Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

said . "I hate to take 'em that way, but you take ' em a nyway yo u can get 'em. The next thin g I know I look up and Migu el's rolling in the dirt and I thought, 'Wow, this just ain't true .?' Unfortu na te ly, for Du Ha me l it was very tru e. "I'm mad, but I'm fine," an uninjured DuHame l sa id. "I was going safer, a bit slower and I was stayi ng tight so I di dn 't hi t the crack where the two asp halts hit. Jus t w he n I hit that second crack in the track, the bike was sliding a bit more than us u al bu t I ju st pu t th at d ow n to tire wear. I tried to hang 'on, but I was flipping with the bike. . "I was feeling better as the race wore on . I never push ed the front and I was s ta r ting to feed off my lead . ( figu re Dou g's a smart gu y and he was staying a safe secon d for poi n ts. I was pla nni ng everyth ing in the race; the only thi ng I didn't do was pass him before halfway to get the points (for leading the most laps). It's just really unfortunate. The tire maybe came off the bead, some thing hap pened. There 's no reason for the bike to be that violen t in tha t slow comer. Maybe it was d isc flu id or so met hi ng . I reall y wis h I could tell you what happened ." For Chandler the race went exactly as planned , with the excep tion of the brake problem. "I was wanting to get the start to try and take control of the race and set the pace," he said. "I felt pretty comfortable. I fel t li k e we were getting awa y and Mig uel didn't feel like he was right on me. I was content with that. Wh en we came up on some lappers, it seemed like he was going to try to pick it up and get in front an d get away. I think I followed him for a lap and a half and I go t him back going into 11. We came upon some backrnark ers in the Corkscrew, then we sa ndwiched a guy in 10. We went back and forth a nd I felt really comfortable runnin g tha t pace. I feel like if I d id n' t have so me trouble with the bra kes we wou ld hav e been th er e for su re at the end. "When he would ge t in front of me, he'd really try an d slow the pace down. H e' d reall y ge t it slowed d own in th e middle of the comer and then I'd either have to go to the outside of him or somewhere - he'd just get the thing parked in there. I just felt really good . When it started moving around on me, I chan ged the way I was riding it - I start ed to stand it u p early . It wa s wo rking great and the tires hung in there the whole way. I'd say a lap and a half before he crashed, I said, 'What the hell, the thing's good now, I'm gonna ma ke ano ther char ge.' When he passed me was when I couldn' t go in to the com ers . I oversh ot the Cor kscrew an d it (the brake lev er) was to my fingers . going into 11. I had to give it tw o pumps going into every comer. lt did that for a DuHamel from the front -. A fte r winning th e fir st tw o races of the 1996 seaso n from th e second row, Sm okin' Joe's Honda' s Miguel D u Ha m el (ri gh t) decided to try to win the Rotten Robbie Stati o ns- s po nsor e d Superbike race at Laguna Seca Raceway from the front. He set himself up to do exactly tha t during qu alifying for the race, capturi ng th e pole pos ition w it h a 1:29.124 on the newl y mod ified 2.238-mile race track. "I hope it's no t a case of qualifying first and finishing sixth or sevent h, instead of qualifying sixth or seven th and w inning ," DuHam el joked a fter narrowl y preventing Australian Mat Mladin from earning the first pole pos ition of his AMA Superbike career. Mladin ended up a blink of the eye slower at 1:29.169. Over the winter, Laguna Seca underwent some revisions to its layou t, namely in turns 10 and 11. Tum 10 is now closer to Rainey Corner (turn 9) and the final comer on the 11-turn track has been pushed bac k farther. The real d ifferen ce is tha t the approach speed to turn one, a high -speed left-hander tha t crests a hill, has increased dramatically, testing the bravado of even the very best superbike.racers. "It' s a lot more difficu lt going up through turn one," DuHamel explained. "Especially with these poles (actually plastic pylons) that they' ve got. My line when we wer e testing was 'to lean right over, almost on the line. Now I can' t ge t it there and where I go I hit bumps. When the wind picks up it picks the whole bike off the ground and it's all over the place. I cou ld lie and say I go over there wide open, but I do n't; I shut off and then I get back on it." As always, the Smokin' Joe's crew was busy throughout the final session: "We ran three different setups in this qualifying session. At the end we pUI in a qualifying tire, and tha t's what you needed to go fast. For some reason the track 's a little bit slippery and the qualifying tire helps a lot. But my secon d-fastest time is with the race tire - I d id a 29.3 or so mething like that on race rubber. I was Jam ie James (2) tri es to hold off the two factory Suzukls, ridden by Pasca l Pico tte (21) and Mladin (66). James ended up dropping back to an even tual seve nth; Picotte ended up third with Mladin an AMA-best second. behind Doug Chandler, so I cou ld 'see his lines and the way he rides - there's a big , big con trast. I think everybody's the same and I'm really d ifferent on my lines. Thankfully, it's paying off and the RC45 has a lot of steam up the hill too." DuHamel' s attack wa s drastically d iffer en t than the others, with the French Ca nad ian able to hold a much tigh ter line on the entrance to comers, while still maintaining his corn ering speed at the apex. "I was using those lines during World Superbike too," DuHamel said. "T ha t's pretty much wher e I picked up last year. The RC4~ likes to be run that wa y - it's a point-and -shoot m ot orcycle w he re yo u sq u a re it off an d ge t on it. It seemed to pay off last year and it's still working. I don't kn ow if it's any faster; I think it's about the same. I tried the other way and I d on't like it. I like going in hard ; I don't like being leaned over for three days - I want to get in and get out as fast asl can. The key in the race will be to get a good start, because traffic will be difficult here, and be with the leading trio. I think there will be three or four guys out there. I think you just have to go at a hard pace and hopefully have something left at the. end. I think it'll be a tough track on the tires and it'll be whoever is in the best sha pe at the end as far as tire wear and also physical condition." Mladin was pleased wi th his performan ce, despi te the fact that he was atop the lead erboard for a sho rt time before being rep laced by DuHamel. ''Wh en we went to Daytona, the first time I'd raced the bike, " knew we were having a few problems with the ! chassis and stuff," Mladin said. "Everything's a lot different than what I' m used.to wi th the bike, so I took it easy , ha d a few tire pr oblems, and we finished ou t of the top 10. Last week at Pomona we finished fifth, which wasn't too bad. Yeah, second p lace behind Miguel, you can 't complain ab out that. We're p ret ty h appy, but th e race is tomorrow and you'v e got to put 28 laps together. We suffered a bit in that area at Pomona . We were good for 10 laps .and after th at we star ted struggling - a bit of fad e with the suspensio n and things like tha t. Hopefully, w e got a little bit sorted out in the last week. I think we're a bit closer and I know after here that Japan is going to send ove r so me new stuff that we've asked for. I'm sure by H om estead we'll be a lot better off. We didn't ge t an ythin g new for here, w e've just changed some bits aro un d . "We put a ·race tire on abo ut 15 minu tes from the end and wen t ou t and d one some la p s. I was su rp rised because I did a 29.4 or 5 on it. We put another tire on it an d I went back out, but we' d changed a little setting on it. Everything is so touchy on the new Suzuki. Just little pieces make su ch a big difference; it's a real fine ad justment. I came back in and we cha nged it back over and went back out. Miguel en d ed up beatin g my by a few tenths of a second . We'll try a few thing s in the morning, but we've got the bike in a p retty good s ta te at the moment. We think we're going to be able to ru n prett y quick, consistent lap times. You nev er 'know, a race is a race and so many things can ha ppen. We've had big, big clu tch problems and I can' t get into the first corn er better than 10th. I've been having to fight my way through, and when you fight your way through you wreck tires . You've got to get off the start." , Mu zzy Kawasak i's Doug Chandler was third-quickest, just another tick slower at 1:29.230, and confident of hi s chances in the Nati onal. Still, the reside nt of nearby Salinas had some things to try on Sund ay morning. "It' s pretty go od right now ," Chand ler said . "I w as ab le to do 29s wit h what we'll race with, but we've got some thin gs to try in the morning. It's wheelyng a bit up the hill (turn one) so I think it's a bit too soft. It seems to squat a bit w hen you bend it off in there." Tom Kipp put his Vance & Hines Yamaha on the fron t row , giving the lead line a fou r-manufactu rer look - and, believe it or no t, wit h no Ducati. Kipp clocked a 1:29.687 with his Yamaha mu ch happier to be carrying momentum in com ers - a stark contrast to the stop-and-go comers at the last race in Pomona. The second row was led by Yoshimura Suzuki's Pascal Picotte, the lap-record holder at Laguna Seca. Picotte had new, narrower triple clam ps at his disposal and he said they were making a di fference. "I think I'm going to have a really good sho t tomor row," Pico tte sai d . "I fee l p retty comfortable after my qualifying. I did a couple of high 29s, on the race setup with race tires. 50 I'm pretty pumped up and really confident. TI,e bike is getting better and better every weekend . 50 far so good . I'd like to get bet ter brakes, bet ter rotors, because we changed the clamp and it' s narrower. We' re using the Supersport discs and they' re not really as power ful. That's the on ly thin g I'd like to have for tomorrow, but there's no way we' re going to get it, on ly for Homestead. We may w ork a little bit on th e rear shock, but that's abou t it. The narrow tripl e clamp is m uch better. It really helps it hold a lin e. You can lean it a lot farther. We're d ragging the fairin g, the footpegs, eve ryt hi ng. It hold s the line better and it' s easier to get a good drive out." Behind Picotte came Larry Pegram, the first Ducati on the grid at 1:30.220 and just over a second off DuHam el's best. "Every session we're getting faster; we' re just a da y or so behind," the Fast By Ferracd rid er said. "Because we didn't test here , we are where everybody else was yes terday. We'll see what .we can do in the morning . I think come race time, we'll be right there.I knew I'd do good at Pomona (Pegram finish ed second ) and I kne w it'd be tou gher here. I knew we'd have some ground to make up. I wanted to be on the front row, but as long as we're wi th 'em tomorrow - that 'swhat I want to do. "

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