Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Pomona Fairplex Pascal Picotte (21) leads the way on the opening lap of the Superb ike National at the Pomona Falrplex. Freddie Spencer (19), meanwhile, slams on the front brakes to avoid crashing into Picotte, and Jam ie James (2) looks for an opening. By Paul Carru the rs Photos by Kinney Jones POMONA, CA, APR. 2 h e floodga tes opene d o n the promising roa d ra cing career of Mike Hale all at once tod ay in the Los Angeles Su perbi ke Cha mpionship at the Pomona Fairplex, with the outpouring also putting an end to Honda's three-year winless drought in AMA Superbike racing. Hale was truly magnificent in winning his first AMA Superbike National ever, a result whi ch becomes ev en more impressive when you consider that this was only the fifth Superbike race of hi s career . And the Superbike victory came directly on the heels of his first AMA 600cc Supersport win, a race which was held earlier in the day and went a long way toward breaking the ice for Hale. . The young Texan started fourth in th e Nat ional on the Smokin' Joe's Honda RC45, quickly moved into second, and then disposed of early leader Pascal Picotte on the eighth of 30 laps of the Cycle World Magazine-sponsored event. That was the last that anybody saw of him as he sped to a 12-second victory over Muzzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier, giving Honda's much -ballyhooed RC45 its firs t vic to ry in AMA Superbike racing. It was also Honda's first AMA Superb ike victory sin ce Freddie Spencer wo n at Twxas World Speedway in 1992. With Crevier riding hard and consistently to his bes t-ever AMA Superbike finish, h is Muzzy Kawasaki team mate Pascal Picotte gamely fought to a thirdplace finish behind him, despite racing with a collarbone that was broken in the 600cc Supersport final at Daytona International Speedway just over two weeks earlier. Picotte held sec ond until the 20th lap wh en he collided with a lapped rid er, slowi ng him momentar ily and allowing Crevier to not only pass bu t also pull aw ay as the pain in Picotte's shoulder became almost un bearable. Four th place went to Vance & Hines Yamaha 's Jamie James, the elder statesman of the series wo rking hard to pass the Fast By Fe rracci Ducatis of Mike Smith and Takahiro Sohwa, only to run straight in the chicane and have to do the whole thing over again . Still, he managed to catch and pass Smith, who ended up fifth, an d Sohwa, who slowed eventually to eighth. Sixth place fell to Yosh imura Suzuki's Fred Merkel with Jam es ' Vance & Hines teammate Tom Kipp fighting back from a poor start to finish seventh. Behind Sohwa came Team Mirage's Dale Quarterley with three-time World Cham pion Freddie Spencer fighting front brake problems to wind up 10th, well clea r of Smokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel DuHamel, who had a day he'd rather fo rge t. The French Canadian crashed on the first lap after catching his . front br ake lever on James' leg, but he managed to fight back from dead last to 11th on his RC45. . If winning his first National wasn't enough to thrill Hale, the likable Texan heads to the third round of the series at Laguna Seca on Ap ril 30 as the series points lead er . Hale leads the tally/over Kipp, 54-49. Merkel is a close third with 48, followed by Quarterley and Stevens with 43 apiece. Last year th e circuit at the Pomona Fairplex was more of a story than the race itself. This year that wasn't the case. Though most of the racers returned to the Pomona Fairpl ex not knowing what to expect, criticism of the race track was down from a season ago. While nearly all concur that th e track wh ich twi st s and turns through the pa rking lot of the Los Angeles Coun ty Fairground s is so mewh a t of an od d ity, a ll we re in agreement that the event prom oters had im p roved th e race track signi fican tly . Porti ons of the circuit we re resurface d, sand traps were ad de d in certain areas and one of the more d angerous portions of the second -year tr ack were redesigned, slowing entrance speeds to the long back straightaway. Springtime in So uthern California provided race day with sunny skies and warm temperatures, and things got hot right away when the flag dropped on the Superbike National. Picotte led the , charge down the drag strip portion of the race track leading to tum one, but it was there that things got a little hairy. Spencer charged up the inside then found out he didn't have any front brakes. "Hitting Jamie (James) is what stopped me," Spencer said later. "I started in on the rear (brake) and then I went to the front and there was nothing there. Man, I could n' t believe I made it. I hit Jamie, looked up arid I was second. Tha t was a good test for my heart . I keep an adjuster on the bike so I can screw it ou t and I gave it (the front b ra ke ) so me adjustment after that." , Like Spencer said, James was on the receiving end of a good tap in tum one: "I got an excellent start," James recalled. "Pascal powered up besid e me and 1 was fixin ' to fall in beh ind hi m. Th en Freddie came flyi ng in and hit me. It knocked me way off li ne and then Miguel (DuHamel) hit m e an d then he went down." James' leg hit DuH am el's front brake lever, causing the brake to lock, and sp it the French Canadian off. He.rem ounted over half a lap d own, but carrie d on to finish 11th after a spi rited ride. "I was behind Jamie Games) and he cam e w id e and th en s w u ng it back . hard," DuHamel said. "He hit my front brake lever with his knee and I crashed. 1 did more damage wh en I tried to pick the bike up and ripped the air duct off. The footp eg had spun around and was kind of slippery, but the bike worked p retty good after that. I just rode it and wanted to do at least one 1:25 lap, and 1 was happy to do that with the way the bike wa s. Things cou ld have go tt e n w orse and 1 go t so me points, so it ' s okay." At th e completion of the first lap it was Pi cott e leadi ng Spencer, Sm it h, Ha le, Crevier, Merkel, James, Sohwa, Qua rte rley. Stevens an d Kipp - wi th DuHamel bringing u p the rear of the pack, well behind even the slower riders in fro nt of him. Ha le p icked his way through to second place on the second lap, but he trailed Picotte by 1.68 seconds at the end of the third lap. By this time the lone factory Ha rley-Davidson VR1000 in the race, ridden by Chris Ca rr, was alrea dy out of the race wi th mechanical ills. Hale instantly started chipping into Picotte's lead and on the seventh lap he was right with the Muzzy Ka wasa ki. Hale's charge had also motiva ted Crevier, who stuck with the Texan making it a three-way figh t for the lead at the start of la p eight . Those three ha d wo rke d clear from th e Smith/Sohwa battle, w hich in tu rn ha d a ga p over Jam es, Merkel, Kipp, a fading Spencer, Stevens a nd Quarterl ey . Yoshimu ra Suz u ki 's Dona ld Ja ck s and Am erican Flyer s' To d d Harrington had th eir ow n little battle for 12th, one that would eventually ge t to H arrin gt on ,and his pri vateer Kawasaki . It w as a t th e end of th e lon g back straigh taway th at Hal e took over the lead on the eigh th lap. The Texan ran it in hard on the brakes and squeezed past Picotte to lead a Superbike National for the first time in his you ng career. That

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