Duhamel For A Day

Duhamel for a Day

Xtreme measure

WHEN YOU VIEW THE AMA 600 SUPERSPORT RECORD BOOK, one name leaps off the pages, that of five-time series champion Miguel Duhamel. The 37-year-old, Canadian-born, Las Vegas, Nevada, resident has been the most successful 600 pilot the racing world has ever known.

It’s only fitting that when the AMA restructured its Formula Xtreme class last season-taking what had been an unlimited-displacement format and scaling it down to largely feature 600cc Superbike-style machines-Duhamel would add an FX title next to his name. The revised class has also provided new opportunity for the Torrance, Californiabased factory Honda team.

It’s rather shocking to learn that while the American Honda importer fields a top-level Superbike program year after year, the bikes are leased directly from HRC in Japan under strict terms that don’t allow mechanics to monkey with the bikes beyond routine maintenance and basic trackside tuning. Working under no such restrictions, the FX effort has spawned an in-house engine and chassis development program. While this certainly raised the team’s workload, it’s also plain to see there’s an increased level of satisfaction that’s come of it. Better yet, the past season’s FX success has helped pave the path for future freedom where the Superbike is concerned.

I recently got the chance to throw a leg over Duhamel’s CBR600RR racebike for some laps around Buttonwillow Raceway. In FX trim, the CBR is a lean machine, weighing in at the class minimum of 350 pounds without fuel. That alone makes this CBR’s handling and acceleration notably superior to any Supersport machine I’ve ever ridden. Add to this sticky Dunlop racing slicks mounted on lightweight Marchesini wheels, a stiffened frame, Showa race shock and CBR1000RR fork, and you can imagine how responsive the CBR is to steering inputs.

Although the bike’s engine is tuned to spin in excess of 16,000 rpm, I found myself grabbing gears at 14,000 during my first of two sessions. It was more of an instinctive thing, really, as I could almost feel each piston’s pain screaming through the Jardine race exhaust. Much of the team’s enginedevelopment efforts have focused on durability testing of parts stressed by the increased power load and revs. When asked what this process entailed, Duhamel’s long-standing crew chief Al Ludington chimed in with, “We gather a group of journalists to ride the bike!” All humor aside, I had the comfort of knowing Honda had not only done its homework with several pre-season tests, but swept the series, winning all 11 rounds

(Duhamel 8, Jake Zemke 2, Ben Bostrom 1.)

With Duhamel pulling double-duty-racing Superbike, too-Ludington pointed out that the 600 had to be easy to ride and not fatigue its rider, even if this meant leaving some performance on the table. Spending a session aboard the 200-plus-horsepower CBR1000RR Superbike gave me a whole new perspective on how user-friendly the FX bike truly is. While it was nice having loads of liter-class torque to allow a choice of gears through most comers, it also required I pay close attention to what my right wrist was doing at all times. The throttle was very lightly sprung, giving the big CBR a hair-trigger response. I asked about this and learned that throttle response had actually been toned down using a twistgrip that opens the throttle valves only 25 percent in the first half of the grip’s rotation!

To say the least, climbing off the 1000 and back onto the 600 made the FX bike feel less “Xtreme” than it had earlier. This time out, I found use for the upper reaches of the rev range and gave the slick-shifting, close-ratio race-kit gearbox more of a workout as I kept the engine spinning above 11,000 rpm, where the best power begins. I even found myself putting the race-spec, radial-mount Brembo brakes to good use, running it in hard enough to experience the benefits of the STM slipper clutch.

In the end, I only rode at a prudent press-day pace, so who am I to judge how the bike feels at the limit? Then again, I suppose Miguel’s number-one plate says it all.

Don Canet