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Written by:
Neale Bayly
09/22/2008 - 11:00 AM
Charlotte. NC
Scott Russell stands beside the Jamie James prepped Yamaha R1. (Photo: Chris Anderson and Neale Bayly) ยป More Photos
Photos by Chris Anderson and Neale Bayly.
I don’t think I will ever forget the sick feeling in my stomach as I watched Scott Russell’s destroyed HMC Ducati being covered up in the Daytona pits, minutes after the fateful accident that ended his career. Around 100 yards from the accident when it happened, it just appeared as a horrific mess of dust and confusion in my viewfinder, and I knew something serious had gone down. It was March 2001, Scott was looking for his sixth win on the famous high banks, and few would have bet against him achieving it. With his resulting injuries ending an amazing career, that had seen him win an AMA Superbike, a World Superbike, as well as three AMA Supersport championships to date, Scott Russell still had plenty of good racing left in him at the time.
To consciously end your career after years at the top must be difficult for any racer. But to have your career brought to a premature halt by a freak accident must have weighed hard on Scott Russell these last few years, and in a personal conversation he didn’t hide the fact he has struggled with this. Always wondering what might have been, in an interesting twist of fate, Scott got the opportunity of going back to Daytona this March to see if he could exorcise the demons. With his good friend, ex AMA Superbike Champion, Jamie James, starting a Yamaha riding school, Scott would be taking on a new role this year as instructor. So, Jamie and he came up with a plan to put an R1 under Scott
An ambitious project at best, the two ex racers certainly put themselves well and truly under the gun as they went to work just weeks before the big race to build a pair of Superstock bikes. Just looking at the quality of preparation of the bike before my test in Alabama, I couldn’t believe a few short weeks earlier it had arrived at Jamie James Productions as a stock motorcycles in a Yamaha crate. Not to be intimidated by a challenge, head mechanic Doug Crawford tore into the task at hand and yanked the engine straight out. It was then shipped to Robert Reeves for cylinder head work, and the Sharkskin’s race bodywork was driven over to Russell’s Paint and Body for an application of the famous crawfish orange. With the clock ticking, Doug hit speed dial and a box labeled “Akrapovic” was 30,000 feet across America on its way to North Carolina. With the engine work completed and the freshened motor back in the frame, Doug bolted up the pipes and added a Power Commander. Next he added a set of Graves rear sets and dialed in Dynojet Quick Shifter. He then put in a call to Sam Samanna for an EXUP eliminator to keep the warning lights from flashing when Scott hit the top of sixth gear on the banking.
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