Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Retired AMA and World Superbike Champion Scott Russell wants to make a professonal racing comeback with HMC Ducati, and says he wants to start his comeback with a win at Daytona before heading to Europe to contest the Superbike World Championship.

“It’s all up in the air right now,” Russell said Saturday at Road Atlanta. “We want to go racing. I’ve got some hurdles to jump over and hoops to jump through. So we’ll see what happens, legally.”

Russell did not want to discuss the specifics of the legal hurdles, thought to be settlement of a total disability insurance payout he received after he was badly injured in a starting-grid incident at the 2001 Daytona 200. Instead, Russell quickly changed the topic to say, “Money for sponsorship is what we’re looking for, for the team.”

Russell recently returned from two test sessions, one at the Pannonia Ring in Hungary and another at Mugello in Italy, where he rode Doug Chandler’s 2002 Ducati 998RS. “I tested the bike twice in Europe, and I love it. I still can go fast. I want to go win Daytona again.

“I’m 90 percent (physically). By Daytona, I’ll be 110, and I’m good mentally. I’m back. I wasn’t done anyway, you know. It was a bullshit deal what happened to me (in the Daytona starting grid crash). It was my fault, and I won’t make that mistake again.

“It could be a bit easier (to find sponsorship in Europe),” said Russell when asked about the decision to possibly race in World Superbike. “AMA is what it is. Of course, the World Championship is a lot more important to a lot of people. So we’re working on either or. It’s up in the air. Hopefully, we’ll do a little bit of both – most of the World Superbike and then Daytona and some in between.

“I don’t have a relationship with Ducati, personally, because I never got started with one. I would think, right now, we’re not looking to get too much help from them. We got what we got, and we’re going to have to buy what we need.”

Russell is at Road Atlanta to race in a SuperTT event during the WERA Grand National Finals weekend and is “just hanging out, having a good time.” Russell rode a Honda XR100 and a 660cc KTM LC4 SuperMotard bike on Maxxis tires Saturday on a course laid out in the AMA paddock inside the Road Atlanta road course.

“I’ve ridden a lot of different stuff,” said Russell. “I’ve been interested in riding this bike (KTM), and luckily they got one for me to ride. So we’ll see what it’s like. It should be good.”

Other road racers competing in the SuperTT event at Road Atlanta include Mike Smith, Kevin Schwantz and Brian Gibbs. 2002 AMA Supersport Champion Aaron Yates was expected to show up to race, but he hadn’t been seen at post time.