Call Duhamel an Ambassador of Motorcycling

Winning the national Superbike championship has more often than not been used as a springboard to racing for world titles, either in Grand Prix or Superbikes.

Eddie Lawson started the trend and was followed overseas by such later champions as Wayne Rainey, Fred Merkel, Bubba Shobert, Doug Chandler, Scott Russell, Doug Polen and Troy Corser.

Miguel Duhamel, the 1995 champion from Quebec who lives in Burbank, has stopped the trend.

“I have raced in Europe; now I want to help motorcycle racing reach its potential in the United States,” Duhamel said. The American Motorcyclist Assn.’s man of the year will be riding this weekend in the L.A. Superbike championship at the Pomona Fairplex.

“I have seen the growth made by NASCAR and Indy cars the past few years, and now I believe it is time for Americans to put motorcycles on that level. I want to remain here and do what I can. Only soccer and Formula One racing exceed motorcycling in popularity everywhere else in the world.

“There’s nothing as exciting in sports, in my mind, as seeing four or five bikes going into a corner at 180 mph, the bikes leaning almost flat and the riders’ knees scraping the asphalt. It’s something I want to show the American public, get them to appreciate it.”

Duhamel’s victory on the Smokin’ Joe’s Honda last month in the Daytona 200, the country’s most prestigious race, certainly fit that description. After chasing three-time winner Scott Russell for most of the race, Duhamel made a daring move seven laps from the finish and held off Russell to win the closest race in Daytona’s 55-year-history.

The margin was 0.01 seconds, about half a wheel length.

“When a bike starts sliding at 180, the way mine was when I got past Scott, your primal instinct is to shut off,” Duhamel said. “Every survival tendency told me to. Instead, I blocked that thought out and gassed it 100% wide open. I had to; Scott’s front wheel was at my knee.”

It was Duhamel’s second Daytona victory. He got his first in 1991 when he replaced injured Randy Renfrow on the Honda team and dominated the race.

“The first one was very emotional for me because it was a race my father [Yvon] had ridden 14 times and never won,” Duhamel said. “He was second several times, but never a winner. I dedicated it to him. He was the one who first put me on a cycle, when I was 3 1/2.

“I think I got my aggressiveness from him. Dad didn’t know how to finish second.”

Duhamel, 28, also won the 600cc SuperSport race at Daytona, a class he will also ride at Pomona. Qualifying is Friday and Saturday and the main event Sunday over a 2.1-mile course.

Staying in America to ride is not the only trend Duhamel broke this season. This is the first time since turning professional in 1989 that he returned to ride for the same team. He has been a winner on five makes--Honda, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha and Kawasaki.

In 1992 he won the world endurance team championship with Team Kawasaki France and also rode the Grand Prix circuit.

“At one race we were Team Duhamel, with my dad, my brother Mario and myself all racing together in a team race. My dad was only two seconds off my lap times, and I was one of the fastest.”

Duhamel has won 16 of his last 17 races, his last nine on his SuperSport 600 and seven of eight on his Honda Superbike. But he has never won at Pomona.

“I started off slow last year,” he said. “I got caught in traffic, touched wheels with another rider and it sent me to the floor. When I got back up, I was dead last. I finished 11th, but I had the fastest lap.

“I’m looking forward to getting back there this week. Pomona is different; it’s tight and twisty, a little bumpy in places, but it has one advantage. You can run off the track and still be on asphalt.”

Motor Racing Notes

MOTORCYCLES--Also at the Pomona Fairplex on Saturday night will be a dirt bike race on the half-mile Fairgrounds horse racing track. Six-time Grand National champion Scott Parker and defending Pomona champion Jay Springsteen head the entry list. . . . Jim Davis, who won AMA national championships in 1923 and 1924 and who turned 100 on March 13, will be among the honored guests Saturday night when the Trailblazers hold an old-timers’ reunion at the Sequoia Club in Buena Park. Davis, an engineering graduate of USC in 1921, is coming from Daytona Beach, Fla., for the evening. . . . National speedway champion Greg Hancock, who had to cancel his trip from Europe last week, says he will be on hand Friday night to race at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

STOCK CARS--Ventura Raceway will be host to street stocks and IMCA sprints Saturday night. . . . Winston Racing Series sportsman and Grand American modifieds will race Saturday night at Cajon Speedway. . . . The Blythe 500 for pure stocks will be the feature event Sunday at the Colorado River Country Fair at Blythe Speedway.

OFF ROAD--The inaugural SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, to be held Saturday, will consist of three 90-mile loops starting and finishing at Stateline, Nev. Series champion Ivan Stewart will be among 12 Trophy-Truck drivers who will start at 6 a.m.

MISCELLANY--Dwarf cars, I-4 modifieds and mini sprints will race Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway. . . . The second event of NASCAR’s 18-race Craftsman Truck series is scheduled for Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. Also in Phoenix on Saturday night will be SCRA sprint cars at Manzanita Speedway. . . . Final event of ESPN’s U.S. Auto Club Western Regional series will be held Wednesday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . Winged sprint cars of the Golden State Challenge series will race Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.