Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I fter an AMA Superbike career that spanned ,t\ eight years, Florida's Thomas Stevens has f{ |l:il:+e AMA suPerbike whro hk cred- J I But change the sublect from riders who have won races to riders who have won the AMA Supertike Championship, however, and Stevens can be found on that elite list. Pare that list down to AMA Superbike Champions who have earned the number-one plate on a Yamaha, and the club is even more exclusive. It begins and ends with just one man: Thomas Stevens- "That was a good year," Stevens, now 41, sap of his l99l season. "Things came along pretty fast. lgot that Vance & Hines deal through Kenny lRoberts] in 1990 because he was dissolving his team, and I had ridden for him in'88 and'89 with Uohnl Kocinski as my teammate. ,lohn was going to Europe, and Kenny was disbanding the team, so he gave Yamaha a call because they were going to be testing at Daytona for the 200, and he said, 'Giye tiis kid a chance.' So I went to Daytona and tested with the Japanese engineers there, and things went really well. I came within a half a second of breaking [Freddie] Spencer's record. Things kind of took off from there." Stevens signed with the team, which was being run by former NHRA Pro Stock f4ororcycle Champion Terry Vance under the label of the Vance & Hines performance empire, and did well enough during the 1990 Al.4A sea- son to earn Rookie of the Year- "lt was a leaming curve for all of us as far as gefting up to speed, and what we had to do to make the bike bet- ter," Stevens recalls of 1990. "l remember that we came out of Da/tona that yearthinking that we were iustgoing to rock 'em, but Doug Chandler had other ideas about that [aughs]. He won the championship, but we did a lot of R&D that year, and at the last race of the year, at Willow, I sat on the pole and set a new track record." When the tearn returned to Dq,'tona in '91 for Stevens' second season with Yamaha, it had clearly turned a corner. "l was in contention to win the 200, and I ended up battling with my teammate Jamie James for second, but I got beat by Jamie because they didn't put a tire on my bike during my second pit stop," Steven says. "l was dis- appointed that we didn't do befter at Daytona, but workinS with Terry was a lot of help. He was great as far as keeping an e),e on the big picture and not getting caught up in the smatl battles." What lollowed was a fantastic season performance by Stevens and dle Vance & Hines Yamaha team, in which Sterens marched to the AMA Superbike title by record- ing a victory a runner-up finish, three third-place linish- es and two fourth-place finishes. "l hate to be labeled as 'Mr. Consistent,' but now that I look back on my career, l'd have to say that's a pretty accurate of description of the kind of rider that I was," Stevens says, "l never even fell one time that year, and that was the whole premise. My feeling on winning championships is that you have to stay in the hunt, and then as other guys start to drop out (through mechani- cals or mistakes, tire problems), you have to be ready to take ad\rantage of that." Stevens seriously helped his cause when he scored his first and only AMA Superbike win of the season at l"lid-Ohio. "l knew that I needed to step up and win in order to distance myself in the championship," Stevens remem- to begin with. lt was a street race, and it was super-dan- gerous. I lust had to finish behind Scott no matter where he was. Spencer was riding really well that day, and he was able to win the thing. I remember that I just came around, and I knew that I had won the championship. My crew was all jumping up ard down- Lo and behold, the dreams ofayoung kid sweeping floors in the locai motqr- cycle shop had come true." Stevens' championship gave the Yamaha brand its first AMA Superbike Championship in the l4-year history of the class. Who would've thought that his title would be the only one for Yarnaha for the next 15 as well? 'At the time, I really didn't think about that, but of course, now, )ears later, to be dte only champion on a Yamaha to this point... On the one hand l'm proud of that, but - and I'm speaking for myself - it's probably not a point that Yamaha would like to see brought up," Stevens says. "They've had a list of pretty talented guys since then who didn't get the iob done. I'm proud of it. lt's something that I worked hard to do. lYy main goal was to win the cham- pionship, and to do it on a Yamaha was enen better. The fact that here we are l5 years down the road and nobody else has done it y€t, makes it even ker yet." Despite winning the title with Stevens in '91, the one thing that Yamaha still has not done is carry 6e AMA Superbike number-one plate on one of its motorq/cl€s. That's because Stevens left the team and signed a deal with Muzzy Kawasaki for 1992. "How that all came down is that..- I'd always managed my own caree( and in hindsight I wish that I'd had a manager to help me at that point," Steyen says, "but I went to Yamaha after winning the championship and said, 'l want X amount of money.' lt wasnt like it was something that had neve. been asked for up to that point, and Yamaha told me dlat it was a reasonable amount to be paid. But, at that time TerD/ had control of the rider contracts, and that was all out of his budget. I went to Terry and said that I wanted 6at amount of money, and he told me that he couldn t do dlat. I told him, 'Well, you ned to talk with Yamaha and get this worked out, or I'm going to walk with my number-one plate,' Being the businessman that he is, Terry wouldn't budge, so I went to [Rob] Muzzy and hit him up for a big number. Muzzy didn't even flinch, and I remember hang- in8 up the phone, thinking, 'Damn, I should have asked for twice as much,'so I knew lwas in the right range. I feel bad that nobody at Yamaha stepped up and said, 'There's something wrong with this picture,' but it just kind of worked out that way." Stevens went to Muzz), Kawasaki, where he put together a solid defense of his '91 title by finishing sec- ond to teammate Scott Russell in '92, giving Muzy Kawasakis a one-two linish in the standings. "That was on a new team and a new bike, so I think I showed that I had the speed," Stevens says. Stevens went on to earn more AMA nationai victories in the Supersport class, but he ultimately retired from racing in the Superbike class, his final ride coming on a Vance & Hines Ducati in 1998. "lt was time for me to go," Stevens admits. "l wasn't having fun racing motorcycles anymore, My last race was at Vegas. I wound up finishing fifth, and after that my mind was made up. I walked away from a sport that, unfortunately, a lot of guys don't get to walk away from," These days, Steyens still calls Sanibel lsland, Florida, home. He liyes there with his wife of I 3 years, Linda, where they own several businesses. The couple is expecting their first child in JUV ln the meantime, Stevens stays active with Yamaha as part of its cavalcade of legends who take part in the Weekend of Champions events. He is also coaching some of the spon's younger talents, such as road-racer Steve Rapp and flat-track- racer Henry Wiles. Stevens may not have won a ton of races during his caree[ but these days he's too busy to be concerned about it. "There are a lot of wins thd got away from rne during my creeG but I ahMays wanted to be a guy who raras in contefiion to win no matter what," Stevens says. "When I was riding the 250s for Kenny, Eddie Lawson told rne. 'Nobody will ever remember who won what race. All that they're going to remember is who the champion was.' That was something that stuck widt me my whole career, and here we are l5 )nears later and I'm getting a call from Cycle News, intervlewing me about the championship that l've won. I wish I could have won 25 Superbike races, but the record book stands. Feople don't look in there and go, 'Oh, he only won one Sup€rbike race.' Thq/ look in there and see a former Superbike Champion." And then he adds: "1'm a blessed guy." Ol IVES ln a Class By Himself 84 APR|L5, 2006 . cyclE NEWS BY Scorr RoussEAU f \: tl / o rood tloss. a I thomos $EGiiEG to the l99I AilA Slevens' litle remoins the Chompionship. Io rhis doy, Yomoho in Am.?icd'i for one bers. "The bike was working really well. They talk about being in the zone, and I guess it was lust one of those days for me. lt came so easy. I ,ust kept going faster and faster a5 the race progressed, and I reeled in Tom Kipp and won." All Stevens had to do was finish one spot behind lYuzzy Kawasaki's Scott Russell at the final round, held in the streets of Miami, to win the title. While American road-racing icon Freddie Spencer went on to win earn his first major victory since 1985, Stevens did what he had to do, "l think we had two red flags during that race," Stevens says. "Miami was a complete shithole

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