Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.PREVIEW:. 1995 Daytona 200 . h ard - fou ght wi th Team Olive r / Ya ma h a' s Rich Oliv er ex pected to be the man to beat. Oli ve r, th e d ef end in g 2S0cc Na tio na l Cha m pio n, shou ld be pressured by such notables a s hi s team mate Chuck Sorensen, Zero Gravity's Nick Iena tsch , Mot o Libe rty Hon d a's Takah ito Mori, Ca na di a n Jon Co rnwell, and Japan ' s Tatsuro Arata. The Internation al lightweight l OOk will also mark the re tu rn to the 250cc ranks of vet er an Randy Ren frow , who will ride an Aprilia. After a d ay off for the seventh round of the US. Supercross Series wh ich will be held on the grassy area in front of the main g ra n dsta n ds, roa d raci n g tak es cen ter s tage ag ain on Su nday w ith the 600cc Su pe rspo r t final , the Harl e yDa v id s on Tw inSport final a n d , o f course, the 54th running of the Daytona 200 by Arai . As always, the 600cc Superspor t fina l sho u ld be hot ly conteste d with the likes of Miguel Dul-Iamel, Steve Crevier, Pascal Picott e, Mike Hale, etc. goi ng a t it. Somewhat of a su rprise is the expected entry of Scott Russell, which goes a lon g way in proving just how impo rtant the 600cc Su persport class h as beco me to the manu facturers, as the new Kawa saki will be pitted aga inst the new Hond a CBR 600 F-3 for th e first t im e in a ationa l-caliber race. l~ (Left) Miguel DuHame l has won the 200 before and he'd like to win again. (Above) Chris Carr will make his debut in the 200 . AMA Grand National Short T rack I Who will win? h is vea r will mark the sixth ti m e that the AM A G ra n d Na tio na l Cha m p io nshi p Series w ill ge t underway on the tight a nd s li p pery sho rt tr ack at Davtona Municipal Stadium . Bu t o d dly enoug h, while ra cers in m ost oth e r forms of com p e ti tion lo ok towards the series opener as a cha nce to get things off on the right foot, such is no t the case in di rt track racin g circles. Of the 25 rounds sched uled in the '95 series, only three will see the nati on 's best sliders mounted aboard 600cc machines. Davtona is one of those rou nds , and with the exceptio n of the frat ernity's s tro nge r short trackers most racers look upon the Daytona Sho rt Tra ck as a "thro w out" event. "Daytona is like a cra p shoot," s<'ys five-time Gra nd Na tiona l Champion Scott Parke r, a rid er who ad mitted ly does no t fare well at Municipal Stadium. "The way I look at it - any points that I come away from Daytona with are like a bonus." But on the other end of the spectrum is Parker's factory Harley-Davidson teamma te and two-tim e Daytona Short Track winn er, Chris Carr. As the event's defending champion, Carr is the heavy favori te to re peat his win at the Satu rd ay night -even t, but iro nically , the forme r Grand Nationa l Champion will not need the event to get his '95 se ries off to a "good start." Ca rr w ill con test only selec ted rounds of this year's GNC series, as he will pilot Harley-Davidson's VRlOOO full time in the AMA Superbike Series. "I'Il def initely be go ing to Dayton a to wi n - [ go to every race to win ," said Carr. "But I will ad mit that I may have so me thoughts in the back of my head abou t not doing anything stu pid tha t wo uld jeopardize my road racing. This will be the on ly time that [ race both dirt track and road race on the same weekend." Ca rr exce ls w he n the M unici pal Stad iu m tr ack grooves up and h as a little "notch," but if the past th ree yea rs are any ind ication, there's absolu tely no tellin g how the race track will evo lve. Other past wi nners at Daytona include 1989 wi nner Steve Aseltine, two-time win ner Dan Ingram ('90 and '9;\) and '91 winner Ronn ie Jones . Aseltine is undoub tedly a speed y one on the short track, but has failed to be a con tender since his upset win in '89. Lack of a good , solid sponsor has kept h im fro m repeating his victory, Sad ly, Ingra m is no longer an active com petitor, as a horrendou s cras h during the '93 season b roug ht his racing caree r to a prem ature end . Jones, however, is one to kee p an eye on. He struggled with bike setu p at las t year's race and finished sixth, but if the conditions are righ t, he cou ld very well nab his ;.econd Day tona win. Who else? Will Davis is arg u ably the fas tes t sho rt tracker to have not won a Gra nd Na tion al at Municipal Stadium . On larger tra cks, Da vis is amongst th e smoo thes t and most controlled racer s, but get him on a sho rt track , and he becom es an aggressive, no-h olds-barred madman. And of cou rse, we can 't forget ab out "Mr. Daytona Short Track," Ter ry Poovey. Though the quie t Texa n is nearing the twi light of his long and illustrious racing caree r, he continues to be one of the most talented sho rt trackers around. Two runner-up finishe s in the past two years will atte st to that. With a little luck, Poovey can score the 10th Grand National win of his career. -Don n Maecb T (Above) Colin Edwards It will spearhead Yamaha 's factory effort in the 200. (Right) Doug Polen will race his HRC Honda RC45 in Smokin' Joe's Racing colors. Will the Show go on? T he Dayton a Supercross has tr ad it ion al1y been a mil e marker on the US. Supercross circuit. Usually around the midpoint of the IS-ro und series, Daytona is known fo r its d em and ing co u rse a nd warm, h umi d conditions . W hereas most stad ium races field a gate Mike Kiedrowski of 20 rid ers, Da vtona Intern ationa l Speedway's infield allows room for 30 compe titors on its chew ed -up, meandering course . Many point ou t that the eve nt is more of a National Motocross than a ty pical stadium race, a fact that tw o-tim e Supercross Cham pion Jeremy McG rat h sees as a cha llenge. The 23-year-old Honda /I-800-Collect rider has yet to win the gruelin g eve nt, jus t as he has yet to top a 250cc National MX. McGrath has often been faulted for poo r condi tioning, bu t he has wo n the firs t five rounds of the US. Su percross Series, and claims tha t he is ready for Daytona. "Usually I d idn't go to Daytona try ing to win ," he says. " I ' d just be looking to go in there and get top thr ee. The. past few years, everybody was say ing, 'O h, Jeremy can't win at Daytona: but they're not say ing that this time. I like racin g in Florida, and I'm loo king forward to it. I'm going there to win." On e reason no one is dou bting McGrath is the fact that he has hired form er SOOcc Su percro ss Cha mp ion Gary Semics as a coach and train ing motivator . Of course when it comes to trainin g, nobody outdoes Mike Kiedrowski, winner of the last tw o Daytona Supercrosses. Kiedrow ski has yet to win a supercross rou nd this season, and would like nothing better than to get his season turned ar ound in Florida . Wh ich of the Cali forni ans will eme rge victo rious? Perhaps nei ther. Defe ndi ng 250cc Nation al MX Ch ampion Mike LaRocco shou ld also be a contender, and like teammate Kied row ski, is eager to tum his frus trating season a round . And other aces like Larry Ward, Steve Lamson, Dou g Henry, Greg Albertyn, Jeff Emig and John Dowd promise to make this the most competitive Daytona Supercross ever . - Chris Jonnum

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