Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

* ROAD RACE·: ." .'. AMAlHP46OOCcSupersportSerieS . Round 5: Road America - -- - -- - - - - - -- - -- - -- -- - - - - -- - I. Oln . prov e to hims elf in his second vis it to the track. Hale was a threat throug hout this year's ra ce, d ogging his senior teammate and eventu ally l osing ou t by less than tw o seconds . . "I w anted to bea t this tr ack: ' sai d Ha le. "I felt pretty co m fo r ta ble out there. I knew tha t Miguel was capable of turning in 20s (1 minute, 20 second lap times) all d ay long, and I knew he was lollygaggin g in the first half of the race. I mad e one mistake near the end that all but killed my chances at the win." Third w ent to Kinko ' s Kawa saki rider Th omas Wilso n. After battling with Erion Racing's Larry Pegram and Kawasaki' s Steve Crevier, Wilson was able to break away ever so sligh tly and cross the finish line a solid third in the end. In w inn ing his second-consecu tive 600cc Supersport Nation al , DuH amel b r oke the tie th a t he a nd Ha le sa t in enteri ng th e event. So 'far, th e H ond a ride rs have d om inated the series, winning eac h and every round. DuHamel leads Ha le, 167-164. Wit h only half of the series complete, it seems certa in that the title will go to one of the tw o riders. Action Sports' Hikaru Miyagi - seventh at Road America - sits in third with 122, 44 points adrift. H ale led the way at th e start, but pole-sitter Du Ha mel took over as th e field race d past th e start/finis h line to (Left) The 600Cc race for the lead was fought out between Smokin' Joe's Racing's Miguel DuHamel and Mike Hale, (Left below) By race's end, it was DuHamel taking his second straight 600cc Supersport victory, Where's the dirt? T By Donn Maeda Photos by George Roberts ELKHART LAKE, WI,JUNE11 he seesa w ba ttl e fo r the 600cc Supe rsport Series Ch ampionship between Sm okin' Joe' s Racin g tea m mates M ike H ale a nd Migu el DuHam el wa ged on at Road Ameri ca, and this time the results tipped in fav or of the vetera n. . After a race-long battle in the red flag interrupted the 12-lap contest, DuHamel dropped the hammer in the final stages and outdistanced his young teamma te, crossing the finish line with a I.l61 second margin of victory, in spite of a silly late-race mistake. T 14 "The leather in my right glove had a bad fold in it, an d it was hurting," said Du Ha mel, colo rful as ever. "I reached over with my o ther hand to hold th e throttle so 1 cou ld shake out the fold , and my arm hit the kill button. The bike goes, 'Booogh,' and 1 go 'O h no: and looked back to see where Mike was. Then my face shield flew open whe n I was look ing back. 1 eve ntua lly go t it closed and d ecid ed that 1 wo uld never do that again." Onl y one yea r ago, newcomer Hale mad e his 600cc class debut a t the fas t Roa d America facility , and str u gg led with the hi gh speeds and sem i-rough condi tions . He finished a d isap pointing eighth at that race, and he had a point to wo-time World MX Cham pion Donny Schmit (right) . compe ted in the HP4 600cc Supersport final at Road Am erica, finishing an impressive 13th aboa rd a privateer Hi Per Sports Honda CBR 600F 3 . Ma k i ng Schmit's accomplishmen t eve n m ore im p ressive, however , is th e fact th at the race was only his seven th aboa rd a road racer. "Basically, I vre tired fro m motocross at the end of the '94 season," said Schmit, wh o wo n the 1990 125cc World Championship as a member of the Bieffe Suzuki team, and the 1992 250cc World Cha mpionship as a member of the Chesterfield Yama ha squ ad. "Yamaha had given me a FZR600 for winning the title, and I had been rid ing it aro u nd on the street ever since. After a while, 1started to get rad on the street, and I realized that the street isn't the place for stu ff like that. That's abo ut when I decided to give road racing a try when I reti red from motocross." Schmi t competed in his last world Championship last Sep tember in Gaild orf, Germany. Three months later, he and his "tired an d underp owered" FZR were at Willow Springs In ternationalRaceway in Rosam ond , California, for a basic ridi ng school. . Soon after~ Schmit purchased a '95 Hond a CBR600F3 and started racing. A few local and regional events later, and Schmit mad e his Nati onal debut at the Jun e 4 Mid Ohio Nati onal, finishing 17th. "I was really happ y abou t finishing 17th last week: ' said Schmit. "So a 13th at Road Ameri ca is even more satisfying. My bike is serio usly underpowered, and I spe nt the entire race battling with a gu y wh o was crazy on the brakes. H e would coast in real slow, then go dynamit e on the brakes. 1 passed him , and he passed me back, then he waved to the crowd. When I saw tha t, I knew tha t I wasn' t gonna let a gu y whowaves at his frien d s d ur ing a race beat me. I pu t my head d own and gapped him ." . For now, Schmi t pays for all of his own parts, but one of his Minnesota neighbors, Adam Popp of Island Motorsports, covers th e team 's trav el expenses. So, JUst how far does Schmi t plan to pursu e his "second" career? . "For now, I'm planning on d oing a few more Na tional s," he said. "I'd like to lease a H onda for the l ~c GP class at Brainerd, but we need a spo nsor. As far as a championship or any thing hke tha t goes, I'm confident that I could be in there given some time and the right help. Right now, I'm not even hanging it out - if crash, I'm stuck with a big bill to pay , and I don't want that." i

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