The Superbike win at Pike's Peak for Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom, his crewchief Al Ludington and chief mechanic Joey Lombardo was certainly sweet; they scored Kawasaki's first AMA Superbike victory of the season, and the first one of the new in-house factory roadrace team managed by Mike Preston.
It was also sweet because all three of them were fired from the American Honda factory team last year after the Pike's Peak event.

Fired may be too strong a word for it, but as contract employees, their contracts were not renewed; Honda made it known to the three of them that they were not interested in renewing their contracts for the 2000 season or beyond.

Most are aware that Lombardo and Ludington were the force behind Miguel DuHamel's success since the Canadian American re-joined Honda in 1995 (Lombardo came on board in 1997). Together the three of them had a rapport that was not unlike the Three Musketeers. All highly competitive, they shared a devout will to win; so much so that at times it was debatable which of them wanted to win the most. They wanted to beat the paddock, their own team and at times even each other. Ludington and DuHamel were especially super-competitive with each other off the track, trying to win foot races, drag races, golf games and contests in the gym. After winning the Daytona 200 in 1996 DuHamel, still in his leathers, walked back to the garage, set down his trophy and did fifty push-ups on the garage floor just to show Ludington and the team he wasn't tired.

The trio set out to win, and win they did. With DuHamel riding, Ludington directing and Lombardo whirling wrenches, they dominated the 600 Supersport and AMA Superbike ranks for four years; DuHamel heads both of those classes in all-time wins. Together they struck fear in the heart's of competitors, and virtually made the CBR600 series the winningest line of Supersport motorcycles in the history of man (sales followed--Honda's CBR600 series has dominated the 600 sportbike sales charts since 1987).

Ludington actually pre-dates the current factory team. He was a technician for the Camel/Commonwealth squad when Martin Adams ran it for Honda in the early 1990s.

(Next)