Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,ROADRACE·.· Round 10: Sears Point Raceway ..HP4 6lIOcc 5uJ*sPorI,sertes' PlIlIClIl Picotte (112) .nd Miguel DuHamel (117) _ _ _dom f1Irther aplUt than this In the 600cc SUpenport tlnal. DuHlImel won the ..-. his MY.nth straight In the c..... H••1so title with the victory, his third 600cc crown. .arnecf'th. the checkered flag. Rothman slid into a hay bale-protected wall, and was fortunate to escape serious injury. According to one of his brothers, Rothman didn't suffer any broken bones but was undergoing X-rays to see if he'd suffered any internal damage. Rothman's crash was the second major 600cc accident of the weekend with Andy Milton suffering serious head ,injuries during practice on Sunday morning. Milton was listed in critical condition on Sunday night and was still unconscious following his turn -10 crash. fN Sears Point 'Raceway Sonoma, California Results: August 27, 1995 By Paul Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams SONOMA, CA, AUG. 28 iguel DuHamel is the undisputed King of AMA 600cc Superspprt racing. End of subject. Already the all-time win leader in what has been arguably the most competitive class in AMA racing, DuHamel and his Smokin' Joe's Honda CBR600 went a step further at Sears Point Raceway. With his victory in Northern California's wine country, the French Canadian became the first rider in the 'nine-year history of the class to win three 600cc Supersport Championships and he did so on a day in which he also tied Doug Polen's record of seven 600cc class victories in a row. He also did so in a race that turned out to be a thriller with two French Canadians - DuHamel and Muzzy Kawasaki's Pascal Picotte - turning back the clock to 1987 when the pair first battled on Yamaha RZ350s in Canada. This time it was a matter of Picotte trying to give Kawasaki its first 600cc victory of the year, and DuHamel trying to earn his third championship. Although he didn't need to beat Picotte to claim the title, DuHamel isn't much for losing. He gave it everything he had when he didn't really need to, and for that he is a worthy champion. Picotte, too, gave his all, but it wasn't enough. In the end it came down to DuHamel outfoxing his countryman. With Picotte protecting the inside line in an effort to keep DuHamel behind him, the Honda rider simply tried something different - he passed him on the outside in turn 11. And that was it. Third place went to the ever-consistent Thomas Wilson on the Kinko's Kawasaki. At one point, Wilson led the race, but he would eventually give way to DuHamel and Picotte, fighting off a head cold to hold down third place at the checkered flag. Moto Liberty's Jamie Bowman equaled his best result of the year, finishing fifth after another impressive outing on the Texas-based team's CBR600. Bowman rode mostly alone for the duration, easily beating Erion Racing's Michael Barnes, who had gotten the best of an early-race duel with sixth- and seventh-place finishers, Brian Parriott and Hikaru Miyagi. Barnes' teammate Larry Pegram finished eighth with Thomas Montano and Todd Hoeft filling the top 10. So where was DuHamel's teammate Mike Hale? On the ground on the opening lap, along with Muzzy Kawasaki's Steve Crevier. Hale took full blame for the incident. While both were able to remount, only Crevier continued on, finishing an eventual 18th. "I put it into turn 11, got in pretty hot, pretty deep," Hale explained later. "And I hit Crevier. It was my fault." It also further proved that if someone is going to get rammed, it's usually Crevier. The crash didn't go unnoticed by DuHamel, who actually thought he may have caused it by running wide into turn 11: "That right there assured me the championship even if I stopped," DuHamel said. ~'I thought about that (stopping), but that's' not the way to do it." With Hale and Crevier momentarily sidelined, Wilson took charge at the front, leading Picotte and Bowman across the stripe to end the first lap. DuHamel, meanwhile, had gotten 'away slowly and he trailed in sixth place. "I got a really bad start," DuHamel said later. "I was just standing there. I didn't get off the line and I think I was almost 10th or seventh or something. Then I thought, 'Okay, maybe I'm not going to win this weekend. There were a lot of things going through my mind: Should I go for it or shouldn't I go for it? Okay, there were a couple of privateers up there so I couldn't let them finish in front of me. I started passing this guy and that guy. It's Teally hard to pass and I didn't really know what to expect. I was in limbo as to what to do. Five or six laps into it - actuaIIy the whole race when I started slacking off I'd be making little mistakes. Then I figured, okay let's at least get a podium. Then I started passing guys." Passing guys is exactly what he did, until he was behind Picotte, who had taken over from Wilson on the fourth lap. '1 got up there and I could make up a lot of time on the brakes, which is really a cheap way of making time meaning it's not very hazardous. I put a charge on to catch him and when I did catch him I said, 'Okay, now what do we do?'" DuHamel decided just to follow. He s,hadowed Picotte's every move before finally taking the lead for the first time on the 14th lap. But Picotte countered a lap later. "I just followed him (Picotte) around and he was riding really well. Finally, when I did pass him, he followed me for a lap 'and he saw where I was strong. He timed it right with a lapped guy in the Carousel and he passed me back. After that I could tell his line changed. He was running a lot tighter going into the last corner and turn seven. So I started measuring it up on the outside to see if I could get it. I was trying for him in seven on the outside, but it was slippery on the outside over there. I just wanted to put a lot of pressure on him to see if he would make a mistake in either of those places." The mistake came, just prior to the white flag: "He slid a little bit coming out of 10 and I said, "TItis is it, I got to go for it now: " DuHamel said. "I got on the outside and he went to the inside to protect it - I outbroke him on the outside and he stayed true to his line. He didn't let go of the brakes and try to stuff me or hit me, and I also left him some room. He played really clean out there so I did the same. I went a little wide and he almost got me back." He didn't. Race, championship, record - all to DuHamel. But don't blame it on a lack of effort from Picotte. '1 thought I could win," Picotte said. "We need a thicker tube on the forks. We still had chatter with the front. It started pushing the front really bad. The two laps I was in front of him, I knew I had to protect the inside. All of a sudden he was on the outside. It was really a good race." Behind the lead duo came a lonely Wilson: "They just get me a bike length here and a bike length there," Wilson said. "I lapper cost me dearly in the esses. I've been fighting a really bad head cold, and it's really thrown me off. But I feel a little better today. The bike was good, not perfect, but it was good. We made some changes this morning that seemed to work." The race was marred by a horrific accident on the final lap when Gerald Rothman Jr. crashed after making contact with another rider only yards from 600« SUPERSPORT, 1. Miguel DuHamel (Hon); 2. Pascal Picotte (](aw); 3. Thomas Wilson (Kaw); 4. Jamie Bowman (Hon); S. Mjchael Barnes (Hon); 6. Brian Parriott (}fon); 7. Hikaru Miyagi (Bon); 8. Larry Pegram (Hon); 9. Thomas Montano (Ho,n); 10. Todd Hoeft (Hon); 11. Rad Graves (Hon); 12. Ben Bostrom (Hen); 13. Mark Foster (Kaw); 14. Shane Turpin (Kaw); 15. Erik Schnackenberg (Hon): 16. Gerald Rothman Jr. (tIon); 17. Russell Stopper (}Ion); 18. Steve Crevier (}(aw); 19. Ken Hill (Hon): 20. Michael Dean Vincent (Yam); 21. Rich Thorwaldson (Hon); 22. Jeff Hoeppner (Yam); 23. Louis Young (Hon); 24. Darrell Parker (Yam); 25. Jim Morgan (}fon): 26. James Randolph (!

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