Cycle News

VOL. 54 ISSUE 20 MAY 23, 2017 P141 insiders felt he could have actually earned a world superbike victory has it not been for team orders. At Le Mans, James led race one, eventually being caught and passed by Roche. Today James is gracious in his recollection of his Ducati factory world superbike rides alongside Roche. "In no race did I let him win," James claims. "Now, I would have and maybe that played a part in my in- tensity in approaching the races, knowing that there were team orders in play, but the guy [Roche] was flying. He had me riding 110 percent to circulate with him. He was a helluva competitor." As it stands James earned three career WorldSBK podium finishes, all seconds, in his limited schedule in the 1990 championship. He'd hoped that his performances in World Superbike might have led to a full-time ride there, but James found himself on the outside looking in. That's when he got a call that would change the course of his career. It was from Terry Vance, who wanted to sign James to his Vance & Hines Yamaha AMA Superbike squad. That began a long and fruitful six-year run with team. But before that relationship began, James had to sign, and he tells a funny story about the talks with Vance, a renowned negotiator. "It seemed like a month, even though it might have only been a week, that we went back and forth over 5000 dollars," James laughs. "It's hard to win. Negotiating with Terry Vance was harder than taking on Raymond Roche." After a little good-natured ribbing, James was quick to add that he felt Vance was perhaps the single most important person when it came to the growth in popularity of AMA Superbike during its very successful rise in the 1990s. "He had so many great ideas and was able to push many of them through," James says. "And his team set the standard and raised the level of professionalism in the series." James had great success with Yamaha. He won a slew of races and the 1994 AMA 600cc Supersport Championship when the already highly competitive series was at its peak. It was his fourth AMA National title. But for all the impressive accomplishments James had, the 1994 AMA Superbike Champion- ship will always be the one that got away. James and Ferracci Ducati's Troy Corser were locked into a great battle for the championship that season. It all boiled down to the final round at Road Atlanta. James led the championship going into the finale over Corser, but it was close. In the race, James was racing in a big group battling over second when his Yamaha began running badly. It turned out the EXUP valve system on his Yamaha malfunctioned and he lost power. On the final lap, James was still running in a position to win the championship, but then Corser passed David Sadowski and that gave Corser just enough to win the title by single point over James. It was a bitter loss for James, who'd tried so hard for years to win back the AMA Superbike title and came oh so close. James raced for Vance & Hines Yamaha for two more seasons and ended his superbike career rac- ing (after sitting out 1997 and opening a restaurant with his then wife Ramona) for Don Tilley on his Harley-Davidson VR1000 in 1998. "I wouldn't trade my time traveling the country in that box van with Don Tilley for nothing," James said. After living in North Carolina for years, today James is back in his native Louisiana, and still en- joys riding in the woods with his kids and grandkids when he gets the chance. At the end of last year, James was honored by Yamaha and inducted onto Yamaha's Wall of Champions in a ceremony at the AIMExpo in Orlando, Florida. James' friendly, easy-going manner made him a favorite with the fans of his era. "I realized why I was there," James explained. "If there are no fans there was no sport. I know a lot of them committed a lot of their own time and money to patronize our sport. Hell, I was known to get out and party with them from time to time. I enjoyed being with the fans and the kids. I loved that part of the sport." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

• Cover