With the news that MotoAmerica is headed to Daytona International Speedway in March of 2022 for the Daytona 200, we decided the perfect way to build excitement for the event would be to start digging through the history books and memory banks. Since Paul Carruthers is literally as old as the Speedway itself and covered almost 30 Daytona 200s as a journalist while working at Cycle News, it was a no-brainer that it would be him who would take on the task of trying to recall the good and the bad. And since we are the home of the AMA Superbike Series, we figured we’d have him start his look back with the 1985 Daytona 200 – the first of the 200s to feature Superbikes – and go from there. This week, we focus on the 1994, 1995 and 1996 Daytona 200s.
1994
Winner: Scott Russell, Kawasaki ZX-7R
Scott Russell’s Kawasaki suffered a mechanical failure in the Twin 50 qualifying race in the lead up to the 53rd edition of the Daytona 200 and thus was forced to start the 1994 200 from the 16th of the 20-row grid, but it mattered not. Russell and his Muzzy Kawasaki carved their way through the field, and the pairing were in second place when a red flag temporarily halted the race. The race ended up being held in two parts and Russell won the most important part, the Georgian earning a second Daytona 200 win with a 2.9-second victory over Australian Troy Corser.
The Turning Point: The race ended up boiling down to a battle of pit crews. The Muzzy Kawasaki team elected not to change Russell’s rear tire during the Georgian’s final pit stop while the Fast By Ferracci crew went ahead and fitted new rubber to Corser’s Ducati. That proved to be the difference with Russell emerging from the pits for the final time with an insurmountable advantage.
Newsworthy: Aussie Troy Corser showed that he was something special in his AMA debut as he finished second in his first-ever Daytona 200 after coming up just 2.9 seconds behind Scott Russell and ahead of four-time World Champion Eddie Lawson.
Doug Polen made his debut on the factory Honda RC45 at Daytona, the bike clad in Smokin’ Joe’s Racing livery. Polen ended up fourth in his only U.S. appearance as he was headed to Europe to race in the World Superbike Championship for his new team.
Scott Russell would also be heading to Europe after his win in the 200, the Kawasaki rider set to defend his World Superbike Championship.
The finishing order of the 1994 Daytona 200 read like a who’s who of AMA Superbike racing with Russell, Corser, Lawson, Polen, Jamie James, Steve Crevier, Mike Smith, Thomas Stevens, Kevin Magee, and Dale Quarterley taking the top 10 spots in the race.
Fast By Ferracci Ducati’s Pascal Picotte earned pole position for the Daytona 200 with a new lap record of 1:50.068 at an average speed of 116.437 mph. The pole position was Picotte’s first-ever in an AMA National and it bettered Russell’s 1993 record of 1:50.194. Picotte’s hopes of Daytona 200 glory ended on the 24th lap when he coasted to a stop in the dogleg, his chain no longer on the sprocket.
All hell broke loose on the 31st lap when German Bernhard Schick crashed horrifically on the front straight after a front rim failure caused the front tire to lose air and come part. Fortunately, Schick escaped with only minor injuries.
1995
Winner: Scott Russell, Kawasaki ZX-7R
A year after winning the Daytona 200 from close to the back of the 80-rider field, Scott Russell went one better in 1995 as he crashed his Muzzy Kawasaki on the second lap, remounted at the rear of the pack and somehow marched onward to his third Daytona 200 victory. As I wrote in Cycle News at the time, “It makes you wonder what he’ll try next year – perhaps he’ll start on Main Street at the back of the motorcycle parade.”
The Turning Point: After picking up his crashed Kawasaki in the International Horseshoe at the start of the second lap, Russell was soon picking off slower riders in front of him. He was up to 37th on the fourth lap when a pace car came out due to an accident in turn six. After three laps run under caution, Russell restarted his assault on the field and took the lead for the first time on the 20th lap. From there, except for some shuffling due to scheduled pit stops, he was never headed again.
Newsworthy: Russell’s win was not only remarkable, but it was historical as it placed him into the record books as only the third man in 54 years to win three Daytona 200s – as he joined legends Dick Klamfoth, Roger Reiman and Kenny Roberts.
“We like it here, what can I say?” Russell said from Victory Lane after his improbable win. “The pace car helped, but I don’t think we would have needed it the way things turned out – but we’ll take it.”
Second place in the Daytona 200 went to Russell’s World Superbike rival Carl Fogarty. Fogarty wasn’t too pleased with the result and blamed a lot of it on the pace car. “It’s pretty incredible to crash and still win,” Fogarty said of Russell in the post-race press conference. Prior to the race, Fogarty had been quoted as saying, “I hate the place (Daytona), I hate the track and I hate the Americans.”
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Thomas Stevens bested Vance & Hines Yamaha’s Colin Edwards in a final sprint to the checkered flag for the final spot in Victory Lane.
Russell became the first rider to ever lap the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway in under the one-minute, 50-second barrier when he ripped off a 1:49.852 to earn pole position for the 200.
1996
Winner: Miguel Duhamel, Honda RC45
Rain forced the postponement of the 55th running of the Daytona six days, but the wait was well worth it as Scott Russell and Miguel Duhamel battled to the bitter end, culminating in what may have been the most exciting half-mile of racing ever seen at the famed Superspeedway. The pair exited the chicane for the final time with Duhamel and his Smokin’ Joe’s Honda leading Russell and his Lucky Strike Suzuki with both men surviving rear-wheel slides at 180-plus mph on the tri-oval. At the finish, it was Duhamel taking his second Daytona 200 win – this one by an unheard of .010 of a second.
The Turning Point: You don’t often lead out of the second chicane at Daytona and make it to the finish line first. Duhamel, though, did just that – despite his rear tire spinning up. “When I pulled it back in, the rear end broke around, sliding coming off the banking,” Duhamel explained. “I must have blipped the throttle – maybe 98 percent. Then it was, ‘Get back on it or you’re going to lose the Daytona 200.’ Then the straight looked like it was 50 miles long to the finish line. Twenty feet before the line I felt him, but I knew it was too late. As soon as I crossed the line I could see Scott out of the side of my eye, right by my knee puck.”
Newsworthy: As if the race for victory wasn’t enough, the battle for third was just as furious with Yamaha’s Colin Edwards barely drafting past Yoshimura Suzuki’s Pascal Picotte at the finish line.
After narrowly missing out on what would have been a record-setting fourth Daytona 200 victory, Scott Russell vowed to return. “Daytona is a great place for me, and I always have good luck here. I even look at today as a good day at Daytona. Number four is out there for me, and I’ll be back to get it. I’m not sure when, but I’ll be back.”
Harley-Davidson’s much-maligned VR1000 finished 10th in the hands of multi-time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr. “Harley-Davidson hasn’t finished a Daytona 200 in about 20 years,” Carr said. “I thought if we stayed consistent and burned some laps, and stayed out of trouble, we had a shot at a top 10. And sure enough, we ended up 10th.
Pole position for the Daytona 200 went to Australian Troy Corser – a week before the 200 was run after the race was delayed a week by rain. In the race, Corser had the fastest bike and led the most laps, but he wasn’t around at the finish. Instead, his Ducati 955 overheated until the point of termination on the 30th of 52 laps.
With the six-day postponement of the race obviously hurting the spectator count, Russell’s Lucky Strike Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor had the following to say as virtually no one was in attendance for Saturday’s practice session: “Are they going to bring the pace car out when the spectator has to use the bathroom?” the Brit said.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your weblog. You have some really great articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an email if interested. Kudos!
Hi I am so excited I found your site, I really found you by error, while I was browsing on Aol for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a remarkable post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the great job.
Hi! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same subjects? Thank you!
I’ve been surfing on-line more than three hours nowadays, but I never found any attention-grabbing article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the
web might be a lot more helpful than ever before.
The Texas Redistricting map creates artificial racial polarization.
Immigration reform that focuses on investor visas addresses the 1 of cases, ignoring the 99 of real human need and talent.
I am often to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information.
Great website you have here but I was curious if you knew of any message boards that cover the same topics talked about here? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get feed-back from other experienced people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks a lot!
Hello there, I found your website by way of Google even as looking for a comparable
matter, your web site got here up, it looks great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, just became aware of your weblog through Google, and located that it is truly informative.
I’m gonna be careful for brussels. I’ll be grateful in the event you proceed this in future.
Lots of other people will probably be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
The check is boring on purpose.
I have been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or weblog posts in this kind of house . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Studying this information So i?¦m satisfied to convey that I’ve an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed. I such a lot no doubt will make sure to don?¦t overlook this web site and give it a look on a constant basis.
I every time spent my half an hour to read this blog’s articles
every day along with a cup of coffee.
Hello my friend! I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and include almost all important infos. I’d like to see more posts like this.
Does your website have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot
you an email. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought
this post was great. I don’t know who you are but
definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
hi!,I like your writing so much! share we communicate more about your post on AOL? I require a specialist on this area to solve my problem. May be that’s you! Looking forward to see you.
Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
Regards for this wondrous post, I am glad I noticed this site on yahoo.
I think the admin of this web page is genuinely working hard for his site, as here every material is quality based stuff.
magnificent put up, very informative. I ponder
why the opposite specialists of this sector do not realize this.
You must proceed your writing. I am confident, you’ve a great readers’ base
already!
Thanks in support of sharing such a nice thought, article is
fastidious, thats why i have read it completely
Simply a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style. “Treat the other man’s faith gently it is all he has to believe with.” by Athenus.
I’m not sure why but this blog is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Nice post. I was checking constantly this weblog and I’m impressed!
Very useful info specifically the last section :
) I take care of such information a lot. I used to be looking for this certain info for a very lengthy time.
Thanks and best of luck.
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you writing
this write-up plus the rest of the site is really
good.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot
about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a
little bit, but other than that, this is fantastic blog. An excellent read.
I’ll definitely be back.
Actually when someone doesn’t know afterward its up to other users that
they will assist, so here it takes place.
I haven’t checked in here for a while since I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
I went over this internet site and I think you have a lot of great info, bookmarked (:.
Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content.
Please let me know. Thank you
For hottest information you have to go to see the web and on the web I found this
site as a most excellent site for newest updates.
It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, however you sound like you realize what you’re talking about! Thanks
Hello my family member! I wish to say that this article is awesome, nice written and come with approximately all important infos. I¦d like to look extra posts like this .