Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE . AlIA Superbike·National Cbampionship By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by George Roberts ~ BRAINERD, MN, JULY 16 'l 0 win four in a row is nothing short of a miracle," Smokin' Joe's Racing's Miguel DuHamel said after he did just that with a hard-fought win in the Suzuki Classic on a day of changing weather at Brainerd International Raceway. The French Canadian, who earlier in the day had won the HP4 600cc Supersport race, endured a battle with teammate Mike Hale and Fast by Ferracci's Mike Smith to win his fourth consecutive AMA Superbike National. Both of DuHamel's rivals made the wrong tire choice and struck tire troubles late in the race, with Smith losing a piece from his rear Michelin and ·Hale overheating his Dunlop. That gave DuHamel the break he needed to take his seventh career win and move him into a tie with Wes Cooley for ninth on the all-time career win list. "About the fifth lap from the end I knew I'd made the wrong tire choice," Smith said after firiishing 2.84 seconds back. '1t slipped real bad." It was on the 16th of 21 laps that DuHamel seemed to be making a break, turning in his best lap of the race, a oneminute, 4O.225-second go-around, as he carved his way through traffic. The next time by he had a one-second lead, which he added nearly a second to on each of the following two laps. "I saw five laps remaining and I clicked it up a bit," DuHamel said. e It) g:: _ -.D N >. E. ~ 6 Round 7: Brainerd International Raceway Hale's tire had begun to go off with about eight laps to run and, five from the end, he was passed between the final two turns by Vance & Hines Yamaha's Tom Kipp, who had run in the top five all day. Kipp crossed the line about 3.6 seconds behind Smith in third. Freddie Spencer was next across the line, the Fast by Ferracci rider fighting a sliding front end from near the halfway point. He pressured Hale on the last lap, and only just moved by him at the line. In sixth place, all by himself, was Yoshimura Suzuki's Fred Merkel who struggled with a lack of grip on the right side of the tire. Seventh went to Muzzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier who said he ran into motor problems halfway in, then chunked a tire. He'd spent most of the race dicing with Team Mirage's Dale Quarterley who finished eighth after struggling all weekend in practice and qualiiying. Crevier and Quarterley had passed Yoshimura Suzuki's Thomas Stevens two laps from the end after he was· forced to slow with a tire vibration. DuHamel set a new race record for the 21-lap, 63-mile race, completing it in 35 minutes 27.048 seconds at an average speed of 106.627 mph. The time bettered Colin Edwards II's mark from last year by better than 24 seconds. . Winning his fourth in a row allowed DuHamel to further chip into Hale's championship lead. After seven of 10 races, Hale holds an eight-point edge, 199-191, over his Smokin' Joe's Racing teammate. Merkel is third with 177, 11 better than Kipp. Spencer is fifth with 153. Many thought that last year's version of the Suzuki Classic was the best AMA Superbike race ever, so this year's event had something to live up to. At the start of the race it looked like it just might, as a parade of riders ran in close formation with Hale at the front. Spencer had gotten the jump on the field from the second row, but first DuHamel, then Hale went by in the first few corners and at the end of one it was Hale, DuHamel, Kipp, Fast by Ferracci's Tiger Sohwa, and teammates Spencer and Smith. Smith was by Spencer on the second lap, the order shuffled with Hale getting pushed back to fifth as DuHamel took the lead for laps three through five. Smith was on the move, turning the best lap of the race on the third and taking the lead to start the sixth lap. Behind him were eight riders in a row, all in each others draft, then Quarterley and Pascal Picotte. . The third lead change came on the seventh lap; DuHamel in front for a lap, then Smith was in front for the eighth. He and DuHamel were measuring each other, settling into a long race and looking for an edge. "For a couple of laps he tried to shake me and I tried to shake him. We couldn't shake each other," Smith said. "1 was stronger through the infield and he was stronger on the straight." "Compared to Mikey (Smith), I seemed to have speed on the straight," DuHamel agreed. "Going into one and two my bike was a little faster. In three I was hard on the brakes and my bike was stable. In four and five and maybe six he could pass me. He could pass me in the chicane. I was better out of 10. 1 had a bit better drive." The differences evened out and Smith held the lead for five laps, with DuHamel right there and Hale just behind. By the halfway point, close to two seconds separated the top three from the battle for fourth - Spencer now fending off Kipp and Merkel. Hale said that he was trying to "conserve his tire, cruise around, and watch them, study them, and wait till late in the race to make my move." But, on about the 13th lap, Hale felt his tire go off and he knew he wouldn't be able to hang on to the leaders. That made it a two-rider race, with DuHamel in front on the 13th and getting ready to take charge. When Smith's tire began to go off with about five laps to go, he made a few mistakes, and DuHamel seized the initiative and pulled away. "I should have chosen a little bit stiffer one, I believe," Smith said of his rear tire choice. "That was the first time I raced on that tire. I didn't know what it was 'going to do. These corners here are so fast and grainy that it really chews the tire up." As for his own tire choice, DuHamel said it was a standard tire that they'd raced before and had gotten a good read on in qualifying. '1 was trying to be a little bit cautious with it, but it's hard to do when you've got guys like this around," he said, referring to Smith and Kipp. "I just really appreciate these wins. Don't think for a second I take it for granted." Kipp had begun his charge from fifth on the 17th lap, driving past Spencer going into turn one and moving right up on Hale. He made his move into third just before the two began to brake for turn 10. By then, the two leaders had around a four-secon.d lead and Kipp would have to be content with third. "I just didn't give up. It was just a matter of keeping my head down," Kipp said. "I was pretty sure of what (the tires) were going to do. I knew I could run that hard five, six, seven laps more. I knew I couldn't run them hard enough to chunk them." Even after he passed Spencer he almost lost the spot. "I had one screwup in turn nine. Spencer was still behind me. I got all locked up and sideways," he said. '''Three laps and I could've had Smith. I just waited a few laps too long." Spencer had had a moment or two of his own. "From 10 laps on the thing was skating pretty bad," Spencer said. '1 saved it with my knee a couple of times. One time I went right to the edge of turn one (a sixth-gear bend). I did a 1:40.6, the next lap was 1:42.9. The front just tucked under." The team determined that it was a weight distribution problem and that it could be fixed in time for the Laguna Seca World Superbike race the following weekend. In the final laps, Spencer m.oved up on Hale and could see the Honda rider •was having tire problems. "There was stuff coming off it. There was rubber an my shield. I was looking for it to come apart. You could see from the way it was spinning," Spencer said. He took advantage of the proble1I\ on the last lap to take fourth, with Hale fifth, well in front of Merkel. Then it was Crevier, who was all by

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