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VOL. 54 ISSUE 19 MAY 16, 2017 P137 ever," James said. The thing that saved his career was when Yamaha annouced generous club racing contingencies in 1985. The money he made racing a Yamaha FZ750 that season not only kept him on the track, but garnered him attention. "I had a phone call from Yoshimura at the end of 1986," James said. "But before I got a chance to test with them I fell off in Texas and broke my femur and collarbone. I called them and told them I'd crashed and they decided to wait to see if I was going to be able to rebound." Rebound he did. James toiled away in the club ranks chasing contingency money and honing his skills against the likes of Doug Polen, Scott Rus- sell, Mike Harth, Kurt Hall, Dan Chivington and host of other top club riders who were also chasing the money and at the same time pushing each other week after week to ever higher levels. In 1987 James scored his first AMA Pro podium, finishing third in the AMA 600cc Supersport race at a blisteringly hot Memphis Motorsports Park. Quick Sand and Gravel, a company owned by James' future father-in-law, Raymond Addison (or as everyone called him, Mr. Raymond) was a big help as sponsor for James. James said Mr. Raymond's Cajun cooking was also popular at the track. "I think sometimes that's why I got a factory ride because everyone like Mr. Raymond's cooking so much," James joked. The big break for James came in 1988 when he got the call from John Ulrich to race for Team Ham- mer. "I remember getting on an airplane as a young guy to fly out to California," James said. "And I was thinking, 'Damn, I made it!'" The Hammer ride not only gave him countless hours on a racebike at long endurance racing events, but the deal also gave him his first opportunity to more regularly pursue AMA Pro Road Races. At Talladega in September of 1988, James finished second to Da- vid Sadowski in the AMA 750cc Supersport National, marking James' highest pro finish to date. All of this led to his signing with Yoshimura Suzuki for 1989. While a great accomplishment, this was just before the dawn of big contracts in AMA Superbike racing and James' deal with the factory team was anything but lucrative. "I was happy to be on a factory team, but I had to pay back half of my winnings," James said of his 1989 deal with Yoshimura. "But I didn't care. I knew I was going to have to be on a factory bike if I was going to progress. That's the way it was." James said his factory teammate Scott Russell (who he'd endurance raced with a couple of years earlier) put in a good word for James to help him cinch the ride. James definitely made the most out of his first factory ride. He kicked off the 1989 season with a victory in the Daytona AMA 750cc Supersport race. It marked his first AMA Pro win. It only got better from there. A couple of months later James won his first AMA Superbike race that season at Loudon. He was consistently on the podium nearly every weekend. Perhaps the only downside that season was a memorable and spectacular crash with teammate Russell, as the two battled for the Superbike win at Road America on the final lap. James went on to clinch both the AMA Super- bike and AMA 750cc Supersport titles with Yo- shimura Suzuki in '89, in one of the most remark- able years ever in AMA Pro Road Racing. Not bad for a guy in his first season on a factory team. He capped off '89 by winning two of the season- ending Suzuki GSX-R Cup races, earning a big payday in the process. That kind of campaign would lead you to believe Suzuki would be clamoring to re-sign him for 1990, but in next week's installment we'll find out why James had to go in a completely different direction after his first championship-winning season. Next week we'll explore James' stint in World Superbike with Ducati and then his time with the team he ultimately is most closely associated with, Vance & Hines Yamaha. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives