an advantage the fir st time out," Corser said . "You go there and you don't know that this is here and this is here until you go in there and you make a mistake and you realize that you s hou ld' ve sh ut it d own earlier. Th en yo u' re not go ing to do it until yo u find out. 1 never tried to ou trid e myself. 1just ride to wh ere 1 feel comfortable and if I'm chasing so meo ne, then I find that little bit." If yo u as k Corse r where th is talent comes fro m, he can ' t tell yo u. It's jus t some thi ng he' s always been good at, learning tracks, setting the bike up. There is no lack of confidence, no lack of focus. "1 th ink that wh en everythin gs : goi ng really good and the team works behind yo u, it jus t seems to be there. The gu ys without confiden ce, normally they're th e guys who a re goi n g a bit s lower, basically . You can see th ey're not as aggressive on the bike. They just ride differently:' Corser observed. There were times when Corser's con fid ence was s h a ke n, th e cr as hes at Brainerd and Sears Point, but he knew they were both mechanical failures. As was the DNF at Mid-Qhio. Ferracci says Corser wasn 't bothered b e cau se he "kn ew why Colin (Edwards II) won. At Brainerd, that gu y, with all that stuff he wen t throu gh." With Fer racci in the passen ger sea t, and not wearing a seat belt, Corser put his rental car on the roof in an off-trac k excursion while inspect ing Bra in erd . He'd lau gh that off, but not the Frid ay practice cras h at the end of the straighta way when he h it a false neut ral and nearly gro u nd his hand to hamburger. He told the doctors wh o atte nd ed him, "Jus t do it right, clean it up, stitch it up, and give me whatever I need . But I do have to ride on Sunday. I can stay all day Friday, Saturday, but Sunday mornin g I've got to be out at th e track because I'v e go t to rid e ." The d octor said, "Well, that's up to yo u. I d on't see how you' re going to ride with se ven stitches in your hand ." His ride at Brainerd is the stu ff legends are made of. "I went out to the track and my' hand wa s hurting a lot, but I didn' t want to tell that to any one because it just gives them an advantage over you - if they know that you ' re hurt," Corser sai d . "I go t th e best st a rt o f m y U .S . ra cing career an d led the race from the start. I forgot my hand. I ran the pace I wanted to run. Considering how the weekend started, I was happy to get second. If I didn't ge t that lapped rid e r on th e las t lap I could ha ve beat Colin." As it was, th e margin was just over ha lf a seco nd . In th e end Corser won three races, Phoe nix, Pomo na, Loudon; fin i shed secon d at Da y ton a , Lag una Seca, and Brainerd ; four th at Elkha rt La ke and Atlanta; an d failed to finish Sears Point and Mid- Ohio . He di dn't wi n a race after Loudon, but he came close at Braine rd , and was in seco nd when his bike failed at Sea rs Poin t. Mo re im po rtant ly, after Loudon he ha d enough of a lead that h e didn't have to win. He foll ow ed up his Daytona debut with a win in Phoen ix th at . looked like a d ay at the beach . He was becoming the ma ster of the tractor-like pul1ing pow e r of the Ducati and, on a tight ci rc uit , there was nothing anyon e cou ld do to stop him. "If yo u jus t rod e it smoo th and consistent you cou ld go fast on it. It wasn't a bike wh ere you really had to try hard to go fast," Corse r says. At Pom on a Corser d ecided to race at less than 100% an d was well in control wh en the i"ace w as stopped . It was a first-tim e, tem porary circuit with s a fe ty and surface problem s that a number of rid ers found ins u rm ou ntable. Corser decided there was a margin of safety he could comfortably compete at. So, while the othe rs were beating themselves up over having to race, he wa s deciding where to go fast and where not to. His proved to be the right wa y and, at the end of the day, he had his second win. " A fte r D a yt on a , Ph o eni x, Pomona, w e h ad a pretty go od gap after thr ee, say , four rounds. Basi cally, I sa id there ' s a good cha nce . Th e re' s a good cha nce h e r e and if every thi ng ke e ps go ing well the re's no reason we can 't win it;' Co rser sai d a third of th e way in to th e year. H e' d beg un to form his opinions earlier in the year, as ea rly as Dayton a, ' an d, realisticall y, he knew what his chances were. "Basically, fro m Daytona I thought we were in with a pretty good cha nce of wi nning th is if everythi ng goes righ t and the bike goes good." That he was able to dispose of Eddie Lawson and Dou g Polen and race with Scott Russell justified his ou tloo k. H aving a Duca t i is ce rta inly an advan tage on the point-and-shoot track in Loudon, New Ham psh ire. It's a circuit that puts a premium on gelling out of a number of slow corners well, and putting together com plete lap s. Corser earned h is th ird p ol e of th e yea r a nd was pulling away in the race wh en he slowed for a yellow fla g. A horrific crash entering the banking had brou ght an ambulance out wh ich was parked not far off the racing line . Mu zzy Kawasa ki' s Fred Merkel cau ght up, then Corser took off and Merkel, wh o'd been bothered by a stomach bug all weekend wa s in no shape to take a run at him. James was third, happy to be there and happy not to be losing any more championship points. Earlier, Corser had finished second at Lagu na Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, wher e nothing was go ing to stop 15

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