Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'TEARDOWN. ay. Paul CalTilthers. uick, name the most dominant rider in the AMA Superbike Series. Did I hear you say Miguel DuHamel? Wrong. It's Mike Hale. At least according to an AMA points-paying system that borders on the ridiculous. "But DuHamel's won five straight races," you argue. "He seems to be virtually unstoppable," you persist. And you are right. DuHamel has been the most dominant rider in the series. I think even Hale would agree. Yet he isn't leading the AMA Superbike National Championship. Why? Because the points-paying system is all wrong. It's a system that encourages mediocrity. It's a system that doesn't reward risk-taking, and it definitely doesn't tell the truth. If you'd slept through the first eight races of the 1995 AMA Superbike Series, and awoke in the next day or two, you'd find that Hale was leading the championship by a single point over DuHamel. "Boy, that Hale kid is really something," you'd say. And he is. Hale is a superstar in the making. He'll go on to bigger and better things than the AMA series. He'll likely end up being World Champion. But he doesn't deserve to be leading this championship. DuHamel does. I decided to sit down and do a little math, using the same points-paying system that the FlM uses to decide the 500, 2.50 and 125cc World Champions. A system that works, a system that puts more emphasis on winning, and only pays down to 15th position - not a laughable system that pays through to 30th position, even if there aren't 30 racers on the start line when the flag drops. Using the FlM system, the top 10 in the AMA Superbike National Championship would read as follows: 1. Miguel DuHamel (146/5 wins); 2. Mike Hale (117/1 win); 3. Tom Kipp (95); 4. Fred Merkel (83); 5. Mike Smith (74); 6. Freddie Spencer (72/1 win); 7. Steve Crevier (60); 8. Thomas Stevens (56); 9. (TIE) Dale Ollarterley/Pascal Picotte (55). And that paints a fairly accurate picture of how the championship has gone thus far in 1995. DuHamel would be leading by 29 points - and you'd expect that from someone who has won the last five races. In AMA racing, however, the portrayal is not so clear. The top lOis as follows: 1. Mike Hale (227/1 win); 2. Miguel DuHamel (226/5 wins); 3. Fred Merkel (202); 4. Tom Kipp (198); 5. Freddie Spencer (165/1 will); 6. Dale Ollarterley (163); 7. Thomas Stevens (158); 8. Mike Smith (145); 9. Pascal Picotte (144); 10. Steve Crevier (136). I can hear it now. "Look how much more competitive the series is with the points the way they are," they'll say. "We've got a championship with one point separating the top two racers. Now that's exciting." Is it? I don't think so. I think it's unrealistic. It's inaccurate. It's dead wrong. I really don't believe that Freddie Spencer deserves to earn eight championship points for pulling in on the eighth lap of the race at Gateway international Raceway. I always believed that earning championship points was an honor, something everyone strived for. Something that should be earned. Not something that came in your cereal box. Some GP racers go their whole careers trying to earn their first championship point. Can you really be proud of earning 17 championship points when you actually finished one lap behind the winner? I was told by some power-to-be when this points system was hatched a few years back that it gave those privateers a better shot at gaining sponsorship. I was actually told that Joe Privateer could walk into corporate America bragging about his 23 championship points and walk out with a sponsorship. Wouldn't corporate America ask how many points the champion earned? "Well, uh... 295 points, sir." Yeah, that'll work. It's now to the point where the riders themselves are starting to throw up their arms. Sure it's guys like DuHamel and Fred Merkel - the man who is getting ripped off the most by the system (but more on that later) - who are complaining. But next year the shoe may be on the other foot. If Hale wins five or six straight AMA Superbike races in 1996 (if he's still racing here), I'd like to see him 25 YEAR AGO." SEPTEMBER 8, 1970 at Trojan Speedway, but was half a secChuck Sun led the 500cc race from 10th Annual Hub City.Classic Half Mile ond behind Carlton when the two beginning to end, clinching the 500cc at Hagestown Speedway, on what he came blazing across the finish line, well National title...Eric McKenna and referred to as "the second-happiest day aware that they would meet again in the Lenny Giger were the men who of my life," (the happiest day was . upcoming Trojan couldn't be beaten at the Bridgeapparently when his daughter was Speedway Fifty lapper. m~nJrJ~M~""'""", stone/SCORE Off-Road World born). Morehead took his victory over Championship at Riverside InterHarley factory riders Scott Parker and national Raceway, winning the Chris Carr...Jeff Stanton and Mike Open and 250cc classes, respecLaRocco sloshed through the mud of 15 YEARS AGO tively ... In round eight of the Millville, Minnesota on their way to vicSEPTEMBER 3, 1980 World Championship Road Race tories in the 500cc and 125cc classes, he actions of Series, Randy Mamola scored his respectively, with Stanton sealing the Wes Cooley second 500cc Grand Prix win of overall victory over defending echoed his the season, this one coming at rilTf:=riP"'=_ 500cc National MX father's words the Silverstone circuit in Eng~I" Champion Jeff "Never give up," as land. Mamola won after a ""'_ _;;;....~ . War d ... Way n e he came up from a tremendous battle with Kenny ~Rainey took the back-row starting Roberts, who remained on top Swedish track by position to win the of the points standings with 79 storm, defeating ninth round of the points to Mamola's 66 with Eddie Lawson to win AMA Sup~rbike only the German GP remaining. the 500cc Grand Prix Championship with rival Kevin Series at Road Atlanta over Eddie"LawSchwantz crashing son and third-place finisher Mike Baldout of contention 5YEARS AGO... win, putting himself only 13 points (unhurt) on the third AUGUST 29,1990 behind Lawson in the National Superlap and putting himself teve Morehead hopped bike points standings...In the last round 47 points under Rainey aboard the trusty Harleyof the AMA National Championship in the championship Davidson XR750 that he MX Series, Mark Barnett edged out points standings. CN dubbed "Old Paint" to win th::e:---.,.--J Broc Glover for the 125cc overall, as Q he South team scored a decisive victory in the NorthSouth MX Team race in Sacramento, led by standout Junior Doug Grant, who also won the regular 250cc race...The II ~ Sedalia National saw Gene Romero pick up his first National win of the season and Jim Rice boost his points lead with a third-place finish, but the race wasn't as kind to Dick Mann, who suffered a broken leg that forced him to sit out the remainder of the season...Steve Bast returned to Orange County Speedway action after a brief racing stint in England to challenge long-time rival Rick Woods, holding the inside line through the last turn to steal the victory away from Woods... Larry Taylor battled Dan Carlton in the 250cc TT main event T t" :JII;::;:- J at the very top of the championship standings. Right where he should be. Let's look at the strange case of the 750cc Supersport Series. Merkel has won six of the eight races held. But he has no realistic chance of winning the championship. That's not right. Using the FlM points-paying system, Merkel would be one point behind Tom Kipp (Now, that's exciting). Instead, he trails by 21 poin ts. If things go on as they have been, Merkel can surely win the last two races - but Kipp will more than likely finish second. Kipp will win the title by 15 points, 320-305. That's highway rob. bery. If they were to follow that pattern in the next two races - with Merkel winning both and Kipp finishing second Merkel would end up winning eight of 10 races, while Kipp would end up winning two races. But Kipp would be crowned champion of the class. "But he was more consistent," someone will argue. And that's correct. Kipp was more consistent. With the exception of MidOhio, he has finished second each and every time that Merkel has won. And he will likely contin'ue to do so. What, on the other hand, would Kipp do in the final two races if he were faced with the fact that he only held a one-point lead over Merkel. I think he'd have a better chance of actually winning one or even both of those final two races, Why? Because he'd have to. Now, in a system that doesn't really reward winning, Kipp. can kick back, finish second or third and go home a champion. He'd be stupid to try to win. If he crashed trying to win with a 21-point lead he'd be laughed out of the paddock area. If he crashed with a one-point lead while trying to win, he'd be doing his job. He'd be trying to win a championship - the way championships were meant to be won. And I'm not pointing fingers at Kipp. He is doing what he has to do in the system in which he is currently working. It's the system that is dead wrong. Take the 250cc Grand Prix class, for example. Even though he would have failed to score any points with his 16thplace finish at Gateway International Raceway using the FIM system, Rich Oliver would still hold a 44-point lead over his teammate Chuck Sorensen in T S the standings. And deserVedly so. Oliver has won six of eight races. Using the AMA system, Oliver leads Nick Ienatsch by only 25 points. Okay, so what does this have to do with anything? It's simple when you throw Jimmy Filice into the mix. Filice is a much-needed shot in the arm to the 2.5Occ GP class. The other riders will readily tell you so. He is the one who can realistically give Oliver a challenge in the remaining two races. But what if Oliver suddenly becomes the I'm-just-going-to-worry-about-thechampionship guy. He'd simply have to ride around in second place, take his title and be. gone. Thankfully, Oliver won't do this. Oliver wants to beat Filice in a straight fight. He doesn't want Filice coming in late in the season and overshadowing everything he's done all year. Using the FlM point system, Oliver wouldn't have to worry about such nonsense. The 44 points would be plenty. He could race with Filice and not worry that a mistake could cost him the title. He could make a mistake and get away with it. Leading Ienatsch by only 25 points in the AMA system doesn't give him that cushion. Knowing Oliver, none of this will matter much. He'll do everything in his power to beat Filice. But just imagine if that weren't so. If Oliver were a rider who didn't place so much emphasis on winning, on being the fastest rider at each and every race, we might be in for two boring races at the end of the season. Instead, the class may end up providing us with a thrilling finish.. "The points system needs to be looked at," DuHamel said following the Gateway round. "You miss one race and . you're out of it. It could be better for the promoters, better for everybody. You would take more risks with another points system. Right now, you just can't make it up if you don't finish a race." "I could win eight out of 10 races and not win the championship," Merkel said after his 750cc Supersport win in St. Louis. "The points system is not quite right." You can say that again. CN man

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