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/127698
INTERVIEW Miguel DuHamel ----------- ABRAID NEW 883 R.ATTRACK RACER REPLICA! * PRXEIDS TO &NEAT tUffll RACER '65 .JASON RElCMEil - 1893 883 RAT 'IlIACI( CllAllPiOIlI .......,.,.. * $10.00 perlIllry - 1)3WIlg L\Jylala BiI: .. The CIayIon Fo.rodaIilo 2201C11erryA.orue l.aY,l Be>::l1. CA !U!06 ~9 Name: ~ ••--••--••••---••••••--••••••••••••••••••- -- Mi1lSs: -- - - - I I TlIieITml: Oty~: - - -•••-••- ••------.----- •..- -- - - .--- -.-----------•••- - - - -------- - ----.--.----- .-.- L~~I.:!~~!!!~!~_:J.!~!4.!!.!!:!'!"~_.J Aitp eHAFONC; \ Info Line . (407) 73/ -1616 (Above) Miguel DuHamel confers with crew members Ray Plumb (center) Orders (BOO) 151-3664 Quick Change Clip-on . HandleBar Kits . and AI Luddington (right) at the Daytona tire tests in -- December. (Left) DuHamel at speed on the Harley-Davidson . VR1000 he raced \1\et\t in 1994. . v.~\aCe y~ .' .;'o \e p...'i'a\ ' Now available (or: CBR900RR CBR600F2 & F3 NT6l0 Hawk GT ZJ(·7 HONDA HAWK GT Performance Catalog It's Back·the source forHawk Parts /lJr Filters · carbs • Cams· Valves· Pistons Sparl< Plugs. Exhaust Systems· Black Boxes Wheels· Suspension· Sub-frames Hawk GT Race Engine Building 3600 S. Congress Ave, Ste K Boynton Beach, FL 33426 Want Ad information· (310) 427 ·7433 fEETUPJ 50 it has no engine brake. Every bike has got some, but the RC45 has got none, basically. So that took a lot of getting used to. Whereas wi th the other bike, when yo u shu t off the throttle you' d go flying off the h and lebars al most. It had a good compression to it and it had no anti -slipping clutch. That's the big differen ce. It really messes me up a few times as far as comer speed. I wa s happy to ge t on it. The first time I got on it they had setu ps from last year and d ifferen t specs and stuff like that. The first few times I rod e it I th ou ght, " th is might be a long yea r again." Wa s that during th is Dunlop test or before this weekend? Before this weekend I sa t on it. This time, when we Came out here, I know the bike can work. I told the the guys the perfect expression for the RC45, as far as me riding it and getting up to my likin g right now, it's just a diamond in the ro ugh. Once we chopped it off and polis hed it, th is thing 's go ing to be awesome . It' s go ing be an aweso me machine. It's going to be a blast to ride. It flicks aro und real good . You can see that it doesn't work as well when you get on the gas exiting the corners. It's jus t because it's got this power, the w ay the p ower co mes on it sp in s the wheel... And then it upsets it.. . And th en it u p sets everything . It ju st spins an d then it hooks a bit and hooks a bit an d then... But it's really actually controlled. It's actually fun, it's just not getting you nowh ere. So we're wo rking on th at, ge tti ng more traction to it. Lik e I . sa id, it's not really h igh sid e-h appy or anything like that right now the way I set it up. We're slowly wo rking to what our goal is, which is to win. of course, but to get our lap times down. But we've don e signi fican t leaps forward . The first time I wen t out. I went ou t and barely got close to two min utes - 2:01. And I said, "let's change this," and we went righ t to 1:56, 55 or something. What changes did you make, rear suspension? A little bit rear suspension. a lot of ride heigh t. Basically, make it more comfortable . It ha nd les rea l good . I mean you th row it in there an d it really carves a good line. The front end is pr one to tum, almo st ov erstee r, That's not a problem . Like I said, it's a di amond in the rou gh and we're working on it right now . And if we d o ge t everythIng A-okay, everything wor king 100%, a lot of peo ple are going to be surprised. Were you surprise d when you got on it after watching it last year? Because those guys seemed to struggle a bit last year. I didn't really think about. From what I saw last yea r I w asn't too concerned because I didn't know exactly what was going on. It's not like Bultaco racing got back in it, and I'm like, "Ohhhh, I'm not going to go there ." This is Honda Motor Corpora tion a nd Sm ok in ' Joe - being with them cannot be bad. I didn't actually take too much into consid erati on. But I fig u red also, from th e mach ine sta ndpoint and team, I sa id, "I' m su re they made giant strides forwa rd through the year." HRC knows what the y're doing and they're going to have it figured out by the time I ge t there. Which is about right. I'm learning the bike and it' s getting better and better. Like I said, I jus t got to get used to a few things because the engine brake is so much gone. That' s a little thing I've got to get used to. At least we 're makin g leaps forwa rd and I in no way feel that we're tapped out and, "Oh, man. I'm going to have to do something." We've got a lot of better stuff to come. Will you have a 1995 model for Daytona? I' m n ot s ure about th a t. I think so . The re's so me thi ng go ing on ther e that th ey ' re going to h ave ne w b ikes, bu t they'll be RC45s. So we wo n' t be too far off th e m ark . That' s n ot a problem, I d on't see tha t bein g a problem. Same bike. Newer, better. Do you think you can win the champion ship? Definitely. Do you feel that you're the favorite? Am I the favorite? I hope the other pe0ple think that. I'm not ready to say I'm th e favori te, but I'm definitely a contender. I'm definitely go ing to be in there and I see myself going for every race victory possib le, an d every point possible for both classes and try to do a doubl e. There's tou gh competition ou t there and I'm not taking anybody lightly. I ge t on the team and I jus t cen ter and focus on my team . Wh ich is not as much fun, as so me people are more social, they talk with everybody. I just get focused. How different is this team from the last time you worked with them? Basi cally, the sa m e. Really w ell -organized , a personable team. N ot just like "you rider, d o job." The team, of course, they' re ve ry h appy h aving me back. They' ve been tryin g to get me back since '91, basically. Back then we wo rked well, we gelled well With this team we can do