Cycle News.com's Larry Lawrence Talks Exciting Finishes to AMA Superbike Championship Over the Years

The Coca-Cola Super Cycle Classic Weekend at Road America in June 1994 witnessed one of the most controversial race finishes in the history of the AMA Superbike Championship Series, to go along with some of the best on-track action that the riders and machines had put on in front of the crowds at the sprawling Elkhart Lake, WI. facility since the series first hit the scene north of Milwaukee in the early '80s. 

Eventual '94 series champion Troy Corser is shown leading the pack on the first lap of the AMA Superbike Championship main event at the end of lap one coming out of turn 14 for the run up the hill on his #19 Ducati Motorcycles/Pro Grip/Dunlop/Fast By Ferracci Racing Products-backed Ducati 955 as team mate Pascal Picotte on his #21 Ducati/Fast By Ferracci/Pro Grip/Dunlop-sponsored 955 gives chase.  Jamie James on the #2 Vance & Hines/Yamaha/Dunlop/Bell-sponsored YZF750 follows, along with Mike Smith on his #68 American Honda/Smokin' Joe's Racing/Dunlop/Pro Honda Oils-backed RC45, 3-Time AMA Superbike Champion Fred Merkel on the #27 Muzzy Kawasaki/Dunlop/Motul/SBS-sponsored ZX-7R, Dave Sadowski on the #25 Desmo/FBF/Dunlop/RK-sponsored Ducati 955 and Thomas Stevens on his #11 American Suzuki/Yoshimura Racing/Dunlop/NGK-backed GSX-R750.  Also keeping things close are Kevin Magee on the #23 American Honda/Smokin' Joe's Racing/Dunlop/Pro Honda Oils-sponsored RC45, Tiger Sohwa on the #41 Muzzy Kawasaki/Dunlop/Motul/SBS-backed ZX-7R and Colin Edwards on the #45 Vance & Hines/Yamaha/Arai/Dunlop-backed YZF750.

In what would come down to James' losing the series title to Corser at the season finale by mere points due to a mechanical, pundits could point to the outcome of this race as being the true culprit in James' failure to secure his second premier championship after having won the title riding for Yoshimura Suzuki in the '89 season.  With a handful of laps to go, James' team mate Edwards threw it away on the outside of 14, with the battle having whittled down to the two Yamaha and two Ducati factory pilots, with Merkel trying his best to keep them honest.  With the waving yellow being presented on the lap after the crash for the field, leader Picotte was passed by James coming out of 14 for the run up the hill.  But the AMA officials ruled that since no passing is allowed under those conditions, James pass was voided and his failure to meet the black flag for a stop-and-go meant he was eventually relegated down the field in the final results.

Eventually at the season-ender at Road Atlanta, a mechanical having to do with the power valve on James' Yamaha caused the machine to slow with the laps winding down in the season finale, and gave Corser the edge he needed to finish enough ahead of his title rival to clinch the championship by just a few points.  James at least got the consolation, as earlier in the day he had clinched the '94 AMA 600 Supersport Championship, but his second premier title in the over-four decades old Superbike Series was not to come. 
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With the great finale in the 2011 version of the AMA Superbike Championship coming down to the final event of the year at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Cycle News.com's Larry Lawrence talks about some of the other close finishes in the premier road racing series in America over the years in this week's 'Archives' column in the Digital Edition of CN.  Read on as one of the best in the sport takes us for a trip down memory lane as he talks some of the closest finishes over the years in the AMA Superbike Championship Series:

http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20110920#pg97
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AMA Superbike Racing and the Past: Museums and Crushers

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Reknowned master tuner Mike Velasco talks with future 3-Time AMA Superbike Champion Fred Merkel in what was then the paddock area at Road America for the AMA Superbike Series races in May of 1984. Merkel is sitting on his '84 model year #84 VF750F Honda Interceptor
HRC Superbike which he went on to win the 1984 AMA Superbike Championship with. He also repeated in '85-'86 and then went on to win the first two World Superbike Championships in '88-'89 riding Honda RC30s for Team Rumi. Merkel and Velasco won a boat load of races, and Velasco has tuned for some other respectable names in AMA Road Racing as well, including Fast Freddie Spencer with the Two Brothers Honda team in '90-'92. Velasco also teamed with Dave Sadowski to win the '94 Formula USA Championship on a Honda 900-based rocketship.
The Interceptor first arrived on American soil in the Spring of 1983 as THE must-have bike of all sport riding enthusiasts, club racers and professional level racers as well. To put it into comparison, if you look at all of the GSX-R1000 Suzuki's on the AMA Superbike grid today, there were almost as many VF750F Interceptors on the grids in the '80s because of the level of popularity, cutting-edge engineering and relative-cost at the time to put a competitive effort together.
After originally putting the V-45 motor in their Sabre and Magna street models, Honda came up with what was the game-changer in sport bikes with the Interceptor in 1983. But due to various problems, it was Merkel who won the marque's first championship after Wayne Rainey won the '83 AMA Superbike Championship riding for Rob Muzzy on the Kawasaki GPZ-750.
Racing bikes such as these works of HRC art are hard to come by today, as many were either broken up or simply put to death in the Japanese crushers. Fortunately, some were spared and went to a few museums and private owners. Personally what I would do to have one of these in the great room or the garage in glass!

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I came acrossed a great article put together by Dean Adams over at his great site SuperBikePlanet.com that talks about race bikes from the past and what happens to them after their usefulness runs out. In the '70s and '80s there weren't as many collectors or museums, for one, and even if there had been at the time in many cases they STILL may have ended up in the crushers since the higher-ups didn't want the technology to get into the wrong hands. And that is also known to still happen today, for that matter.

Fortunately today there are some private collectors as well as museums around the world that will get ahold of these past racing steeds and put them on display, either for themselves or for the public to drool over. Two examples of this today are one from each type of collector.

Brian O'Shea is a gentleman whose collection has been featured in Motorcyclist Magazine. O'Shea owns a 'replica' of the '84 Honda Interceptor ridden to the AMA Superbike Championship by Fred Merkel as shown above. And then there is George Barber, who built a little road racing track outside of Birmingham, AL. and put in a little museum while he was at it. Some of the bikes in the Barber Vintage Museum include one of Dale Singleton's late '70s Daytona 200-winning Yamaha TZ-750 as well as one of Freddie Spencer's Two Brothers Racing Honda RC30s, and a Mike Hailwood Isle of Man-winning late '70s Ducati.

You can read a little of both below and check out some of the history of AMA Superbike Racing among other series from the past and see if you recognize any machines that you have drooled over in the past-or still do, for that matter!

Here is Dean's article about a lot of race bikes and their history with the crusher or the shredder and a few cases of whose hands some of the others may have ended up in:

http://superbikeplanet.com/2008/Mar/080325gotodie.htm

Motorcyclist Magazine did a fine write up on Brian O'Shea's private collection:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_0607_superbike/index.html

And here is Brian's site with some pictures of Merkel's '84 AMA Superbike Championship winner among others:

http://www.vintagesuperbike.com/history.html
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And here is the official link to the Barber Vintage Museum in Leeds, AL. HIGHLY recommended to go see this place whenever or as SOON as you can. The place is majestic, so leave at least a day to check it out. You won't be disappointed:

http://www.barbermuseum.org/
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Own a Piece of AMA Superbike History: Flyin' Fred Merkel's '95 Yoshimura Factory Suzuki GSX-R750 For Sale On eBay

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Flyin' Fred Merkel bends the #27 Yoshimura Factory Suzuki GSX-R750 through a turn at Gateway International Raceway, just east of and over the river from St. Louis, during practice for the AMA Superbike round (and the only AMA event ever held at the track) in August of 1995. Merkel won the '84-'86 AMA Superbike Championship while riding Honda Interceptors tuned by Mike Velasco, one of the Fabulous Burner Brothers of the era (and still is!) Flyin' Fred then went off to Europe in '88 and won the '88 and '89 World Superbike Championships while riding a Honda RC30 for Team Rumi. Those were the first two years of the new series, as well. #27 then returned to the States in the early '90s to run the AMA Superbike and AMA 750 Supersport Series for Muzzy Kawasaki and then Yoshimura Suzuki, winning several races in the 750SS series along the way. He was forced to retire early due to a season and career ending crash at a west coast AMA round at the end of the '95 season. He currently resides in New Zealand, and as a spokesperson and fan favorite for the sport, is sorely missed. Here's to Fred Merkel, one of the original iconic AMA Superbike racers of our once world level racing series.
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A fine piece of AMA and U.S. Road Racing history is currently for sale on eBay. This would make a great addition to anyone's collection. Maybe in glass for an end table or mantle piece for the fireplace? Of course, it would have to be a pretty good size fireplace. I'm just sayin'...................


CycleNews.com reports that Flyin' Fred Merkel's 1995 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike is for sale by the former 3-Time AMA Superbike and 2-Time World Superbike Champion. Bids start at $35K and you still have time to get on the bandwagon with a racing machine for the ages and ridden by one of the true champions, icons, and spokespersons of the sport.


Here's the story as posted by CycleNews.com I found this morning:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2010/07/07/merkel-selling-his-suzuki

And here is the listing for this great find over on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Suzuki-GSX-R-Racebike-Fred-Merkel-Suzuki-1995-GSX-R-Superbike-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2eae44fdf1QQitemZ200492252657QQptZUSQ5fmotorcycles#v4-37
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DMG Has a Long Road Ahead of Them to Fix AMA Superbike

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Flyin' Fred Merkel on the #27 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 gets on the brakes coming into a turn at Gateway International across the river from The Arch in St. Louis during qualifying for the AMA Superbike round in August of '95. Merkel came out of the 250GP class in the AMA series to become one, if not the most flamboyant of AMA Superbike Champions the sport has ever seen. After winning the AMA Superbike Crown in '84-'86 riding Mike Velasco-prepped VF750 Honda Interceptors, Merkel headed across the pond to contest the new World Superbike Championship in '88 for Team Rumi on a Honda RC30. He won the first two seasons' championships in the process on unfamiliar tracks under unfamiliar surroundings. After returning to the AMA series in the early '90s, he campaigned bikes for Team Muzzy Kawasaki and Yoshimura Suzuki in the old 750 Supersport class as well as the Superbike class before having to retire early due to an ugly crash at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ. in late '95.
The United States has also seen several other riders who parlayed pretty good AMA careers into World Superbike Championships---Doug Polen '91-'92, Scott Russell '93, John Kocinski '97, Colin Edwards '00 and '02, and Ben Spies in '09--winning nine championships in the series first 22 years.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While perusing the internet of the usual suspect websites while trying to dig up some half-way interesting news to comment about this weekend, I came acrossed the following article penned by the super Chris Martin over at SpeedTV.com.
Chris makes some damn fine points about how the U.S. or AMA American Superbike (it's AMA Superbike--let's just leave it alone at that!) series has been looked down upon from across the pond as of late for a feeding ground for rider talent to nourish and move up into World Superbike or eventually the MotoGP series. While attending the Miller Motorsports Park round of World Superbike over the Memorial Day weekend, Chris got the opportunity to talk with some of the higher ups in WSBK, and got an earful on how or what they thought about the AMA series as of late since all of the problems that were stirred up in and around the series when the DMG people took over. And it's not real positive.
In spite of the 'let's make happy'-stance that has helped the AMA series to look more positive since the first of this year, the damage created by the series under the helm of Roger E sent some pretty negative vibes and smoke signals to the European crowd in how they viewed AMA Superbike as a feeding ground for talent. And how they still feel that way in spite of those positive changes this year. Once considered one of the major proving grounds for racing in Europe, the AMA series is suffering badly due to mis-management problems from the recent past, let alone the economic fall out we have all seen. And rebuilding what once was may prove to be even harder now that the negative ripple has had it's effects.
This is well worth the time to check out to see what Chris heard about how the AMA series is looked upon now from afar. They may have to rebuild Rome if this is any indication of the damage that the Daytona Motorcycle Group has inflicted in their dumming down of the series in the last two years. They've been on a positive path this year, but this could be a long journey.

Read on and thanks to Chris Martin for penning this article over at SpeedTV.com:

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/martin-land-of-inopportunity/P1
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Thanks for coming by to check us out and have a good and safe week!
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