Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.INTERViEW Smokin' Joe's Racing's AI Ludington hen Miguel DuHamel matched Wayne Rainey's near-decade-old successive win record at Sears Point Raceway, it was clear supe~bike aficionados were witnessing something unique in superbike racing. DuHamel is at the top of his game, riding harder than perhaps anyone else in the series. And with DuHamel riding the V-4 Honda RC45, there are not the phantom catcalls of his machine having an unfair advantage, a charge that haunted Doug Polen and Ducati two seasons back. No, the RC45 is not the machine nor is it the hard ing; Freddie Spencer's Duc well be both of those. But Smokin Joe's Honda RC45 the best-prepared motorc front-runners. Although crashed a t Daytona and f diered on at Pomona, there absolutely zero mechanical season. With that advantag leads the AMA Superbik Championship points stan . a clear shot at the title. Preparation has been the racetrack and I try and return that on my end of things. Ski was my first rider and he was real... well, if you know Ski, (he has) a lot of heart. He will never give up and never say die. 1 wasn't working on the superbike, but I was involved with the team when he was riding the VHR Suzuki (and it) died on the warmup lap at Elkhart Lake in 1989. Sadowski, by himself, physical- . Iy lifted the bike over the fence so that he could push it back to the 'pit on the return road and get back on the grid. about 10 minutes remaining he came in and asked "How fast we got to go, AI?" 1 told him 1:12, or whatever the lap time, was. He asks, "Well, what am 1 doing?" 1 told him a 1:14. He says, "Put a tire on it, Al." And 1 did and sent him out. He rips off some hot laps and comes in sitting second on the grid. He lifted up his shield, shut the bike off and said, ;'Damn, that was scary. 1 hope we don't race that fast." That's digging deep right there. Tom Kipp is another very laid back The n th run and there are plenty of responsible names behind DuHamel's win streak: Team manager Martin Adams, crew chief Ray Plumb, RJR racing manager Mark Reeves and Rick Mitchell in Honda parts and accessories, to name a few. And DuHamel's superbike is wrenched on by one of the best - New Hampshire native Al Ludington, with assistance from technician Joe lombardo. Ludington came to AMA Superbike racing as Dave Sadowski's mechanic with Vance & Hines Yamaha in the late '80s, and shortly after he moved on to Honda where he worked with Tom Kipp and Mike Smith. We spoke after Sears Point about DuHamel and Ludington's incredible season. 14 One can see how winning superbike races animates Miguel. It must do the. same for you. It makes you want to win more, obviously. Yeah, it's definitely an exhilarating experience. After some of the past seasons we've had trying just to get the rider on the box (podium), it just makes you want to stay up there more and more. Prior to this, Jamie James was my only other superbike win - at Elkhart Lake in 1991. So 1 have multiplied my number of superbike wins by seven this season. Between then and now we've been trying to get back up there and in that period 1 changed from Vance & Hines to Honda, so there was an adjtlStment period there. But it wasn't dry, either - because we won a bunch of supersport races, a couple dozen races with Kipp and Mike Smith al)d the 600cc Supersport Championship with the Kipper. The superbike wins have been kind of dry, but the wins overall certainly have not been dry at all. You have worked with a variety of riders in the past: James, Sadowski, Kipp and Smith. Describe what they were like to work with. Ski, Smith and Jamie, well actually all of

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