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/127733
. · !1P~S~piooshiP. Round 5: Road America By Paul Carruthers Photos by George Roberts ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 11 es p ite wi n nin g b oth the 600cc Supersport and Superbike National las t weekend at Mid-ohio, Miguel DuHamel still seemed to be living in th e shadow cast by his Smokin' Joe's Racing teammate Mik e Hale. That's no longer the case. DuHamel rode out of the shadow of his.over-achieving junior pa rtner at Road America by not only coming out the best in a scintillating three-way battle that included Ha le, but also by beating him in a straight fight in the 600cc Supersport final. The 22-year-old Hale may be the lea der in the AMA Superbike National Championship and the sensation of the series, but now it is DuHamel who is arguably the hottest road racer in the country. After going four-for-four in the past two weeks, DuHamel has not only marched to the top of the standings in the 600cc Supersport class, but he's also vaulted himself into third in the Superbike standings. With five rounds left in the ID-race series, DuHamel appears to be the only rider who is adequately armed to challenge Ha le in his goal to beco m e the 1995 Superbike National Champion. Still, he trails his teammate by 19 points, 146-120, with Yoshimura Suzuki's Fre d Merkel, seventh today, p osit io ned in betw een the two teammat es, wi th 127 points. Th e race at Road America was sensational with three riders fighting for the lead for th e full 64-mile N ational on the recently re-paved, ul tra-fast Road America circuit. Fast by Ferra cci Du cati' s D 10 Mike Smith led the race early o n, b u t h e was caught by the two Honda ri ders and the trio ran together to the checkered flag . At the finish line, Du H am el was 0.142-of-a-second ahead of Hale - wi th only half a second separating the threesome. In winning the race - in front of a three-day crowd of 38,000 spectators DuHamel became the first twotime winner of the series. Fast By Ferraccis Freddie Spencer was also in the hunt for most of the race. The three-time World Champion fought · t h r o u g h from ninth place to get within shouting distance of the lead trio, but he was th w a rte d late in the race by lapped traffic. Still, he was only a few seconds behind at t he finish line after tu rning the fastest lap , of the race on 'th e sevimth go-around - a lap that was faster than th e record-s etting p erfo rm a n ce turned in b y Hale durin g q u a lifying. Spencer Beh in d came Yoshimur a (Above) MikeSmith (68) was out front early In the Superblke Nationa l at Road America. The Ducatl, ride r leads his teammate Freddie Spencer (hidden), Miguel DuHamel (17) and the rest of the Superblke pack into tum five for the first time. (Left) Miguel DuHamel was able to celebrate a SUperbike National victory for the second straight wee k. Suzuki's Thomas Stevens, the Floridian also making a bid toward the top three before getting held up by lapped traffic. St e v ens b a ck ed u p his teammate Merkel's strong fro nt-row qualifying performance to again bring Suzuki to the forefront of AMA Superbike racing. Vance & Hines Yamaha's Tom Kipp finished th e race in seventh, well clear of Merkel, w ho in tum ran alone. Fast by Ferraro's Takahiro Sohwa got the better of Team Mirage's Dal e Quarterley and Yoshimura Suzuki's Donald Jacks in the race for eig hth place. N otable s m is sin g from the final res ults included Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie Jam es and Muzzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier, th e pa ir collid ing in tum o n e late in the race with b oth riders cr ash i n g. Crevi er esca ped w it hou t injury, but James suffered a broken bone in his wrist. Crevier' s teammate , Pascal Pico tte, finished 11th after battling with an ill-running Kawasaki. Also failing to finis h were th e factory