Larry Lawrence | May 24, 2017
Jamie James was always a fan favorite. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Last week we looked at the rise of Jamie James from club racer to factory rider and national champ. In this week’s second and final installment on James, we follow his progress into World Superbike and then his pursuit of that elusive second AMA Superbike title.
His amazing 1989 season where he’d won two AMA Pro Road Racing Championships in a single season – (AMA Superbike and 750cc Supersport with Yoshimura Suzuki), was indeed a dream come true for Jamie James, but like most racers there is always the drive to do more. Instead of soaking up the pleasure of being a two-time AMA National Champ in his first season with a factory team, winning seemed to push James to strive even harder.
“It was enjoyable to win those championships in 1989, especially in Superbike,” James admitted. “But it was something I wanted to do again, really bad, just to prove… you know how racing is, you’re only as good as your last race. That’s the way it was, especially back in those days. These days it seems they understand that it’s more important to keep the big-name riders around longer to help build the sport.”
James saw that Suzuki’s Superbikes were struggling to keep pace with the other makers at the time, and he said in spite of winning the championships with the team, the money wasn’t going to be any better, so he started looking for what else was out there.
He picked up a sponsorship deal from Yokohama tire in 1990 and took that money with him to Ferracci Ducati.
“I was always happy to play the part of an underdog,” James said. “So, I went to Ducati and we went after it.”
With help from his friend and trainer Buddy Broussard, James was getting in shape and ready to take on the world as the little guy going up against the big factory squads.
When James came on it was early on in the development of Ferracci’s Ducati 851 Superbike, and while it had tons of potential, it was still unreliable. Also, Yokohama was considerably behind Michelin and Dunlop in tire development, so James was unquestionably fighting an uphill battle in 1990.
In spite of the challenges, James was able to stand on the podium three times in AMA Superbike, scoring third at Road Atlanta, Elkhart Lake and Mid-Ohio. He also dominated the AMA Pro Twins (aka Battle of the Twins) Series, winning six rounds on his way to his third AMA National Road Race title. Perhaps more importantly, his association with Ferracci allowed James to compete on the world level for the first time when he contested select rounds of the World Superbike Championship.
In his WSBK debut James stunned the series regulars by finishing second in both legs at the Canadian round at Mosport. With Ducati’s Raymond Roche locked into a tough battle for that year’s World Superbike Championship, Ducati decided to bring James over to ride aside Roche on the factory Squadra Corse Ducati Lucchinelli team in order to help Roche win the title.
James did his part including a vital round at Le Mans where James finished second to Roche and ahead of Roche’s series rival Total Honda’s Stéphane Mertens, giving Roche a valuable points cushion en route to winning that year’s championship.
James was riding so well at that point that many insiders felt he could have actually earned a World Superbike victory has it not been for team orders. At Le Mans James led race one, eventually being caught and passed by Roche.
Today James is gracious in his recollection of his Ducati factory World Superbike rides alongside Roche.
“In no race did I let him win,” James claims. “Now, I would have and maybe that played a part in my intensity in approaching the races, knowing that there were team orders in play, but the guy (Roche) was flying. He had me riding 110 percent to circulate with him. He was a helluva competitor.”
As it stands James earned three career WSBK podium finishes, all seconds, in his limited schedule in the 1990 championship.
He’d hoped that his performances in World Superbike might have led to a full-time ride there, but James found himself on the outside looking in. That’s when he got a call that would change the course of his career. It was from Terry Vance, who wanted to sign James to his Vance & Hines Yamaha AMA Superbike squad. That began a long and fruitful six-year run with team.
Jamie James is most closely associated with the Vance & Hines Yamaha team, where he won the 1994 AMA 600cc Supersport Championship and very nearly won a second AMA Superbike title.
But before that relationship began James had to sign and he tells a funny story about the talks with Vance, a renowned negotiator. “It seemed like a month, even though it might have only been a week, that we went back and forth over 5000 dollars,” James laughs. “It’s hard to win. Negotiating with Terry Vance was harder than taking on Raymond Roche.”
After a little good natured ribbing, James was quick to add that he felt Vance was perhaps the single most important person when it came to the growth in popularity of AMA Superbike during its very successful rise in the 1990s. “He had so many great ideas and was able to push many of them through,” James recalls. “And his team set the standard and raised the level of professionalism in the series.”
James had great success with Yamaha. He won a slew of races and the 1994 AMA 600cc Supersport Championship when the already highly-competitive series was at its peak. It was his fourth AMA National title. But for all the impressive accomplishments James had, the 1994 AMA Superbike Championship will always be the one that got away.
James and Ferracci Ducati’s Troy Corser were locked into a great battle for the championship that season. It all boiled down to the final round at Road Atlanta. James led the championship going into the finale over Corser, but it was close. In the race, James was racing in a big group battling over second when his Yamaha began running badly. It turned out a EXUP valve system on his Yamaha malfunctioned and he lost power. On the final lap, James was still running in a position to win the championship, but then Corser passed David Sadowski and that gave Corser just enough to win the title by single point over James.
It was a bitter loss for James, who’d tried so hard for years to win back the AMA Superbike title and came oh so close.
James raced for Vance & Hines Yamaha for two more seasons and ended his Superbike career racing (after sitting out 1997 and opening a restaurant with his then wife Ramona) for Don Tilley on his Harley-Davidson VR1000 in 1998.
“I wouldn’t trade my time traveling the country in that box van with Don Tilley for nothing,” James said.
After living in North Carolina for years, today James is back in his native Louisiana, and still enjoys riding in the woods with his kids and grandkids when he gets the chance. At the end of last year James was honored by Yamaha inducted onto Yamaha’s Wall of Champions in a ceremony at the AIMExpo in Orlando, Florida.
James’ friendly, easy-going manner made him a favorite with the fans of his era.
“I realized why was there,” James explained. “If there are no fans there was no sport. I know a lot of them committed a lot of their own time and money to patronize our sport. Hell, I was known to get out and party with them from time to time. I enjoyed being with the fans and the kids. I loved that part of the sport.”
