Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I IN THEPADDOCK . .By M ichael Scott Iimbing on to a 286-pound , 185horsepower Grand Prix 500 for the first time is clearl y a d aunting p erience . Bu t Scott Ru ssell had n o ea of ju st how big a step he wa s takg. "I was looking forward to a good sui t. I k now the tr ack pretty good , d I had high exp ecta tions. After my rst time out, I had to scale them d own me ." Rus s ell , triple Dayton a w inn er, z u k a 8-Hou r winner, and 1993 orld Superbike C hampion, w as a t ugello, on the eve of his d ebut as a rand Prix rider. And the ginger-blond eo rgian with th e hawk-like features d the dang-twang d rawl was on the o t . Con tra ct wra ngles had meant ' d already m is sed the first day of actice, and his m orning s ession on e second ha d begun with a series of saw hops toward the corners as he rug gle d to co me to terms with a ach ine far more mettlesome than any 'd ridden before. Approaching the rn ers, he was go ing fa r fas ter th an he as used to. Th en he'd grab the brakes but the AP carbons weren't u p to o r king tem perature, because he asn 't u sing th e m hard enough, so ere'd be a heart -stopp in g mo ment of g. Th en th ey'd bite, and oh boy, the ke was so lig ht a nd the bra ke s so werful that he'd slow d own far more an he expected. "Co mpared with a Superbike - well, ey' re b o th motorcy cles . But that's out as far as it goes. I'm re a l s u rised at just how big the d ifference is . st about everything w ill take some ttin g used to," he explained. " T he b ik e ' s so m uch faste r, and ht er, and stiffer. You get much more back fro m it - it' s rea lly direct. But u can' t get away with thing s on it e a Superbike. It'll bite." In fact he was already bitten. Amid oak-a n d-dagger n ego tia tion s as he se d his way out of his Rob Muzzy awasaki co ntract, th e w eek before s las t Su perbike race at Doningto n, fl ew t o Brn o t o t e s t th e Lu cky tike. Su z u ki , n ow d efinitel y vaca n t Schwant z announced his r etire ent. H e clocked some re spectable es in the morning, th en after lu nch, ill w arm ing up , h e clicked down from th ird to secon d int o a left -h a nd kink . "I wasn't go in g that fast or leaned over m uch or nothing ." But he w asn't accustomed to riding without a slip per clu tch , and the unbalanced revs broke the rear wheel loose and flicked h im off pronto. "On the Kawasaki yo u can go from six th to firs t and drop the clu tch and that doesn't happen. The GP bike yo u have to get it exactl y right." Russell came away with broken toes, which he explained at Donington as the resul t of a moun tain-bike prang. Neither his team no r the production-based series as a w hole had any idea of what was about to happen. In any case, all eyes were on Fogarty, now so superior on the lig hter, bigg er -en gin ed Ducati that only anothe r Ducati co u ld rival hi m, and then only u nti l Troy Corser's sprocket came adri ft. The races were a couple of walkover wins with d is tant and desu ltory b attles fo r p laces of a type aching ly similar to the so rt of racing for which the GP 500cc class was being criticized a couple of years ago. Fu nny, tha t. And rather appropriate, considering the timing. There are all sorts of ways of loo kin g at Rus sell' s defection to GPs. One is to suggest tha t th e Supers are just too much for him, and that he's running away wi tli his tail bet w een his legs . A viewpoint favored by Foggy and fans, but one that d oesn' t really hold water. Top-level GP racing is hardly a s oft option. Ano ther inclu d es criticism for leaving his team in the lurch. Valid enou gh, but refuted by Russell largely on the grounds that th e team and the so-called works mot ors weren ' t going anywhere bu t bac kward anyways. A th ird is Ru ssell's own p ragmatic view. "I d id n 't want to hu r t or upset anyone on m y team, but I'm 30 years old, and the chances of a ride on a top 500 isn' t likely to come rou nd again. I felt I'd achieved everything I could on fou r-stro ke s, an d tha t I was read y to move u p to th e u ltimate in ra cing. " Legal advice ha d revealed an out in h is contract with Muzzy . It w as w it h Scott Russell Racing In corpora ted, and stated only that thi s corporation was to YEARS AGO... LY7,1970 less than a mont h, this one co mi ng in Columbus, Ohio, on the half mile. Yellow-p later Doug Sehl crashed and was taken to the hospital wi th a br oken leg aft er collid ing wi th Ron Bu tl er in th e Amateur race. h e s pecia lis t Edd i e Mulder m a d e a trip to icago fo r w h a t se b u t a n AMA ationa l TT. Mulda ppeared in a o to wearin g a we r and a peace 11-4i~ n on h is leaths. Appro p riat e, h e was spon - ~~~~====d red a n d tun e d by Love os. Oth er no tables on hand a t the n ta Fe TT wer e Bart Markel , Mert w wi ll, D ic k Mann a n d Ge ne mer o...Two new Maico mod els were tr o d u ced , o ne a n open -class twooke ma chine which Lars Larson rod e easy victory at the Dirt Diggers' third nual All Stat es Scrambles Cham pionip, the ot her a rotary-val ve 125cc twooke that was on display ...Dave SeW d e to his second N ational victory in 15 YEARS AGO... JULY 2, 1980 :\ vetoed an invi- \ ta tion fo r t he yo u ng Au stra lian to test a Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha at Mugello the ne xt day, ther e were no su ch cons train ts on Yam aha-contracted Ed wards . O nly bad w eath er on th e Monday could prevent him from havin g a go. A nd Fogarty? He ha s mad e few fr iends in GP ra cing with h is outs poken comments during his ea rlier (and not unimpressive) GP outings. With not even a pro ven w in ne r like John Kocinski' able to overcome personality prob lems like this, it seems more likely th at Our Carl will be left in splendid iso lation among th e Superbikes, a big fish in a pond that can now clea rly be seen as a mere training pool for the rea l ul timate in racin g. The p ressure is on Ru ssell to p er fo r m . He needs t o do so fi rst a n d foremost' for Su zuki to exercise their option to keep him on th e team ne xt year . But he also ha s a lo t to prove on h is own ac count, and on behalf of his former Superbike co lleagues. Watchi n g h is a p p roac h at M ugello , an d considering h is r e co r d and repu ta tion, I believe he 'll probably manage it. Qualifying 13t h and finishing 11t h ma y sound like no great shakes, b u t i t b eat crash ing , and he is a twostroke novice . "Th e only other one I've rid d en w as a 250 at some tests a couple of y ea r s ago ." More significantly, in the race-morning warm -up session, in half-wet conditions whe re lat e braking and corner aggression are les s importan t, h e pla ced four th fastest . But it' ll take a little time. As Wayne Rainey co mmented: "He came to me afterward , and said how he co u ldn't believe how difficult th e thing w as to ride. I sai d he'd done good just staying on it . He's good enough to learn, but it'll take him a couple of years . I kn ow t h a t , b e ca u s e I m ade the same tri p m yself." Brit Michael Scott regularly reports on the World Championship Road Race Series for Cycle N ews. Mr. Scott also does a very poor imitation of Scott Russell's southern drawl...Editor. soil. Considered a dark horse, Marty every la p at th e event wi th tea m ma te Moates of San Diego put a stop to th e Scott Russe ll running a strong second lon g sp ell of European d ominan ce rid bu t never ch a ll e n gin g the lea d e r. ing a t Carlsba d Raceway. Th e prime Thomas Steven s finis hed thir d ...ln dirt American con tender, Brad Lackey, had tra ck raci ng, Chris Carr won the Albuqu erque mile in a restarted race with a disappo inting day fi n is h ing ni n th I overa ll...Kenny Roberts made it three re ig ni n g GNC #1 Sc ott Pa rke r only straight in World Championship road passi ng Carr on ce - th en h is engi ne racing at th e French GP at 'ij17;(;l\:rr.-::c-,...: :o I p e d a valve. The restart d:r ,P Paul Ricard, pu tting him 23 I I occ urred because race lea d er p oin ts ahead o f a tie fo r S t ev e Eklu nd had crashed second b e tw ee n M a r co w hi le trying to pass a lapped • Lu cch i ne ll i and Ran d y rid er - Bobby McDowell - and Mamo la. Britain 's numberwas taken to th e hos pital wi th one m an Barry Sheene h ea d i nj uries .. .The Sa n Jose crashed, the first time tha t Su percross was a 1-2-3 Honda he had ever do ne so in a s w ee p with poi nts lea d e r Je ff 500cc World Cha rn p iStanton, taking the 250cc overall, onship race. fo llowed by Frenc h man Je a n M ichel Ba y l e a nd M ike Ki ed rowsk i . Bud d y Antunez topped 5YEARS AGO... the 125cc class...The Aus trian GP at th e Salzburgring was reported as JUNE 27, 1990 "a feast o f fi n e racing," wi th Kev i n oug Chandler - "the newest father in the field " - decimated the field Sch wantz getting the biggest bite with a at round three of the AMA Superw in aft er a heated battle with Wayne bike National at Loudon. Cha ndler led Rainey. L~ ~~!I!P!!I""•• r, i n s t o n Pro Series rid ers Ronnie Jone s and Billy Labrie each scored National wins in a r u n a wa y at t h e Sa nta Fe TT in Illinois . Followi ng Jo nes and just ed g ing Steve Eklund at the lin e was Ricky Graham . In th e C ha r ity Newsies half mil e event Lab rie shi ned, w al ki ng away from th e Findlay Flyer, Ste ve Morehead, and Ted Boody...Prio r to th e running of th e 10th U .S. GP of mo tocro ss, an American had never won a 500cc Grand Pri x held on Amercian W supply Muzzy wit h a rid er. "It d idn' t say it had to be me . I ascertained that Ter ry Rymer w as available, and offered h im in m y place. Muzzy h asn' t go t back to me on that one yet." (An ironic smi le is in or der here, if you remem ber tha t the lu ckless Rymer w as Ru ss ell ' s teammate last year u ntil he quit the Mu z z y o u tfi t acrimoniously b efore year's end.) Back in the Ll.S. the weekend before the Italian GP, Muzzy fumed . "I'll do whatever I ca n to stop him riding the Su zuki at Mugello." It seems th at he didn't ha ve a very strong hand, but he p layed it well. O n th e eve of p ractice, he fired off a letter th reatening every kind of lawsuit, and targeted a t the topmost management levels of both Suzuki in Japan and Lucky Stri ke in Europe. This ob liged said senior directors to require an expla nation, but - given the time differences betw een West Coast, Italy and Japan - it took a d ay befo re th e same la w yers who approved the deal in the first p lace were ab le to reassure the bi g-wigs concerned . And by then Russell ha d m issed o ut on his pla n n e d debut, and his program of practice and preparation for his first GP was shot to ribbons. To GP p addock folk, all this w as a shot in th e arm . Contra ct wrangles, in junctions, lawyers and threats of damages are all the stuff of big-time F-l . car racing. In a perverse way, the incident reflected more glory tha n shame on those involved, and the rest of GP racing basked in its reflection. It also helped to be on th e w inning side for once. GPs have, at least in th e minds of th e ill-informed or iII-intentio ned, been under attack fro m Su p erb i ke s fo r s o m e t ime now . Russell's move proved that as far as the riders a re co nc e r n e d, there is no q uestion about which is the senior series. Or is it just the view of t h is one rid er? I think not. Suddenly, the presence of Superbike n e w com e r s Troy Cor s er and Colin Edw a r d s II in the Muge llo p ad d ock took on a new' significance. Were th ey just visiting, or were th ey looking for work? Quite assu re dly th e la tter, and though Tro y Corser's Promot or Ducati te a m boss Da v id e T a r d o z z i fi rm ly D 87

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