Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel went into last weekend’s AMA event at Road Atlanta with an 11-day-old broken collarbone and came away happy with his results despite skipping the Supersport race and riding in fear most of the weekend.

“This weekend wasn’t too bad on the bike,” said Duhamel via cell phone from his Montreal, Canada home. “I was really lucky that the position on the bike wasn’t giving me too much pain and grief. Some positions I was really struggling. To put my pants on or my socks on, I can’t even do that. So I feel pretty fortunate I was able to ride the bike.

“There was some pain, but it wasn’t too bad. It was a dull, long pain. It wasn’t a big, sharp pain. That big sharp pain only happened once every 10 laps. That’s not bad at all. It was my first time racing with a broken shoulder, but I guess you could say it (went) well. It (was) painful and all that; you have to be careful on how you make certain moves and all that.

“Saturday was actually a good race for us,” continued Duhamel. “I was running fifth behind all those guys in front of me. Kurtis (Roberts) had about a two-and-a-half-second gap on me, but our lap times were equal – low-1:25s. Then over the radio – I’ve got radio communications and, obviously, this is a good argument to have radio communications – I heard Mat (Mladin) had just tipped over because his rear tire exploded. That rear tire was the same rear tire I was running on my bike, and mine was vibrating. As soon as I heard that, you can put two and two together. You see my lap times went from low-1:25s to 1:27s to 1:30 to 1:32s. A tire blowing up, I can’t deal with that right now. Chunking, I’m OK.”

But track conditions were a big factor in Duhamel’s race plans on Sunday. Saying he was already more “roughed up” on Sunday than on Friday, Duhamel added, “And to be honest, the weather was totally not right for me to ride. The half-wet-half-dry condition, anything like that, I was kind of fearing that going into the weekend.

“If it was dry I think I would’ve given it (the Supersport race) a shot, just to ride around and be safe. But our racetracks here in America, they got tar on them, they got cracks with tar on them. They’re pretty messed up, and there’s always water seeping here and water seeping there. I didn’t want to be at the mercy of bad luck and hit one of those cracks.

“The 600 Championship…unfortunately, Jamie got hit or fell, and it tightened up the points a little bit. But I didn’t know that beforehand. It looked like it could be an in-between situation there, and I was pretty tired still from the operation. The anesthesia and all that stays in your body for a while.

“There was no pressure on (Honda’s) part for me to race,” said Duhamel. “They were just happy to see me out there trying to do something. After talking to Chuck (Miller, American Honda Racing Teams Manager), he really felt it was the best thing not to race. I was really happy because that was what I was thinking. I didn’t think I should be out there.

“But on the Superbike, I think it’s more controllable. There’s more of a tire selection, and it’s a little bit more of a controlled environment.

“It turned out the track was dry (for Sunday’s Superbike race). I don’t know if you could tell from my riding, it wasn’t just my shoulder. It was me being extremely cautious out there.

“I had an extreme fogging problem (in the second Superbike race). I couldn’t see where the hell I was going. And running slicks and those cracks we were talking about. So I took at least half of the race to make sure everything’s warmed up, everything’s good, I’ve established my lines, there’s nothing on those lines. Like I said, I wasn’t racing for the win. I was just there to get some points.

“I guess the weekend for me can be summed up with fear. Fear of the tire blowing up and fear of the water seeping up through the cracks on Sunday.”

Asked if he will continue to race the CBR600RR in Supersport, Duhamel said, “Yeah, I’m going to get back on that bike. The bike is good; I’ve said it from day one.

“Actually, it was working pretty good. We showed up there with my injury, and I was able to match my time I did when we were there in the dry for three days just testing. So of course the whole weekend I was bumming because I knew I wasn’t 100 percent and I was doing some really good lap times in 600 and in Superbike. So I was bumming I couldn’t throw the bike around a little bit harder and be a little bit stronger through some sections. I definitely felt I would be a player for a podium or even a win.

“I’m pretty excited about (racing the 600 again). I don’t know if it will be at Colorado, but for sure I’m going to finish out the season. Obviously, the Championship is out of reach, but I still want to post some CBR600RR wins on the board because I know we can get them.”