Scott Russell returns to Daytona

Scott “Mr Daytona” Russell will return to the scene of his greatest success when he makes a shock return to AMA professional racing in this year’s Superstock race during Bike Week 2008 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The 1992 World Superbike champion, who since 2001 has mostly been prevented from racing professionally by an insurance policy he collected following career-ending injuries, will race a Yamaha R-1 in the 1000cc Superstock class.

The team is being set up to promote the Jamie James Yamaha Champions Riding School, which kicks off this year with Scott Russell as one of the instructors.

The possibility exists that he’ll continue to compete in the events following Daytona. And his chances for a top ten finish are excellent.

The factory teams have abandoned the Superstock class since it’s headed for extinction following the 2008 season.

There are a number of top quality privateer teams competing, including Michael Jordan’s Suzuki team, but no one knows the track like Scott Russell, even though it’s been reconfigured twice since his last win in 1998.

Russell was part of a three-rider team which raced a Kawasaki EX650 last year in the Daytona season finale of the Moto-ST championship, a series for restricted V-twins on control tires.

His race ended on the ground when he high-sided in the east horseshoe after the team had completed 128 laps.

The lanky Georgian earned the nickname “Mr. Daytona” by winning the Daytona 200 on a Superbike a record five times. The most impressive came in 1995 when he crashed on the first lap, remounted, and went on to beat Carl Fogarty.

Three of his wins came aboard a Kawasaki, the final two aboard Yamahas. (Honda’s Miguel Duhamel has also own the Daytona 200 five times, but the final two came after it was became a 600cc Formula Xtreme race).

The return will be somewhat bittersweet for the lanky Georgian. It was on the start line for the 2001 Daytona that Russell’s career ended.

Racing the HMC Ducati for the first time, Scott Russell stalled on the start line and was struck hard on the left side from a rider down the grid.

He suffered severe injuries in the accident, including nerve damage to his left foot which prevented him from riding. He returned to the track to officially announce his retirement a year later, on March 8, 2002.
“I’m retiring because of the injuries from last year,” he said at the time. 

“I’m unable to ride the bike the way I need to ride it.”

Previous attempts to reach an agreement with his insurance company were fruitless, but a recent entreaty was successful.

The deal calls for Scott Russell to pay 12 per cent of his earnings back to the insurance company.

The Daytona Superstock purse is $15,000, with the winner pocketing $1900.