Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1479419
I t's been a question in motorcycle road racing since the begin- ning of the sport. If you had the choice and could only pick one, would you rather have a machine with superior power, braking or handling? In road racing, much of that answer comes down to the track. For example, if you were rac- ing on the wide-open high banks of Daytona, that might lead you to pick the road racing machine with the most power. Like Pittsburgh International Race Complex, a track with many flowing turns might favor a bike with excellent handling. Or a track with many monster braking zones, such as The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington State, may tip the scales to a race bike with the best brakes. But on one special racing weekend, all the elements came together at a track that requires almost equal parts of power, handling and braking, to provide perhaps the best answer to the question of brakes, handling of power that we've ever had. It was round seven of the 1992 AMA Superbike Championship in June. The track was the four- mile-long Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The players at the end of the race were a trio of champions: Jamie James, Scott Russell and Freddie Spencer. Road America is almost a perfect laboratory to compare braking versus handling versus power. The track requires almost equal ele- ments. The two ultra-long straights test a racing machine's accelera- tion and top speed like no other true road course in America. The massive braking zones coming off those long straights (turns one and five, as well as Canada Corner) can absolutely toast a set of brake pads in the span of 10 laps or less. And the more flowing corners such as turns six, seven, The Carousel, and even the all-important final turn 14 favor a planted and stable motor- cycle at full lean angle. It all came together beautifully on that warm late-June day at Road America in 1992, and the result was one of the all-time epic races in series history, which witnessed James, Russell and Spencer, as well as Russell's Kawasaki team- mate Thomas Stevens, battle for the lead most of the way. Unfor- tunately, Steven's bike suffered a chunked rear tire with two laps to go, or it almost certainly would've been a four-way battle royale. But back to braking vs. speed vs. handling. In the superior braking corner was Jamie James and his Jim Leonard-tuned Vance & Hines Ya- maha FZR750RR, better known as the OW01. James was one of the hardest braking riders in AMA Superbike that weekend, and he also had the added advantage of his Yamaha running AP Lockheed carbon fiber disc brakes with tremendous stopping power and resistance to fading. Scott Russell's Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-7R was the speed monster of the Superbikes that weekend. That was typical of Rob Muzzy-built mo- torcycles. If Muzzy knew anything, it CN III ARCHIVES P110 BY LARRY LAWRENCE The '92 Road America Superbike race, won by Jamie James, made the cover of Cycle News. BR AKES, HANDLING OR POWER?