Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

motor Ducati's Troy Corser and Ha rleyDavidson's Chris Carr were forced out of the race with mechanical problems. And attrition started in this Da ytona 200 before the flag even d rop ped as Muzzy Kawa saki 's Pascal Picotte contin ued his run of poor Daytona lu ck when a crash in the 600cc Supersport final left him with a broken collarbone, forcing him out of the superb ike race . Su nshine and warm te m pe ratu res greeted the start of the 54th running of the Day tona 200 by Arai, with the cold win ds of Camel Motorcycle Week subsiding well befo re the 2:00 p.m. start of the race, m uch to the deligh t of the estimated 50,000 spectato rs. Whe n th e flag drop ped it was Edwards lead ing the 80-ride r field in to turn one with Co rse r an d Russell in tow by the time they reach ed the West End Horseshoe. A lap later and Russell was dow n - bu t definit ely no t ou t. "! just didn't wan t to foll ow th ose guys any more," Russell ad mitted late r. "I dove up the inside and the rea r tire wasn't read y for it. It jus t went away. I picked it up and the foo tpeg was bent dow n, but tha t was abou t it. "Yeah, I felt like I could still win it," Russell ad ded . "O nce I go t the thi ng go ing agai n, and everything was fine, I felt I co uld s till win . I di d it last year (w hen he sta rted from the back of the second wave), so I knew I could do it agai n. We just chipped away at 'em." In add it ion to th e good fortune of ha ving crash ed without doing d am age to his motorcycle, Russell was also lucky not to have been run over by Corser and the Promotor Ducati: "I almost hit the bike and his feet must ha ve jus t missed my front whee l," Cor ser sa id . By the ti m e the p a ck ex ite d th e infield and hit the banking for the third tim e, Edw ard s led th e H ond a of Dul-larn el, the Kawasaki of Gobert, the Yamaha of James, and the Ducat is of Fo garty, Corser, Spenc e r a n d Smith. Ru ssell, me anwhile, w as so me 40 seconds beh ind. The Geor gian ' s next br ea k came on the following lap wh en Chandler, who su ffered a broken collarbon e in the accident , and Roger Bennett cras hed in turn s ix, bring ing the pace ca r o u t whil e debris was rem ov ed fro m the track. At thi s point, Gobert had taken over the lead and his team ma te Russell was 37th. Thi s bun ch ed eve ryo ne to g eth er, w it h th e exce p tion of Spe ncer . The Lo u is ia nan rod e th e Fas t By Fe rracci Ducati onto pit lane with a broken transmission, en di ng hi s Ducati debut and sending h im to the TNN booth for second- ha lf commen tary wo rk on the live television broa dcast. "It was runni ng really well," Spencer sai d. "I was just wa tching those guys and the n Scott (Russell) cras hed . You'd think it w as a five-la p race ou t there. The bike started back-sh ifting on me. It's really d isappointing." Shortly after the Rand y Renfrow-driven pace car exite d the circu it, Go bert w a s ' pa ssed b y Cors e r, Fo g art y, Edwards and DuHamel. but he still led Ja me s, Smith, Kipp, Ste vens, Sm okin' Joe's Mike Hale, Crevier and Polen . By this point, Ru ssell wa s 12.8 second s behind and gaining p laces In gob s as he wo rked his way into the top 20. On the 10th lap , Fogarty took a shot at leadin g, but two laps later and Cor ser was back in fro nt - with Gob ert givi ng ch a s e . .DuHam el ' s effor t s ta r te d to unravel on the 13th lap as he ran wide in tum one and dropped bac k to ninth; on the 18th lap DuHam el crashed out of the race in turn one . "We had new everyth ing on the bike (Right) The pace car came out early , allowing the field to close up with race lea der Anthony Gobert (96) leading . Colin Edwards II (45), Troy Corser (1) and Miguel DuHamel (17). (Below) World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty (99) leads Troy Corse r (1) prior to Corse r's . Ducatl breaking down; Fogarty ended up second, s uffering most ly from slow pit stops. this week," DuHamel said. "This mo rn ing Dunlop told us we coul dn't run the front tire we'd been running because it was getting too hot. We needed a harder one. I went wide once and lost a lot of grou nd so I was try ing some other thin gs in turn one. It slid once, hit my knee and went back down. The combination of a harder front ti re and new forks - that was the drop that spilled the bu cke t. I d id n 't feel like it was rider error at all and I' m pumped fu ll of confidence with the bike and the team." On the 14th lap, Cor ser coasted to a stop: "The bike was handling the best it had a ll week," the Aust ralian sai d. " It's a shame it stop ped . Eve ryth in g w a s going well and the tires were good." Fogarty was the first of the lead men to pit and he was joined on the 16th lap b y Jam es a n d th e Ya m a h a. Fo garty w asn't ex pecte d by h is crew a n d th e stop ran late, putting him back on trac k in 15th while James moved up to 11th. Russell' s mar ch, mean whil e, h ad taken him throu gh the pack; he was nint h on the 12th lap, eig h th on lap 11, fifth on lap IS, and third by the 18th go-a round . On the 19th lap, Russell took the lead for the very first tim e when Gobe~ pitted and the Geo rgian moved arou nd raceleader Edwards. .When Edwards pitted a lap later, he took on not onl y a new Dunlop rear tire but also a front. He returned to the pack in fifth place, following Russell, Smith, James and Gobert after 20 laps. When Russell and Smith pitted on the 21st lap, James led with Russell coming ba ck out only two second s behind the Vance & Hines Yamaha. By the 23rd lap the first p it stops had so rted ou t the order at the fro nt an d it read : Jam es, Russell, Gobert, Edwards, Fogar ty, Smith, Kipp, Pol en, Cr evier, Hal e an d Stevens. A lap later and Russell too k over at the fron t - a positi on he wou ld hold to the finish despite a scary m oment o n the fina l lap wh en En g land's Neil Hodgson crash ed directly in front of the Geor gian in the Internation al Horsesh oe. Russell tip toed around the fallen Br it, then celebrated h is way to the checkered flag. . " We like it h ere, what ca n I say," Russell sa id fro m Victory Lane. "T he pace ca r helped , but I d on't think we wou ld have n eed ed it -the way th in gs tu rned out - but we'll take it. "It was fun - nah, it was ha rd work," Russell added later. "T he fir st lap th e bike' was wobbling ~ bad on the banking - b u t it got be t ter as th e tire s wa rmed up." T ry ing to keep up with Ru sse ll proved to be James' d e m is e as h e crashed ou t on the 26th lap, tho ugh he sai d there may have bee n.fluids on the race track - a likely case considering the amo unt of crashing tha t occurred in lefthander tha t pu ts th e racers ba ck onto the ba nking. " I lost th e front e nd ," sa id James, who di slo cat ed his littl e finger on his righ t hand, but was able t o pop it back into place. " I think I hit something . Usuall y you go in ther e and the front end skitters and then you get it back. I never got the second chance; it just went. I wa s try ing to see if I cou ld ho ld pa ce with Scott (Ru ssell) a n d I th ink w e co u ld ha ve. I jus t wanted to be within striking distance for the last pit stop. The bike felt good. I had a lot of gu ys behind me and we were having a good da y." With Jam es ou t, Gobert took over the runner-up spot With Edwards thir d and Fogarty fou rth. Kipp was havin g a good race and held down fifth, well clear of a Polen / Stevens battl e for sixth . The nex t to exit the race we re the facto ry trio o f Sm it h, Crevier an d Ha le. Entering tum six, Smith hit a false neu tral and slammed into Crevier. Hale had nowhe re to go and collected Crevier's bi ke, ca using him to also crash. Ha le was the only one who could continue, and he ended up 12th at the finish . " I hit a fa lse n eut r al , " Sm it h explained. "Mike H ale wa s righ t there and so was Crevier. I tried not to centerpunch Cre vier, bu t I took him out an yway. He and Hal e bo th crashed . It was like bowling pins." " Mi ke Sm ith came in a nd lost th e fro n t a nd ra n into Crevier, " H al e explained . "He cr ashed and took me d own w ith him. The bike was upsid e down in the bales . I bumped it off but th in gs w er e a little loose . They ducttaped it togeth er; it' s disappointing, bu t we'll have success here in the future." "I heard scrapin g sou nds and I had no idea who was coming," Crevier said. "Mike Smith's bike kno cked me down." After the second set of pit stops, Russell continued to lead Gobert, Edwards, Fogarty, Kipp, Stevens, Polen, Jacks and Me rke l - w ith Fogarty again h aving a rather lengthy stay in the pits compared to his rivals. "My p it stop was on the wrong lap an d the guys were n' t ready," Fogarty

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