Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Every body wants it; one ofth ese three is mos t likely to get it: (le ) Roberts, a th reat on a 250 [sho um} or his Jt works supe r-weapon, (center) Cecott o, who came in '76 with brash confid ence and an 0 WJ 1 to win (right) Bak er, whose European record speaks[or itself. aytona. Known the world over for speed, excitement, and glamor, Daytona is THE premier road race. When the green flag drops for the 36th running of the Daytona 200 on March 13, it will mark two firsts . It will be th e first even t of th e FIM Formula 750 World Championship seri es . The race will also op en th e $30 ,000 AGV Helmets World Cup Series of 200 ·mile races a t Da ytona , Imola (Ita ly) and Paul Ricard (France). Speed Week will again attra ct scores of visitors and riders from all th e United States and the World. There's a special, mind-bending aura about the Da ytona scene , which , in th eory, centers around th e ultra -fast 3.84 ·mile road course at Daytona Internatio nal Speedway. As many, maybe more, people come to Da ytona to gawk at and mingle with th e tho usa nds of street riders, tourers , chopper riders, and asso rted motorcycle culture hanger-ens that fill the stree ts as come to see the road race. But th e road ra ce is still th e largest in terms of specta tor draw (74, 000 last year) and th e mos t prestigious in terms of com petition . A first or second a t Da ytona means much m or e , in money and fam e, tha n a first o r second a t a ny ot her 'roa d race in Am eri ca . Mechanical considerations There will be no Suzuki fa ctory effort th is yea r. While the Kawasaki fact ory is out of racing , 100 . th e Australi an Kawasaki importer will mak e a try with updated versions of last yea r's bik es. Historically dow n on power an d handling com pa re d to th e Yamahas, th e water- cooled , three -c ylinder two -stroke KR 750 - Ka wasaki did carry Gary Nixon to second in last yea r's Daytona 200 , behind J ohnny Cecotto. But th at KR7 50 was put together a nd nursed by Erv Kanem ot o , a California su per· tuner . This yea r, too , th e Yamaha field will be harder to 'bea t. This yea r's TZ750D (fou r cylinder, water-coo led . two -stroke), wh ich sold for $5 ,19 5 ea ch with 35 available in the United States, is su p posed to be identical to the all-conquering OW31 one-offs that dominated the Camel Pro Series road ra ces las t year. An OW31 won each of the fou r Nationa l road races in 1976. Acco rding to both Yamaha and some riders who ha ve receiv ed the machin es, the TZ750Ds a re reall y close to the OWs - except for less use of titanium (t he front fairing mou nt and footpegs on the TZ a ren't titanium , for exa m ple, wh ere the OWs used tita ni um parts.) Yamaha sources a lso say that the bik es sold were identical to th e ones sup p lied to Kenny Roberts a nd Steve Baker. Ma ybe th ey were out of the bo x , but tuners Kel Carruthers (Roberts) and Bob Work (Baker) are su re to make changes. Don Vesco , who spo nsors and tunes for 1975 Da ytona winner Gene Romero, was hard at work porting the new TZ that Romero will ride as soon as it arrived. Almost all th e TZ750Ds arrived later than anticipated. The lives of privateers everywh ere were complicated when the b ikes d idn't arrive until two weeks before the race . To make matters worse , most of the machines came from th e factory with d efective crankshaft bearings. Tuners received their m achines with crank bearings, seals and gasket kit s a long with instructions to tear the engine down a nd repair it before running th e motorcycle. The tires But the fastest bike is useless if it cannot finish the race because of tire trouble. Kenny Roberts was. leading Daytona in 1976 when the rear slick on his OW31 wore through th e cords and went fla t'. Roberts m anaged not to crash , but lost th e race. Dunl op has withdrawn t he ir slic k tire fr om com pe tition , citing a lack of tim e to co m p letely test th e tire under racin g co ndi tions. Cold weather hampered testing in Janua ry. and co ld -wea the r test results won 't me an much on th e traditionally-warm March race date . T o be sa fe. Dunlop is ou t. Michelin won' t d ecid e until a fter th e first two practice days of Sp eed W eeI, wh eth er or not to certify their tire wit h th e AMA for co m pe tition . Goodyear. with mor e test tim e , is ready to go with their tires , although th ey will closely moniter Kenny Roberts during a speci a l Yamaha test session at th e track just befor e Speed Week begins. Notified of th e Dunlop withdra wal , Good year has stepped up slick production a nd will ha ve a good supply a t th e track . Yamaha ha s just com p leted testing of a super-wide 4.5 inc h Morris Mag rim . (Sta ndard rims a re nominally 2 .5 to 3 inches.) Use of the spe cial rims a lso requires a specia l swing arm , or at leas t th is has been Yamaha 's solu tion so fa r. Dunlop's d ecision , a nd possibly Michelin's, ap p lies only to th e 200 ·mile 750cc event. not the othe r races held d u ri ng the week. The competitors . 500cc W orld Cham pion Ba rr y Sheene , (who crashed at over 170 miles per hour and was ser iously inj ured at Dayton a in 1975 when a Du nlop slick fa iled). a nd 1974 Dayto na 200 win ner and 14-time W orl d Cha mpion Giacomo Agos tini both will not show up at Da yto na th ey want la rge pil es of a ppearance mon ey. a nd Daytona managem ent won 't go for it. Pat Hennen . th e first Am er ica n to ever win a Worl d C ha mpions hi p G P (Fin la n d . 197 6 ) and Shecri e's n ewl y-cont r a ct ed Suzuki-GB teamm at e . a lso will n ot be th ere. ' Kenny Rob erts will have to decid e wh ether to ride his 1976 OW31 , a lready sorted -out to his liking , or t he new T Z750D. Rumor s says th at Rob erts , Steve Bak er . an d Johnny Cecotto will have specia l factory trick goodies for thei r bik es , bu t wha t th e parts a re is unknown , if th ey ex ist a t all . T he fa ctory reps in th e Uni ted States deny any favoritism or advantages for th e fast th reesome . Formula 750 Champion Vietor Palomo of Spai n leads t he non -fac to ry.b acked record entry of foreign riders. Kevin Cameron of Boston Cycles , who spli t u p with consiste nt ly-fas t Ron Pierce jus t after Laguna Seca last yea r over a rguments co ncerni ng machi ne reliability (Pie rce's Cameron -built KR7 50 Kawasak i broke more ofte n th an it fin ish ed in 1976 ) will tune for rook ie Expert Rich Schlacter. Takazurn i Katayama was ori gi n all y sch eduled to ride a .new TZ750D for Ma ck Kambayashi , b u t ba cked out of the deal to b ring his own tuner to Am erica . Kambayash i, who prepared the bike Katayama rod e a t Riverside in 1976 , sent the bike r on to Daytona untouched. David Emde will ri de Gen e R omero's 197 6 monoshocked TZ750C. Emde, from a long string of fast Emdes, ha s been working ou t (ru nning and lifting weights) everyday a nd racin g a t cl u b ra ces to ge t ready. " I' m serious," he says . " I' m going out to win ." Emde has dominated W est Coast cl ub races, but is short on big-bike National ex pe rie nce. Gary Scott's b ike , owned by George Murray (father of Rob Murray, another racer ) was completely prepared by Mack Kambayashi in 1976 . This yea r, Mack has been hired to do some en gin e wor k for Scott. Murray ordered two new T Z750D engines (perha ps complete new bike) fo r Scott , who still ha s h is 1976 machine and a spare motor he cla im ed ou t of Kenny Roberts' OW31 at ~iverside last year. a St eve McL aughl in clai ms he 's spen t $5 0, 000 developing a super·fr a med pri vat eer specia l with a wind -tun nel -d evelop ed fai ring . The fa iring. a lmos t id entical to one develop ed by Can -Am for use at Bonnevill e severa l yea rs ago , is trick. T he question is , whether or not McLaughl in ca n get one ready before th e ra ce. Also in questi on is McLaughl in' s ability to stay aboard his bik e for 200 mil es. In 1975 . he took th e lead and stayed in front until cras h ing . In 1976, he ra n well until brak e fa ilu re for ced him to hang it ou t too far a t Tu rn One - a nd crash . Ph il McD onald will ride a new TZ7 50D with su ppo rt from K&N , Bel Ra y, Harle Ai r Servi ces , and R&W wheels. McDonald , 20 , firs t a tt racted a ttention by win nin g the first leg of th e Onta rio N at ional in 1974 , a nd now has three 750s in various d egrees of tri ckness. 1977 U. S. Road Ra cing Champion Randy Cleek will rid e for the BS&W team (Ba rt Cla rk e , J oe Sp eed , Larry W orrell). BS&W prepa red th e bike McL aughlin used to lea d Daytona in 1975 , and the bikes Cleek and Pierce used to finis h 3-4 a t R ivers ide in 1976 . Gary Nixo n and Erv Ka nemot o have two b ikes, (a TZ750C in a trick fram e and a TZ750D ), a nd a sp a re motor to work into the best possible comb in a tion during spee d we ek . W it h co mpe ti tive h o r sepo we r a n d a development edge (Erv used Michelin tire tests in Da ytona to refine and sor t-o ut a cl u tc h-drive wea k spot in the TZ bo ttom en ds) Ni xon should be right in t he hu n t. He ofte n ra n first or second last year with a disadvantage - riding a Ka wasaki . W ith th e same eq uipment as everyone e lse , Nixon co u ld b e u nsto pp a ble. T he winner? Kenny Rob erts, Steve Bak er, and J ohnny Cecot to . if th ey do have adva ntageous parts from Yamaha . will be favori tes . But Nixon , riding the Kanem oro Yamaha , will be a b le to compete with those th ree if h is b ike is com pa ra ble in pe rformance. If Mcl.au ghl in's bike will do 200 miles per hour, as wind tun ne l fa iring tests indicat e is possib le, if th e fai rin g is don e in time , if th e engine does not blow up as it was p ron e to do in 1976, a nd if McLaughlin doesn't bail he could also win. But if. McLaughlin fac es Baker , C ecotto , R o ber ts and N ix on with co m p ara b le ma chi nery, he won't be able to beat them, a ll other things being equal. T he best he could do wou ld be to lead t he charge behi nd the front four. As fas t as Mc La ughlin and twice as durable, Gene Romer o ca n win again if fa te ta kes a hand in the race - whi ch it always does . Romero finishes ra ces, and luck is as much a part of a Da yto na win as speed and skill. Pierce , Skip Aksland, Scott , a nd all the rest co uld be right in th ere , too , barring misfort une , but Pierce , Aksland , and Scott have all been bitten by Da ytona bad lu ck before (Pie rce - shift shaft brok e , 1976: Aksland - co llision wit h lappee, 1976 : Scott , broke wrist in crash, practice 1976 .) Cleek cou ld do well , too . Predict ions? All other things being equal , th e favorite h as i t o be Kenny Roberts. But at Daytona , things are ra rely eq ua l. 250 Expert The esta b lished sta rs fa ce th eir biggest threat in the 250 Expert ra ce. Da vid Emde, 18 years old, ha s beaten both Roberts a nd Baker in 250 class hea traces (Roberts at Laguna 1976 : Baker at Riverside 1976). On a Ma ck Kambayashi TZ250 with a trick Mack -, designed frame and pl enty of horsepower, Emde could win the lightweigh t race. He's never been beaten in the Calif. club races he enters all the time. Riding his bike in over 25 events last year, (and already two times this 15

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