Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125979
D ay tona Classic preview Day to na ! A m erica 's prem iere motorcycle event, k eyst one poin ts and cash pay ing race on t he Grand Natio nal circuit, th e Daytona 20 0 classic tak es on a seco nd level of significanc e as a major inte rnation al te sting gro und. Pay ing 195 points f or first pla ce, th is is a pivotal event in American racing, when road race specialists hope to catch up on th eir dirt track rivals, and dirt trackers without a com pe titive road race ride gnash th eir teet h in fru stration. It also vies with th e Imola 200 at being th e t op cash-pay ing road race in th e world. A s suc h, it has drawn n o less than 25 European en tries, plus a host from Canada, [apan, Australia, and eve n Ven ezu ela, bringing into sharp f o cus the heighten ed importance of American road racing on the world scen e. Against such a background, if th e Roberts lAgostini confrontation hadn 't already ex isted, so~e on e would hav e invented it. • The factories In t he hands o f Green Meanie leader Yvon DuH am el , any imp ro vem ent o ver last v ear should ma ke Kawasa ki a th reat. J im Evans (who has a marked preference fo r th e bru te 75 0 ove r th e KR250 ) will join sop h isticated DuHamel on the American team which will be further st reng thened by works riders Mick Grant , Masahiro Wada and Ta ka o Abe. BMW. Kurt Liebman and Reg Pridmore will ride a brace o f Butler and Sm ith's ul tra -t rick 750cc GP bikes. New this year is a through-the-fairing forced air in ductio n system with an adjustable air gap b et ween air o utlet and carb on each side. "We're still experimenting," B & S tuners say . "We know it's good for ab o u t six horsepower at around 60 mph , but we don 't know if it will even work at 160. The way it's set up, it 's very easy not to use ." With further development in cams and breathing, the flat. twins are producing abo ut 100 rear wheel horsepower with a 9 500 - 10 ,000 RPM redline. No shows. Honda, No rt o n-Triu mp h an d Harley-Davidson have not entered factory efforts for this year's 200. Yamaha with wins in three previous Daytona events, is the obvious favorite. Not only has their race preparation proved to be all-en comp assing, but their hybrid GP road racer, the TZ 700, has been refined and punched out to a more formidable 748cc . For manpower, Yamaha boasts the greatest o ne-one punch (neither Ago nor Kenny would settle for a number two billing) in road racing today . Add to that Gene Romero and Don Castro for Yamaha International and Hiroyuki Kawasaki as Ago 's teammate in red and white Yamaha of Japan c olo rs , and you have a most formidable team. Roberts and Ago will reportedly use monoshock suspensions on their race bikes while the rest of the team will have conventional suspension. Tires Items which Goodyear's Bill Robinson refers to as "the last thing between your ass and the pavement," mean more than ever this y ear with increased power and improved su spensions cre ating greater demands for better, longer-lasting com po un ds. ' Dunlop has comple ted work on a new line of superbike slicks (an n ounced in the British papers) which should be on the Suzuki and Kawasaki team bikes. Goodyear has improved last year's slick and earlier tests with Yamaha at Daytona produced negligible wear and "ridiculous lap times." Romero The problem Lansivouri Gary Fisher (currently seeking a factory ride) taking his place. As for David, look for Mr. Bones to shed his skeleton leathers and do business wearing the blue and white Team Su zuki sk in protec tors. .,. 36 Suzu k i 's in trod uct ion of the "Superbike " in I 972 he ralded the era of 750cc liquid-cooled behemoths with power en ough to melt the best of tires. Th is year, refinement is carried further with power an d handling mo difica t io ns as well as a ba dly needed sixth cog . Barry Sheene spearheads the Suz uki a tt ac k with fellow Englishman Stan Woods and Finnish ace Tepi Lansivouri . Both Pa ul Smart (who o utqualified th e Day tona 200 field two years running) and Cliff Carr hav e been dro pped fro m this yea r's team. American rep resen tativ es are Gary Nixon (still reco vering from last year 's practice cras h in Japan) and David Aldana (whose suspension was lifted by an AMA ap peal board in ti me to enter). Gary tes ted earlier at Ontario and rode about 60 m iles b efore physical discomfort hal ted hi m. He will hav e had o ne more test session at Daytona (Feb. 28) to determine whether o r not he will compete in the 200. Should Nixon be unab le to race , word has Pennsylvania's Kawasaki last y ear fough t a losing horsepower ba ttle wi th Yamah a and Suz u ki. The 1975 KR 750 is an all-new liquid cooled model that is rumored to be faster with improved handling and better low speed acceler ati o n . With cy lin der porting angled to "nest" the tr ansfer ports o f adja cent cylin der s, Kawasaki has made every effo rt to ge t the casewi dt h as compact as is possib le with th is configuration. With 14 separate world titles beh~d him, plus last year's brilliant win at Daytona, Giacomo Agostini often gives the impression he has yet to take American racing (and American racers) seriously. Of Roberts, he said, in a recent interview: "Kenny Roberts, he 's an American, he 's like that. . . [talkative, boastful]. . . The first time I came to the States he did not not want to talk to m e. Then later he came to Europe and saw what races are lik e over here. He 's changed a bit and he's a very good rider. " highest-placing no n-fac to ry rider, but for all of th em, the real reason is the privateer's Holy Gra il, the h ope of beat ing the factories, the e ternal "This could be th e year . . . " McDonald Evans Privateers Call it " California vs, Florida vs, Midw est. " Keep an eye o n Flo ridian s Larry Bleil (newly-transfe rre d], J o hn Long an d Co nr ad Urbanowski (teamed und er the " Lo ngevity" toge the r ban ner ). Also te amed toget her are Randy Cleek (spectacular as a J unio r last year) and Phil McD on ald (nursing that wasted hand, but d etermined to ride) from Oklahoma with th e help of K & N and Bel.Ray. Th en the host o f Californian s - AFM :'-10. One Rudy Galindo, Ron Pierce , Steve McLaughlin, self- sponso red Pat Hennen . All are o n Yarnahas, by far t he most popular-privateer mount. All are looking to scratch lor th hono r of Junior/Expert Combined This tr aditi onal Yamaha benefi t is as wide op en as it 's ever been . Latest cha lleng er is Kawas aki's tw in-crank, rotary-valve, seven- spe ed KR250 , probably t he most te chnically ambiti o us machine in AMA road raci ng. Only two a re - ent e r ed, wi th Kawasaki