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/127720
Round 1: Daytona International Speedway . Russell averaged 107.S51 m p h in winning his second successive Daytona 200 and h e earn ed $1 6,000 of th e $130,000 purse for his efforts. Fog a rty took $10 ,000 b ack to Eng la n d a n d Stevens pocketed $7000. Fifth place we n t to two-time Wo rld Ch am pion Do ug Polen on the Smokin' Joe's Ho nda RC45. Polen was another who ma naged to keep h is m otorcycle ci rcu la ting w h ile ot hers fa ltered. The Texa n ba ttled Stevens for third la te in th e race, b u t was bes te d by both th e Suzuki rider and Edwa rds, who was forced to make a third stop for a rear tire toward the end of the race. Sixth place went to Tom Kipp in his debut race on the Vance & Hi nes Yama h a . Kipp was well ahead of Edwards' World Superbike team mate Yasutomo Nagai, w ho co m pe ted with an in jured hand afte r crash ing during Thursd ay morn ing' s practice . The tw o othe r Yoshimura Su zu ki s, ridd en by Fr ed Merkel and Donald Jac ks, fini sh ed eighth and ninth, re spectivel y, with Team Mirage' s Dale Quarterley rounding out the top 10 in his first ride on a Du cati 916. As _ ays, th e Da ytona 200 was a alw By Pau l Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 12 t's amazing wha t Scott Russell will do for a littl e a tte ntion: A yea r ago the Georgian started from nearly the back of the SO-rider grid, yet was still able to win the Daytona 200. Th is year he managed to surpass eve n that as he crashed his Muzzy Kawasaki on the second lap , re mou n te d nea r th e ba ck of th e p ack and so meh ow marched onw ard to hi s thi rd Dayton a 200 victory. It makes yo u wonder what he'll try next year - perhaps he'll start on Main St ree t a t th e b ack of the m otorcy cle parade. Th e win was not only remarkab le, bu t it w as a lso hi storical as it placed Russell int o the record books as only the third man in 54 years to win thr ee Daytona 200s - joining legends Dick Klam foth, Roger Reiman an d Kenny Roberts. Russell's cha nces of a third Daytona 200 victory see med bl e ak w he n h e crashed the Muzzy Kaw asaki in the International Horses hoe at the start of the second lap. While his rivals raced off in the distan ce, Russe ll was left picking up his bike - which fortu nately was in one piece. A fran tic attempt to get it restarted finally proved fru itful and he wa s soon picking off the slower riders in front of him . He was up .to 37th on the fourth lap when a pace car came out due to an acciden t in tum six; an d after three lap s run under cau tion, he simply restarted his assault on the field . Russell took the lead for the first time on the 20th lap and, with the exception of some shu ffling due to sched uled pit stops, he was never headed again. At the en d of the 57-lap, 200-mile I I.!') 0\ 0\ ,..... ~r "'5 . l-< ~ ...,::; 6 (Above) The Daytona 200 by Ara l gets underWay with Colin Edwards II (45) leading the way into turn one ; Scott Russell (hidden), Troy Corser (1), Jamie James (2) and Freddie Spencer (19) are amon g those in pursuit. (Right) Scott Russe ll was simply amazing . The Georg ian crashed, picked up his bi ke and raced from the back of the field to cla im his third win in the Daytona 200. race at Day tona International Spee d way it wa s World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty and th e fac tory Du cati w ho crossed the line in second place, 53.747 seconds behind his Kawasaki riva l. Fogarty had been a factor for most of th e race, leading for a few lap s in the early goin g and staying in the thick of thin gs while the majority of those around him crashed out of cont ention. Alm ost as im p ressive as Ru ssell' s perform ance was the one tu rn ed in by Yos hi m u ra Su zuki 's Th omas Steven s. Th e Flori di an was s tro ng th rou ghout and end ed up besting Vance & Hines Yama ha 's Colin Ed wards II in a final s p ri n t to th e checke re d fla g, g iv in g Suz uki its best superbike finish in recent mem ory at a time when the bike seemed to be uncompetitive. race of attri tion, 'with eight of the factory rid e rs putting th em s el ve s o u t with crashes. Harley-Davidson's Dou g Chandler, Smokin' Joe ' s Hond a ' s Miguel DuHamel, Vance & H in es Yama ha's Jami e James, Fas t By Ferrucci' s Mike Smith and Takahiro Schwa, and Mu zzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier and Anthony Gobert were the crashers while Fast By Ferracci Ducati's Freddie Spence r, Pro -