Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Damon Buckmaster T 18 he recently acquired nickname of the young Australian is "Demon Brakemarker." In his new assignment here, it should serve him well. For a racer new to the e shores, who's never seen most of the tracks on which he'll be racing, and who has the misfortune of being saddled with the least-eompetitive 600 in the field, being good on the brakes will certainly be an asset. Will it be enough? Certainly not. But, as with every racer, there's more, and the package he brings is one born of experience and maturity. Damon Buckmaster - that's his real name - has been here before. He's raced here, he's tested here. But never with any luck. Hi first and only AMA race was at the end of the 1995 season in a one-off ride aboard the Fast By Ferracci Ducati at Firebird International Raceway. The lingering memory from that one is Buckmaster scaling a chain-link fence after crashing the Ducati. It discouraged neither Ferracci nor Buckmaster. His next chance was a few months later at the Daytona tire tests in December of '95. Buckmaster was one of four riders auditioning for a spot on the two-rider Ferracci squad. The others were Matt Wait, Shawn Higbee and Larry Pegram. The rule was that if you crashed, you were out. Wait crashed and Buckmaster didn't, but he didn't go very fast, either. Even so, he thought the ride was his and he drove back to Philadelphia with the team, reasonably certain he'd be racing in AMA Superbikes in 1996. It didn't happen and, to this day, he doesn't know the reason. "It's really weird, becau e I didn't get an explanation as to why," Buckmaster said during an interview in the unpainted Team Chaparral transporter during the recent two-day Laguna Seca test. "No one ever told me. 1 wa just put on a plane and sent home. A little bit of the rumor was, the factory was talking to Oohn) Kocinski and they were thinking of taking Kocinskj on board for '96, but no one actually sat me down and spoke to me, wruch 1 was a bit disappointed about. "After the Phoenix race, even though 1crashed in the race, all weekend went really well. Friday was really good, Saturday was better, and in the Sunday morning warmup, I was fifth fastest and, unfortunately, 1 crashed in the race. That does happen. 1 sat down with Ferracci and we had a bit of a talk and I said I'd understand if you don't want me back or whatever, and he said, 0, not at all: He certainly wanted me back and he felt that I had the potential to do well. He got me back the next day on the same circuit and we did a test there, and he was more than happy to bring me back for the Daytona test. Unfortunately, the Daytona tire test was just a shambles, really, for me. We had two bikes between four different riders and I was really sick. [ had jet lag bad because I'd just come straight over from AustraJja. I did 70 laps in three days and that was it. We drove up to Philadelphia and J assumed everything was still on the go, and then it turned to shit, basically." That sent Buckmaster back home to Australia late in December, with all the good seats taken and not many prospects left. "After the '95 season, Kawasaki wanted me to sign for '96, but I assumed [ was going with Ferracci, so I knocked Kawasaki back and a potentially good ride back home," Buckmaster said. "They obviously had to go with some other riders, because they thought I was going. I went home to Australia in '96 and leased a superbike myself and did a couple of races on my own. I spent a fair bit of money just to keep my name out there at lea t, and that led to Peter Goddard giving me a position on the Shell Advance Suzukj Superbike." Once on the Suzukj, he finished fourth in the Australian Superbike Championsrup that year and then returned to Kawasaki for '97 and '98, fini·shing fourth last year willie winning the 600cc championship. He won't be able to defend the title, but that' fine with him, because this year he'll be racing the 600 and 750cc Super port classes on the new Chaparral Suzukj team, a team strengthened by 750cc number-one plate holder Richard Alexander Jr. and the inestimable crew cruef Kel Carruthers. It wa a ride for which Buckma ter began lobbying from the start of last year. For the past two seasons, he's

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