Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE PREVIEW By Paul Carruthers t 's g ettin g to the point where throwing 10 or so names i n a hat, pulling th em out one b y o ne, and u sing that o r d er as m y predictions . for the t o p 10 in ' th e AMA Superbike National Champions h ip would probably prove to be a wo rt hwhile endeavor. It would also be so m ew h at of a cop-out, likel y exposing me to even m ore ridicule tha n my cu rren t four-year streak of ineptitud e. Four m en have w on AMA Superbike C h a m p idns h i ps in th e last fi v e y ears Do u g Po len , T r o y Corse r , Mig u el DuHamel and Doug Chandler. T he l ast ti me I p icked the w i nner correctly wa s i n 1993, when Polen won si x of 10 races and th e title. T hat was then, t his i s now. A nd i n b et w een I 've gone th r ou gh some l ean ti m es. Thi s year I ' v e opted not to bore an y of you with m y r esults an d excuses from l ast yea r. As always, I was w rong. I sai d th at M at M l adin wou l d ride a Fast By Ferracci to t he su p e r b i ke tit le , and h e did n ' t. In st ead , C hand le r won and M l ad i n was thir d , ju st b eh i nd 'M i gu el DuHa mel. O f th e 10 ri d ers I p icked to fi n i sh i n th e t op 10, ei g h t o f th em mad e it. H ey , th at ' s a goo d ye ar for m e, an d o ne o f th ese d ay s I'm goi ng to get th e winner ri ght. So l et' s h av e anothe r go at this and see w hat h ap p en s. 1. Ant ho ny G o bert" # 9 5 Age: 23 Hometow n: Oakdale, Aus tra lia Team: Vance & Hines D ucat; Best result in 19 9 7: 7th (Aus trian 500cc Grand Prix) Ranking i n 19 9 7 : 15t h in 500cc World Ch ampion ship The absolutely eas ies t thi ng for me to do for ' 9 B wou ld be to pick D o ug C ha nd le r or Mi guel D uHamel to win the AM A Superbike Nat ional Cha mpio nship. It might also be the smartes t thing for me to do. and a sure way to end my go d·awful losing streak . But I' m n ot goi ng t he easy rout e . I'm g oin g wit h my gut feel i ng . I'm g o ing fo r b roke . I'm g oing wi t h A nt hony Go bert to w in the title . I can hear the' pu ndits n o w : " T ic k, t ic k , tick ... " And t hey are rig ht. G ob er t is wi t hout doub t a walk ing tim e bomb . At a ny given tim e he could explo de , leaving me wi tho ut my numberone pic k and leaving Terry Vance with out his number-one rider . But I don't th ink so . Lik e Va nce . I' m w illin g to gamb le tha t G obert is going to suck it up and co me through on this one . 12 Whe n it c om es dow n to nat ural talen t and pur e spee d, Gob ert may be one of the top five road racers in the world . Dedicati on and hard work? W ell . th at' s anoth er sto ry , and that' s the part t hat Gobert need s to refin e. The one th ing he has an abundan ce of, however, is t he one ingredient that yo u ca n' t teach : He has talent . G obs of it. And t hat's s o me t hi ng t ha t even hi s mo st out sp oken critics can' t argue w ith . I beli ev e that Gob ert is capab le of. wi nning eac h and eve ry race on the ca lendar . But he won 't, and -it w ill be tho s e rac es that he doesn 't wi n that wi ll prove to be the most import ant ones in his season , D oe s he crash trying to w in every rac e? D oes he bu rn up his tires, destroy his motor? Or does he finish second , thir d. fourth or fift h on the weekends w hen he isn 't capa ble o f winning ? If he wins when he ca n, yet is smart e noug h to ta ke w hat he ca n get on the ot her wee kends, then he can wi n th is c hampionship . He also has to be smart enough to concentrate mo re on racing and less on having fun. Fun, An thony , is so mething you ge t to hav e lot s of - afteryou 've wo n the championship. Real ist ically . if he screw s t his on e up by being stupid, then w e may have seen the last of Gobert . Sm art o r s t upid - A nth o ny , you make t he choice . . 2. Doug Chandler " # 1 Age: 32 Hometown: Salinas. California Team: M uzzy Kawa saki Best result in 1997: First (Laguna Seca) Ranking in 1997: AMA Supemke Champion D o ug C hand le r wa s p erf ect in 19 9 7 . H e didn't w in every rac e, but he ac hieved per fection in ano ther way : He did exactly what he need ed t o do to succeed and he came away wi t h his third AMA Superbik e N ation al Cha mpio ns hi p. D espit e winn ing o nly o ne race , Ch a ndl e r always le ft you w ith t he im pressio n t ha t he w a s capable of winning eac h and eve ry r ace . The unfortunate part for road racing fans is tha t he didn't have to . C handl er w ent into the D ay tona 20 0 behin d in t he champio nship. . In fac t , he trailed the tw o me n he felt m o s t t hr e at e ned by - M at M lad i n and M iguel DuHamel a fter th e o pe ni ng rou nd in Ph o eni x. T he n h e w e nt o ut and finished seco nd to Scott Russe ll in the 200 w hile the others flou nde red . Then came Laguna Seca. and C handler was dominant. He w on the race, furt her stretching his poin ts lead , and for all practi cal purposes the c hamp ion ship was over. Chandler prov ed his speed everywhere, earni ng several pole pos ition s alo ng the way . But whe n it came to race time. yo u always fel t he was keepin g a bit in rese rve . Unf or t unat ely , for t hose who wanted to s ee better raci ng , Chandler is simpiy too smart. A nd thanks to D aytona. we never saw what he was really made of . This yea r we wi ll. For tho s e o f yo u w ho t hi nk tha t C hand le r lac ks the pu re speed o f the DuHamels and the Ml adins, thin k again. And thi s yea r he 'll have to show that spee d at every race. Whe n I t hink o f Ch an dl er. I thin k o f L as Ve gas in 1996 and I try to forge t Las Vegas in 1997 . If Chan dler ride s like he did in the fin al rou nd of t he 1996 s easo n at every round in 199B, he can wi n the A MA Supe rbike Nat ional Champion ship . I just don 't thi nk he 's going to have the luxury of silting back and w atching things unfol d in fro nt of him like he did last year - there are jus t too many fast guy s, and not all of them are going to co me away fro m D ayt ona wi thout point s, Wh en it com es to being prep ared for races , Chandl er is a mag ic ian. Tho se wh o k now consider him one of the best w hen it comes to selting up a motorcycl e, and that make s him the most complete race r in the se ries. But this year he w ill face t he te st of working wit h a new crew within the M uzzy Kawasa ki team, and you o nly hope fo r his sa ke that they ca n keep up. 3. Miguel D uHa mel - #17 A g e : 29 Hometown: Montreal. Canada Team: Ame rican Honda Be st result in 19 9 7: First (Bra inerd , Mid Ohio . Pikes Peak . Sears PoinO Ra n kin g in 19 9 7 : Second in AMA Sup er. bike Cham pion ship • Wh o is the be st rac er in AMA S up erb ik e racing ? If yo u ju dge these thi ngs by ho w badly a rider is wa nted by the tea ms w ho compete in th e s e r ie s . th e n M ig uel D uHamel is the man . The re is no 'que stionin g that. A nyti me one o f DuHamel' s co ntrac ts nears its end. eve ry team in the pad dock comes callin g. This yea r DuH amel had his c ho ice and he chose t o stay put w it h Am er ican Honda . That was prob ably a w ise choice . Like G obert . DuHam el cou ld easily domi na te t he 19 9 B seaso n. He 's done it before , he can d o i t ag ai n . A n d if someo ne is going to make me look bad w i th the se picks, I tru ly be lieve it will be Du Hamel. B u t for s o m e reason , I j ust c ou ldn ' t pick D uH a m el t o win the title . Last year he m a d e some m i st a k e s t hat resulted in high -sp eed cras he s. W ith the exceptio n o f Lou d on , t hose cras hes came in qualifyin g or pract ice , and he was f o rtu nate not to suffer inj ury . There were also time s las t yea r that DuH amel and his team did n't see eye to eye . and th ere we re ti mes w hen he lo st hi s cool. H e beli eve s there is more t o be extracted f rom th e Honda RC45 and he w ant s to pu sh unt il he is able to get everything it has to offer. At times he ca n be dem and ing , but that be ats the hell out o f apat hy . DuH am el wil l be tou gh in 199B . He alw ays is . And he wil l w in races. He always does. If he can elim i nate t he bad results

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