Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- - - - - - - - - : · T h e best of times, the ---------:worst of times... think there's a definite possibility of me going riding with them and testing for the 500cc GP class. My goal is to go there and win. "I think it's something I definitely want to do. I want to go over there and I want to be World Champion. I think it's a goal I can accomplish. I'd like to take this team over there. That's my plan. After that I'd like to go World Superbike racing. Why not? We'll see how it goes. If you look at what I've done in the last year - it took less than that to get you to GP racing before. (Kevin) Schwantz never won a championship and he went over there. I think my situation could be very similar to Wayne Rainey. He went over there, and then he went back when he was a lot stronger." Although he decided to stay in AMA racing with Honda, it wasn't through a lack of offers from elsewhere, some of which were tempting indeed. "We got offers from every team in America this year," DuHamel said. "In World Superbike it was the same thingwe got some very interesting offers from different teams - Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati... One of the most interesting offers was from the Marlboro Roberts team to ride their 500. When they called up we had already done our deal with Honda. It was actually pretty close. It was real close. It was when Kenny Roberts Jr. went and tested and I was supposed to be out there with him. The door was wide open. They said if I went good they'd make me the ntirnber-one rider. But that's okay, I think I have a lot of future here with Honda If nothing else, then I've got two dedicated years ahead of me." Will we see the same close racing that we saw in 1995, or does DuHamel plan on ruining the show? 'T d like to' thrash 'em pretty good; I'd like to crush the competition. But I think everybody wants to do that. I think we have the team, we have the equipment we have a lot in my comer. We're a determined bunch. We have total dedication. I think we have an incredible combination. Again, r don't want anybody to read this and have a'vendetta against me. I'm just expressing what everybody would want to do; have a year like we just had and more years like that. If I had a dream, I guess we'd just go out there and rip 'er up. '1 see everybody as competition. They are all out there to win. I see (Pascal) Picotte and the new Suzuki - I'm happy to see that they're (Yoshimura) hiring foreigners again (laughs). There rl).ight be somebody like (Aaron) Yates come out of the box and go out there hard - you never know. Mike Smith and Kawasaki, and Doug Chandler. I think Chandler can set up the bikes quite well and help Mike in that area. Tom Kipp seemed really strong last year. He's a good guy and I'm sure he'll have a lot of good results. The list goes on and on. 'Hopefully, I didn't offend anybody. And there's Jamie Games). Sometimes when you have time off like that you come back charged up. I think it's going to be a tough year, a real hard year." What, no push-ups? L~ WITH GREAT ApPRECIATION hen you win as much as Miguel DuHamel did in 1995, it seems it would be difficult to say which race was your best. Not so for DuHamel. The French Canadian came up with two races he was particularly pleased with - one he earned victory in, and one in which he ended up third. As for the worst race of the year, that was simple - the Daytona 200. . "Two races are really close," DuHamel said. '1 think the one I'm most proud of IS Loudon. I got a semi-good start and 1 was behind (Thomas) Stevens and (Fred) Merkel. I thought with Stevens and Merkel, who both qualified quite well, r d hang on their tail and we'd slice through the field. Why do all the work? But they weren't going anywhere. They were just staying there and 1 could see the leaders starting to pull away. I passed them and started passing guys. I was picking up the pace and keeping my eye on the leaders. I was able to chop down their lead and I made my fastest laps on the last two laps. I was sliding the bike around; I just felt so good. I was pumped. r knew when I got to third that this was it. That was the race I am definitely the most proud of. I was so far back, and since it is so close to the Canadian bord,er there were a lot of fans cheering me on. Once I caught them I knew I had to go, I had to break their will right there. ] passed (Tom) Kipp and (Mike) Smith and I got on it real hard and opened a gap. That took the wind out of their sails. ... "The other race I really liked was Laguna Seca. I started Wlth slicks and It started raining worse, and I was passing guys with rain tires. Every time I passed one, I was thinking, 'I wonder what this guy is thinking?' I was on full slicks and passing them. ] think that was thanks in part to my experience in 24-hour endurance racing. As the rain kept coming down more and more, 1 was a bit nervous but I was happy. I think that was the turning point in the season (when the race was stopped due to fog and rerun the next day). When the fog rolled in I was so happy. The next day I used rain tires and finished third." And the worst race of ]995? "Definitelv Daytona. Without a doubt. That's the first time in my life that I couldn't sleep until three in the morning for two weeks. l'd just lay there thinking, '1 can't believe this.' We had such a really solid shot at winning that race. At least the top three. We had to change a front tire at the last minute before the race. It flew by my head and I should' have caught it. We should have ran our same front and changed it. r would rather have given that a try than using the harder front. The grip just went a way. I was riding on eggshells out there. I saved it a couple of times and ] thought] took enough precaution not to brake in too deep. It was never there, it just went down on me. I was really disappointed with that. 0 points, no podium finish. ext year (1996) we need to fix that. It just slipped by me and it slipped by everybody that we could have kept the tire we were comfortable with. We just got caught off guard on Sunday." W SPONSORS: YAMAHA Motor Corporation,.VANCE &HINES, BELL Helmets, TAICHI, DUNLOp, AIRTECH, POWERMIST, RK, NGK, SBS, OAUNS, TARGA, AFAM, YAMALUBE, and WISECO I want to thank those Sponsors, Friends and Fans who supported my efforts during the 1995 Season. 1 1 11 be back in 1996 on Thank 25

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