Yvon Duhamel
[7][8] Duhamel's reputation as a tenacious competitor with an aggressive riding style earned him the respect of other racers and made him popular with racing fans.
[12] Duhamel was born in Montreal, Canada where he became an avid bicyclist and established a small bicycle repair shop when he was only 13-years-old.
[5] Davis helped launch Duhamel's professional racing career by connecting him with Trevor Deeley, the Canadian distributor for Yamaha motorcycles.
[14][15] Duhamel began competing for the Deeley Yamaha team at AMA races in the United States such as the Daytona 200 and the Loudon Classic.
[5][8][16] His second place finishing position would be the best result of his career at the Daytona 200, which at the time was considered one of the most prestigious motorcycle races in North America.
[1] Duhamel participated in the opening round of the 1968 Inter-AMA motocross series in Pepperell, Massachusetts riding a ČZ motorcycle against European factory racers such as Roger De Coster, Joël Robert and Bengt Åberg.
[12][21] Duhamel’s pole position on the tiny 350cc Yamaha motorcycle against the larger 750cc four-strokes marked the beginning of the two-stroke era in AMA road racing competitions.
[8] In March 1970 at the Daytona 200, Duhamel's aggressive riding style was highlighted when, he was relegated to the last row of the starting grid because he had crashed during his qualifying heat race.
[8] In the winter of 1971, he nearly repeated his victory at the World Championship Snowmobile Derby, but lost in an epic battle with Mike Trapp in one of the most exciting races in the history of the sport.
[8][26] At the Pocono Raceway national, Duhamel was clearly the fastest rider on the track, but the excessive fuel consumption of Kawasaki's two-stroke engine forced him to make two fuel stops to the single pit stops of his competitors, allowing Dick Mann to take the victory on a BSA Rocket 3 four-stroke.
[13][27][28][29] The season ending Champion Spark Plug Classic held at the Ontario Motor Speedway, was run in two 125-mile segments.
[27] In the winter of 1972, Duhamel won the grueling, three-day Winnipeg-to-St. Paul I-500 snowmobile race, giving the Ski-Doo factory their only victory in that event.
[26] Engine problems forced his retirement from the season-opening Daytona 200, but at the following round at Road Atlanta, he placed second to Suzuki factory team rider, Jody Nicholas, then was awarded the victory after AMA officials discovered illegal cylinder heads on Nicholas' Suzuki.
[8] At the 1972 Indianapolis national, Duhamel surged into the lead only to have to make a pit stop for mechanical adjustments before rejoining the race in 17th place.
[33] At the 1972 Laguna Seca National, Duhamel qualified on pole position, however he crashed in the first turn taking out Cliff Carr and Dick Mann in the process.
[8] At the season ending Champion Spark Plug Classic held at the Ontario Motor Speedway, Duhamel once again showed his aggressive racing style against a field of international competitors that included; Phil Read, Jarno Saarinen, Renzo Pasolini, Kel Carruthers, and Kenny Roberts.
[8] His strong performances in AMA competition earned him a place on the North American team for the 1973 Transatlantic Trophy match races.
The Transatlantic Trophy match races pitted the best British riders against the top North American road racers on 750cc motorcycles in a six-race series in England.
[37] At Ontario, he led a Kawasaki podium sweep with teammates Gary Nixon and Art Baumann finishing second and third.
[42] At the season-opening French Grand Prix held at the challenging Circuit de Charade, Duhamel's Kawasaki suffered a mechanical failure on the third lap of the race.
[42] At the British round of the 1974 Formula 750 season held at the Silverstone Circuit on August 11, he scored a second place behind his former teammate Paul Smart, now riding for the Suzuki factory racing team.
[39] On June 28, 1975, he scored a fifth place finish at the Dutch TT, giving Kawasaki its best result of the year in the 250cc world championships.
[8][13][47] Duhamel was the sole rider on the Kawasaki factory team in 1976, signed to enter in only three AMA races as he began to reduce his riding schedule.
[48][49] Duhamel scored two more podium results in the Canadian rounds of the Formula 750 championship in 1977 and 1978 in his final appearances as a member of the Kawasaki factory racing team.
[52] Duhamel was forced to stop racing after suffering injuries in a bad crash during a vintage motorcycle event at the Mosport Circuit.
