Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round1: DaytonaIn a alSpeedway tern tion By Henny Ray Ab rams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 16 fter enduring a seven-day delay, cause d by last week's tw ice red -flagged ra inou t, Smokin' Joe' s Honda Miguel DuHamel wa s well on his way to defending his Pro Ho nda Oils 600cc Supersport title with a victory whe n yet another red flag flew, this one less than four lap s from th e end of the troubled 18-lap race. Because th e rac e wa s less than 80 percent compl ete, it wasn't official and the rul es d icta ted th at a final, fou r-lap d ash to the flag was in ord er. No matter . DuHamel continued to d o what he'd done since he came here, decima ting the competition, leavin g the m 3.654 seconds behind in only fou r lap s . to cla im the w in on a b rilli ant d ay at Dayt on a In tern ational Sp eed way. But the race wasn't over yet. A protest was soon filed .by the seco nd- place d M uzzy Kawasaki tea m of Mike Smith, and the official outcome of the event won't be d eci d ed until the middle of the week following the race . Tha t's when AMA officia ls will decide w hether to d ecla re the re sults of th e star-cros sed race official and announce what th e slim crowd in Dayt ona had witnessed , a command performance by Miguel DuHamel over a brilliant thr ee.way scrap for second. Ultimat ely, it was decide d a t th e st ripe w ith Mu zz y Kawasaki's Sm ith u sing the dra ft to e d g e Kin ko' s Kawa saki's Tho mas A Stevens and the Rayce Team Honda of Switzerlan d 's Yves Brigu et. Th e Muzzy team actually filed two p rotes ts, o ne fo r Du H am el ' s actions d u ring th e red -flag period , which was d isallowed , and the second for equipment violations, which will be d ecided this week at AMA head quarters. Pending the ou tcome of the protests, for what are alleged to be variou s non -stock compon ents, th e results are p rovision al. What happened on the track, however, was definitive. This was a complete restar t for th e race which was begu n in a d ownpour th e p re viou s weekend, o nly to b e stop ped twice du e to crashes on the exit of th e chica ne. Tod ay' s wea ther w as mo re coo pera ti ve , w a rm a nd b ree zy with sca ttered high clouds a nd not a thr eat of rain. But the race continued to be cursed an d on th e 15th of 18 lap s, wi th Du Ham el hold ing about a LG-second lead on Smit h and Briguet, fighting hard over second, it was red-flagged yet again . Sin ce AMA ru les s ta te th at 80 percent of the total laps have to be completed for the race to be conside red official, at 14 full laps the race was one lap sh ort of complete. Grid positi ons we re determined by the race order at the end of the 14th lap and, after a week, and three red flags, the race would be an allout, four -lap sprin t. It took the French Cana dian a lap to scrub the tires in, then he proceeded to do what he'd do ne the entire day: leave the field gasping in his wake at close to a second a lap to win the first ~ace of the year. "We put fresh rub ber on the bike and it really showed," the Honda CBR600 F3-mounted DuH amel said after winning his nin th 600cc Supers po rt race in a row, d ating back to last season. "The bike is incre d ible. It makes me look so good ." But soon after the 18-lap, 64.1-mile race, the protests were file d and th e p rovisional resul ts would stand until the ou tcome of the protests is decided . . According to AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick, the alleged rules violation centered aroun d DuHamel's movem en ts and co n t ro l of h is m ach in e ry duri ng the red -fl ag p e r io d . He w as called to the winne r' s circle by a track anno uncer and rode on the wr ong side of a cold pit lane. Since victory lane is a se cured area, a nd u nd e r th e AM A' s d irection, th ere was d eemed to be no violatio n, accordi ng to Barrick. "Essen- . tially, he was never ou t of the AMA's control. When he was told to return to th e g ri d it w as d on e b y an offici al, which is legal," Barri ck said. The seco nd protest alleged th at th e chassis, wheel s, and steering cla mps we re "not s toc k parts," Bar rick said . "We ' ve taken th e pa r ts . It will b e We d nes day o r Th ursday before we make a decision, once all of our people get back to the office." The parts will be co m pared with off-the-shelf H on da items and a de termination made. Whether or not the win is taken away from him, DuHamel made it em inently Miguel DuHamel (1) leads Thomas Stevens (2), Jamie Bowman (21) and Steve CrevIer (4) at the start of the 600cc Supersport final at Daytona InternatIonal Speedway. clear th at he is a class of one, despite not leading every lap of the restart. Smith led th e firs t lap, then Du H amel took over in turn one on the next lap an d sped clear of the 44-rider field . "In a four- lap race nobod y's goin g to be giving no thing away," Du H a m el said . "I messed up my plan. I wanted to go from the start, but I took too much of a cauti ous start. The Smokin ' joe's crew h ad th e bike r ead y to g o a n d they pumped me fu ll of co nfidence. They sai d , ' We' ve got a fou r-la p setu p for you:" "Thi s is wonderfu l. We' ve won, I believe, five of the last six (600cc) Sup erspo rt races here at Daytona against the best competition in the wo rld," Smokin' Joe's Honda team owner Martin Adams said after Du H am el won here fo r th e fou rth time. (He also won for Adams in 1991 and '95 and aboa rd a Kawasaki in ' 93. Mike Smith won for Adam s in 1994.) Briguet had take n over second from Smith in tum one on the final lap knowing that wasn't the place to be and pa ying the penalty in the run from the chicane to the flag by ending up fourth. "On that las t lap th ey were a little

• Cover