Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Round 1: Daytona 200 by Arai • By Paul Carru thers Photos By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 16 t was eve rything it wa s supposed to be, and more. After six days of wai ting and 200 miles of suspense, intrigue and apprehensi on, it all came d own to the simplicity of a one-on-one battle. The race may have featured lead changes between six different riders on four different brands of mot or cycles, but whe n all was sai d and d on e it came d own to only two - . two of the best: Scott Rus sell and Miguel DuHamel in a fin al. furious ru n to the checkere d flag on the tr i-ova l of Dayton a Internation al Speedway. Ru ssell w as try in g to make history . DuHam el was just trying to win. What followed was perhaps the most exciting half mile of racing ever seen at th e famed Superspeedway. DuHamel and the Smokin' Joe's Honda led out of the chicane, with Russell and the Lucky Strike Suzuki giving chase. It was a w ar of not onl y rival riders and competing motorcycle manufacturers, but also of antagonistic tobacco companies. DuHamel was the mou se , Ru ssell the ca t, with bo th survivi n g r ear-wh eel slides at ISO-plus-m ph on the tri-o val as th e drafting war ens ue d . At th e lin e it was ever so close, with DuHamel winning his second Daytona 200 by Arai and Russell coming up jus t sh ort of winning his fourth. Jus t short? H ow abo ut 0.010 seco nd sho rt. Fo r DuHamel, th e w in marked th e end of a four-year w in less drought in the 200, his win in the 55th edition of the I '-0 0\ ~ race bookending his victory in the 50th edition in 1991. It wa s also th e p erfect start to a sea son in which the 2S-yearold Fr en ch Canadian w ill d efend h is " AMA Supe rb ike National Ch ampi onship. The win also padded his pockets with $16,000 of the $130,000 Daytona purse. Despite missing out on th at elusive fourth win by only 0.010 second, Russell w as all smi les . Afte r all, th ere is little doubt that he is still Mr. Daytona. Since 1991, Russell has won th ree times, finis he d second tw ice a n d fo urth once. Think abo ut wha t you can do in six-onehundredths of a second? Russell has lost tw o Dayt ona 20 0s in that amoun t of tim e. In 1993 he was bea ten by Ed die Lawson by 0.051 second, and this year's loss to Du H amel was only by 0.010. That's 0.061 second. As if the race for victory w asn' t enough, the battle behind the lead duo was equally as sensation a l b etween Yam ah a ' s Colin Ed w a rd s II and Yoshimu ra Su zuki's Pascal Picotte. In what was a reve rsal of th e fortu nes of th e two ah ead of them, Ed w ards was able to u se the "draft pa s s to move around Picott e at the finish line for third place. Mu zzy Kawasaki 's Doug Chand ler started slowly, stayed clear of trouble and gained speed and consistency in the middle of the race to log a heady fifth, a far cry from the troubles he encountered during practice and qu alifying when the best he could muster was a 16th-place qualifying run. Chandler may not have b e en the quick est of t he Muzzy Kawa sakis, but he was the first to cross the finish line. Australian Anthony Gob- ert was the man exp ected to give Rob Mu zzy the best chance of victory, but th e World Superbike phenom had tire p roblem s, brake problems and finally engi ne problems that knocked him out of the race. The third Mu zzy Kawasaki, ridden by Mike Smith, was also taken ou t of conten tio n early. Smith's ZX7R suffered a fried cl u tch a n d a broken exha ust pipe, and he eve ntually finished a d isappointing 41st. Smokin' Joe's Honda's Steve Crevier had a race very similar to Ch andler 's, with the two actu ally circula tin g togeth- . er for a good part of the race . The Can adian staye d clear of any calamity, mad e on ly scheduled pit stops an d finished a respectable sixth - despite racing with a distinct lack of self-confide nce followi ng a high-speed crash during practice. The man who may have proven the most during Camel Motorcycle Week w as you ng Georgian Aaron Yates . A week after winn ing the 750cc Superspo rt final, the Yoshimura Suzuki factory rid er prov ed that hi s pundits were b adly mistaken for not b e liev in g h e could make the gr ad e in his first season of AMA Superbike racing. The superbike-cl ass rookie was one of six riders to " lead the Daytona 200, and it was only an error in judgmen t - stem mi ng d irectly from a lack of experience wi th the pace car - tha t cost him a probable trip to victor y la ne. Ya tes wen t on to fin ish an " impressive seventh. The third Yoshimura Suzuki was also ridden admi rably by Daytona roo kie Mat Mladin, with blister ed tires and unscheduled pit stops the only things keeping him from finishing much higher than his eventual 11tho Wh ile Yates w a s penalized for hi s Mike Hale (23) led the 55th running of the Daytona 200 into turn one, followed close ly by Scott Russell (4) , Anthony Gobert (96) and Troy Corser (3). Hale crashed out of the race on the fifth lap after hiftlng a ll. la ck of ex perience, Vance & H ine s Yamaha's Tom Kipp w as burdened by a lack of top speed. The Ohioan did wha t he could wi th wha t he h ad , and finish ed eighth after a mistake-free 200 miles of racing. Ducati's Disastrous Daytona p layed out again in the 55th edition of the race. Desp ite ha ving two of its riders on the front row , a top finish was again out of the question for the.Italian marque as it tried to win its first-ever 200. Pole sitter Troy Corser had the fastest bike and led the most laps, but he w asn 't around when it co u n te d most - at the fini sh. In stead, h is 955 overhea ted until th e point of terminati on on the 30th of 52 la p s . By then the second Promotor Ducati of Mike Ha le was long gone, the Texa n having cra shed th e bik e on the fifth lap . In the end it was dirt-trackertu rned -r oad -r acer Larry Peg ram who gave Du cati its only glimmer of success, the Ohioan ridi ng his Fast By Ferracci 955 to an u neventfu l ninth pl ace; hi s teammate Sh awn Hi gb ee , meanwhile, suffered a similar fate to the other fact ory Ducat is as h e was for ced ou t w it h transmission proble ms on only the 10th lap. There's always " next year... The Harley-Da vidson factory d oesn 't have to " wait until next year to boast of a top 10 finish in the Daytona 200 - Chri s .