The 1993 Daytona 200 was one of the most exciting last-lap duels in the race’s history. Eddie Lawson, in his final American motorcycle race victory, outgunned Russell to the line in one of the closest Daytona 200 races ever. Duhamel finished third. Lawson credited the power of his special factory Yamaha (wearing Vance & Hines colors) with helping him earn the win. The two leaders came upon Chuck Graves in the chicane on the final lap. Graves’ bike was sputtering, running out of fuel. Russell took the time to turn around and give Graves the one-fingered salute for getting in his way. To this day Graves maintains if Russell hadn’t messed around with flipping him off Scott would have beaten Eddie. Notice the lack of a backdrop on the press conference podium. Just a plain wall.
Scott Russell, Eddie Lawson and Miguel Duhamel in the post-race press conference for the 1993 Daytona 200. Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
First Dayton I took my wife-to-be
She was impressed
Saw Eddie in after the race – and had never before seen the “gunfighter eyes”
We watched from “the hook” and it was obvious the last few laps as Eddie ran Scott down – you can see when someone is flying by where they are on the track.
My memory was that Scott didn’t have a chance, despite Graves and the salute, Eddie was FAST
My memory was that Eddie came to run (and win) to help finance his IndyCar effort
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Chip
They way I remember it was Scott was in Eddie’s draft and was in the perfect position to slingshot past before start/finish, but Eddie’s Yamaha (built in Japan by Yamaha’s racing dept.) was just too stout.
Yes, I seem to remember he did a two-race deal with Yamaha for Daytona and Suzuki and got paid some crazy money, which I heard he put towards his Indy career. That was when the money was flowing in Japan.
Larry
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Hi Larry,
I recall Eddie Lawson raced the 1994 Daytona 200 and finished third. The 1993 Daytona 200 was Lawson’s last major motorcycle race win.
A lot of Daytona 200 race wins in that picture.
Regards,
Tracy Hagen
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Tracy
Right you are. Thanks for the catch I’ll make the correction. Eddie was third at Daytona in ’94 behind Russell and Troy Corser.
Thanks
Larry
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