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/127727
• .INTERVIEW Jamie Jam es racing her e in the U.S. It would have to be an extremely good deal for me to even cons ider eve n going over and run ning th e Wo rl d Cha m pionship . I' m happy with the way things have gone. I'm really happy wi th the way the sport has grown here in the U.S. It's no longer just one or two guys. There are probably 12 guys here making a living racing motorcycles now - and that really feels good, in comparison to the way it was . It 's actually getting good enough now that some guys want to come back here . The main thing is that we're getting a really good fan following, and when you do that, the ma nufacturers are happier, They can see spending a little more mo ney and the whole thing gets better . Two races have b een held in the '9 5 season, yet you find yourself out of the top 10 In the AMA Superbike National Ch ampionship . Do es that surprise you, and is it a problem or is it still early enough to make a run? Anytime you don' t fin ish at Daytona, th at' s where yo u're at. You know tha t goi ng in. Right now I'm just trying to put toge the r the best year that I can and try to get back in it. It's go ing to be a long year and a lot of things can happen. Our bike seems to be wo rking really good and I think we can inch back up on'em. Is the bike much different this year, or is it just a matter of refining what you had last year? By Paul Carruthers I Photos by Henny Ray Abrams and Kinney Jones ith o u t a d oub t, Jamie Jam es is the pillar of AMA Superb ike raci ng. Wh ile othe rs may come and go, James is exactly wher e he wants to be. Racing her e hasn't been a sp ringboa rd to international su ccess for the 34-yeurold - instead he's built a career on top finishes and unfailing consistency. The rewards are obvious. He cam e' in as a hard-charging club racer, cutting his teeth on 600cc Supersport bikes. He went on to win the AMA Superbike National Championship on a Yoshimura Suzuki back in 1989, before switching to the all-red Fast By Ferracci W Du cat i in b oth Na tional and Wo r ld Superb ike ra ces. Today, Jamie Ja mes .an d th e number two Vance & H ines Yamaha are an inex orable pa rt of AMA road racing. While Jam es ha s had a rou gh sta rt to the 1995 season, crashing out of second place in the Daytona 200 and then finishing - for him - a lowly fourth in the second round at the Pomona Fairplex, d on't expect him to st ay o u t o f th e cha m p ionsh ip picture for lon g. When the championship heats up during the hot su mmer months in Jun e, James will certainly be a factor. Alwa ys ha s been, always will be. . Although you have been to Europe for rounds of the World Superbike Championship, you've never done a whole season. You're the seasoned veteran of the AMA series, but you've ~ever really had the opportunity to get to the next level, while others that you've beaten have made the jump. Does that make you bitter at all? I'm not bitter at all about it. On e of the things that I've really tried to work hard on for the last six or seven years is doing the best I can do to build the series here in the U.S. I've stuck around, along with several other guys. I'm getting pa id well to do what I'm doing and that's doing It's just refining. We kin d of inch up on it at every race and we've been able to mak e small gains every ou ting. We' re ge tting a good package rig ht now . We were ch asi ng a few th in gs go ing into this season. Now tha t we've been able to do a little testing, we're ge tting into that stage whe re it will be just small gains from he re on out. You kin d of know where you ' re at when it gets to that stage, and you just have to concentrate on your riding. Mike Hale ha s gotten off to a fast start. Is he the man to beat, or are the others going to rise up as th is season runs its course? I thi nk Mike's goi ng to be tough, but there are 10 othe r guys wh o are going to b e tou gh too . I wou ldn ' t p ick a ny favori tes at this point. Are you planning on doing the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, and if so is that race any more important to you than the others? As far as I kn ow, we are plannin g on d oing it. I' ve been over in the World Championship b efore so it' s p rob ably not as big a deal to me. It's going to be a big event and it should be a really good race event. Are you still racing cars? It's still a hobby for me at this point, but I'm getting a little more serious about it. I moved up to Asheville and I'm going to do some short track racing - on the ov al tracks. It' s so me thin g I've always wanted to do since I wa s a kid . It was