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/125980
Roberts, Ago, Burritto chase each othe r through the infield. In one swift sequence, McLaughlin watches his lead go away (Ieftl , sprints to his bike, finds it rideable, and pushes off to salvage a sixth . bike and re mo ved his hel met. The clutch on his TZ 750 m o nosh oc k Yamaha had gone away an d he was o ut of t he race. With Ro berts' re tire ment, th e Ago vs. Rob erts d uel was ove r . Ou r National Cha mpion had m ade his point, though . He ha d d ominated the race just as he domi nated practice an d q ualifying sess ion s d uri ng the wee k. With R;'berts o ut, Lansivuori took over th e lead for t hree laps before pittin g on th e 19 th lap for gas. Gas stops by the fiel d began o n the 16th lap and th e front running positions were sh u ffl ed. On the 20 t h lap , Steve McLaughli n held a fo ur-se cond lead over Ago, who was being pushed by Bak er. Cecotto had moved into fift h directly behind Romero an d just ahead o f Yamaha factory rid er "Key " Kawasaki. Lansivuori had lo st ground due to a lengt hy pi t sto p and returned to the chase a lap down on th e lead ers. The halfway mark, th e 26th lap , saw McLaughlin running smoothl y in the lead followed by Ro m ero , Baker, Agostini , Cecotto , Key Kawasaki, David Aldana an d Ro n Pierce. Next lap Lansivuori we nt down after seemingly co lliding with Cecotto in an in fiel d t um. He reportedly suffered a broken an kle an d with th at accident Suz uki sa w their h op es fo r a Daytona win th is year disappear . By lap 30 Ro mero h ad closed up on McLau gh lin and in th at same lap McLaughlin unloaded as he bra ked fo r the final in field tu m . TIle ge t-off to re away his fairing bubble , b u t St eve was uninjured, ju mpe d up an d got back in to the race with in m oments in fifth p lace. Fro m th at point o n the race belonge d to "bas ic dirt trac ker" Gene Rom ero . Thursday night, aft er havin g qualified fo urth fast est, Romero sat in the an nual n igh tly gathe ring pl ace o f m an y dirt trac kers , th e new Fro n tie r Inn, an d jo ked abo u t h is hi gh qualify ing positi o n . "Did you see wh e re th ey pl aced me fo ur t h o n th e gri d? " he as ked . " I won 't tell 'em they go ofe d, if you d on 't. Serio usly, th at isn 't to o b ad for a di rt tracker, is it? " It sure W..IS11't. And his race pe rfo rmance wasn 't bad either. Ro mer o entere d victory lane fo r t he third time in nine years of c om pe t ing in the Daytona 200. He h ad be en a " bri de smai d" o n two occasions an d had finishe d in t he top 10 in all bu t one of his 10 races. Dirt trac ker indeed ! Following vic tory lan e ce remonies the to p th ree finis hers, Ro mero , Steve Baker an d J ohnny Ceco tt o we re hustled away to th e p ress box whe re Gene Ro m er o held co urt. Whe n as ked wh y and Baker h ad Roberts, Agostini monoshock Yamahas whil e he had a swingarm m odel, Romero replied, "They gave the rnonoshockers to all th e ligh t guys and gave us hea vies th e conven ti o nal jobs." And when asked h is fee lings about Roberts sayi ng, wh en as ke d who he thought would win wh en he d ro pped out, "One of the slo wpo kes, 1 gu ess. " Ro mero laughed and said, "Well, ask h im how he feels when he watches me go to the ba nk tomorrow wit h all th e chip s." Rom ero 's "chi ps " amo unt ed to S17,4 85 and a wh op p ing pay-o ff of 195 Camel Pro Series p oints, th e largest single point pay-off in AMA history . Steve Ba ker was an ela ted yo ung man fo llowing his secon d p lace performan ce an d he told th e assembled press co rps how he had barely m ade it to t he sta rti ng grid following a pan ic session spe nt repl acing three cy lin der studs in his T Z750 after they had broke n in Sunday morn ing's short p ra cti c e ses sion. " We didn 't finish th e job u n til five m inutes be fore th e race was scheduled to start ," co mmented th e Bellingham , Washi ngto n resi de nt. Th e last m an to face t he qu es tioners He was was J oh ny Cec o tto. ac co mpan ied by a large co n ti ngen t of Venezuelan s, two of whom pro udly hel d their nation's flag h igh . J o hn ny spoke no Eng lish, b ut his happiness wa s m ore t ha n apparent in th e form of an ear to ear gri n. Cecotto, whil e vir tu ally unknown in the U. S., has won the prestigious In te rlagos Brazil 500 mi ler for t he past two y ea rs and is curren tly the Ch ampion o f Ve nezuela. Last year's Dayto na 200 (180) winner and 24-t im e World Cham p ion Agostini finishe d a Giacom o disappointed fourt h. He was unavai lable for co mment foll owing the race. So the 34th Day tona 200 is history an d the record books will show that Gene Romero won. The win mo ves Burritto into second place behind Mark Williams in the Camel Pro Serie s point sta n di ngs and as the racer fro m San Luis Ob ispo, California p uts it , " I want that Number One back," He 11 still have to beat Ro bert s for th e co ve te d pl at e , but if determ ination has anything to do with it , Ke nny better boogie. Dayto na Notes: Gary Nixon, after qualify ing 29th , was advised by his doc tors n ot to race. Screws h oldi ng a pl ate in his arm worked lo ose, an d for all practical his arm wa s still purposes broken . . . Clutch prob lems plagued th e American Yama h a te am, with eac h mem ber 's clutch gio ing away duri ng m o rni ng's .p ra ctice Sun day session . . . Don Castro , wh o ended up ninth , was slo wed by wind en te ri ng h is helmet, ca usi ng h is eyes to tear . .. The first eight fini shers co mpleted the en tire 52 laps ... Florida's Larry Bleil was th e placing eas te rner ... Phil highest Yamaha th rew a McDona ld's Randy Cleek 's Yamaha tied ro d up Expansion chamber problems dropp ed Engl an d's Barry Ditchbum and Stan Woods fr om th e Yvon DuHamel race ... Kawasak i's re tire d ' o n th e 11 th lap with a b ent shifter shaft . .. Ron Pierce , wh o finish ed eigh t h, lost hi s rear brake an d sai d t hat th e ne w wide ti res cau sed excessive brake wear . . Ret irem ent s and reasons: France '5 Patric k Pons - seized; Mike Devilin - lost sixth gear; J on Ciene r - ble w primary gas ke t; J immy Metrando - handling pro bl ems ; Andreas Georgead es - no t competitive; Kurt Liebmann clu tch ; Holland's J an Kosterwi nder - co urse too windy (a problem that m an y said droppe d their top rp m by 500); Dennis PurdIe Aldana blo wn clutch . .. David cel ebra ted his su ccess ful suspension ap pe al by riding a Kawasaki in Thursday's pro duction class race , a Yamaha in sho rt track events an d his factory Suzuki in t he 200 . . . Cliff Carr managed to finish 14th despite broken expan sio n cha mbers . . . The Nixon/Kanemoto ride was offered to Gary Sco tt, b u t he turned it down d ue to lack of avail ab le p ractice time (an d the fact that he 's a pe rh aps • Harl ey-Davidson fac tory rider) . Unofficial Results: 3 4 th ANN U AL D A Y TONA 2 0 0 MI EXPERT, M A R. 9 : 1. Ge ne Romero ( Yam) 2. St eve Bak er ( Y am ) 3. Jo hn ny Cec otto (Yam) 5 . Wa rre n Willi ng (Va m) 6 . St eve M cLa ughlin ( Ya m ) 7 . H ir dy u k l Ka wa sak i (Yam) 8 . Ron Pierce ( Yam) 9 . Don Cast ro (Yam) 1 0 . Harry Co ne ( Y am ) 11 . Tommy By ars (Yam) 12. Jam es A llen {Yam} 13 . L arr y Ble il (Yam ) 14 . Cli ft Carr (Yam ) I S. Le n Fitc h (V am) 16 . Roger M arshall (Yam ) 1 7 . Jim Du n n {H ' D} 18. Ph il Gerner (Yam) 19. Billy Labrie ( Y am ) 2 0. Marcel A n k on e (SUZ) 2 1. D oug T eague (Yam ) 22. Robert Wak e f iel d (Yam ) 2 3. Boe t Va n Ou lma n (Suz ) 24. Con rad U rban owskl (Yam) 25. Phil ipp e Coulon (Y am ) 26 . Wes Co o ley (Yam ) 27. D ave A ld ana (S uz ) 28 . George M ill er (Ya m) 29. O p lvler Chevail ler ( Y a m) 3 0 . Mike T rimby (Y am ) 31. Reg Pr id more (BMW) . A ve rage 1 ,52, 32. 88.5. Spe ed: l 06 .4 51M PH: T ime : 9