Fred Merkel leads Tom Kipp in their epic 1995 Daytona 750 Supersport battle. The race came down to the final lap. Merkel used lapped traffic to perfection to slip away from Kipp and win by half-a-second. (Dunlop press kit photo)
The 1995 AMA 750 Supersport turned out to be an epic battle between defending series champ Tom Kipp and Fred Merkel. Kipp was factory Yamaha mounted, while Merkel raced with Yoshimura Suzuki.
The Daytona season opener was a thriller with Kipp and Merkel battling for 15 dramatic laps. The duo drafted each other on the banking and took turns outbraking one another in the turns. In general it was a knock-down, drag-out fight for the race win.
On the last lap Merkel caught the break he needed when the two came upon lapped traffic. Merkel, by then a multiple-time AMA and World Superbike Champion, called on his considerable experience to get by the lappers in a place where he knew Kipp would get stuck. It worked and Merkel got his biggest lead of the day and took the victory by half-a-second over Kipp.
“I knew traffic was going to bite one of us,” Merkel said on the podium. “I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”
While Merkel won the opening battle of the season and went on to win the most races in the series, it was Kipp who was the more consistent and needed only a decent finish in the season finale at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, to win the championship. Unfortunately, what might have been a great last-race battle for the title ended when Merkel crashed into a concrete retaining wall, ending his bid for the championship and ultimately costing him even more by suffering career-ending injuries.
For most of the ’95 season the Kipp/Merkel battle was one of the best in the history of 750cc Supersport.
