Throwback Thursday: Fill-In Rider Duhamel Wins 1991 Daytona 200
Larry Lawrence | May 9, 2019
Throwback Thursday: Fill-In Rider Duhamel Wins 1991 Daytona 200
In this week’s Throwback we dial back the time machine 28 years to March of 1991 and that year’s 50th running of the Daytona 200. The photo of the podium captures a very happy Miguel Duhamel after he dominated the race on his Commonwealth Honda RC30, winning by over 10 seconds ahead of Vance & Hines Yamaha’s Jamie James. James’ teammate Thomas Stevens came home third.
What made the win somewhat surprising was Duhamel hadn’t even planned on racing in the 200. Then a couple of months before the start of the season, Commonwealth Honda’s rider Randy Renfrow was injured in a pre-season test. Duhamel got the nod to be the fill-in rider for the 200. After his strong showing at DIS, Duhamel raced the rest of the year for the Honda squad. Duhamel would go on to spend a year in 500cc Grand Prix, come back to race in AMA for Kawasaki and Harley-Davidson before returning to Honda and winning the AMA Superbike Championship in 1995.
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