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/827115
CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE L ast week we looked at the rise of Jamie James from club racer to factory rider and national champ. In this week's second and final installment on James, we follow his progress into world superbike and then his pursuit of that elusive second AMA Superbike title. His amazing 1989 season where he'd won two AMA Pro Road Racing Championships in a single season (AMA Superbike and 750cc Super- sport with Yoshimura Suzuki) was indeed a dream come true for Jamie James, but like most racers there is always the drive to do more. Instead of soaking up the pleasure of being a two- time AMA National Champion in his first season with a factory team, winning seemed to push James to strive even harder. "It was enjoyable to win those championships in 1989, especially in superbike," James admitted. "But it was something I wanted to do again, really bad, just to prove…you know how racing is, you're only as good as your last race. That's the way it was, espe- cially back in those days. These days it seems they understand that it's more important to keep the big- name riders around longer to help build the sport." James saw that Suzuki's superbikes were strug- gling to keep pace with the other makers at the time, and he said in spite of winning the championships with the team, the money wasn't going to be any bet- ter, so he started looking for what else was out there. He picked up a sponsorship deal from Yoko- hama tire in 1990 and took that money with him to Ferracci Ducati. "I was always happy to play the part of an under- dog," James said. "So, I went to Ducati and we went after it." With help from his friend and trainer Buddy Brous- sard, James was getting in shape and ready to take on the world as the little guy going up against the big factory squads. When James came on, it was early on in the de- velopment of Ferracci's Ducati 851 Superbike, and while it had tons of potential, it was still unreliable. Also, Yokohama was considerably behind Michelin and Dunlop in tire development, so James was unquestionably fighting an uphill battle in 1990. In spite of the challenges, James was able to stand on the podium three times in AMA Superbike, scoring third at Road Atlanta, Elkhart Lake and Mid- Ohio. He also dominated the AMA Pro Twins (aka Battle of the Twins) Series, winning six rounds on his way to his third AMA National Road Race title. Perhaps more importantly, his association with Fer- racci allowed James to compete on the world level for the first time when he contested select rounds of the World Superbike Championship. In his WorldSBK debut, James stunned the series regulars by finishing second in both legs at the Canadian round at Mosport. With Ducati's Raymond Roche locked into a tough battle for that year's World Superbike Championship, Ducati de- cided to bring James over to ride aside Roche on the factory Squadra Corse Ducati Lucchinelli team in order to help Roche win the title. James did his part including a vital round at Le Mans where James finished second to Roche and ahead of Roche's series rival Total Honda's Stéphane Mertens, giving Roche a valuable points cushion en route to winning that year's championship. James was riding so well at that point that many THE RAGIN' CAJUN, PART 2 P140 Jamie James leads the way at the Pomona round of the WorldSBK, the year he lost the title to Troy Corser by one point. PHOTOGRAPHY CYCLE NEWS ARCHIVES