Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(A boue} Typical of ~ he g eneral Superb ike Production scramble is th isflying wedg e led by Wes Cooley.on the Yoshimura Kaw and shadowed ~y Cook N eilson and his California H ot R od Ducati. (Inset) Th e current Superbik e Champion, R eg Pridmore. year) , Emde must have some advantage over competitors who only show up for na tionals. The men Emde must beat are bullets. Both Baker and Roberts, while beaten in heat races , have left Emde behind in final races, which is where it counts. Pat Hennen, who ran with Baker a nd Roberts at Daytona in 1976 , won't ride this year. Nixon , who probably will ride the very-sane Harry Hunt TZ250 (Hennen rode it in 1976) in later 1977 nationals, may or may not ride the 250 event at Da ytona . If he does , he'Il be as competitive as anyone. Adding uncertainty will be Walter VilIa , 250cc World Champion on his fast European HarleyDavidson, and Takazumi Katayama , ridi ng a pri vate Yamaha borrowed from Doug T eague. Either cou ld do business, but both will be at a d isadvantage on a strange track in a stra nge clim a te , and . in Katayama's case . on a strange bik e. Both Roberts' and Baker's Yamaha 250s hav e new KeiCarruthers frames for 1977 . This ha s made Roberts' 250 three inches lower and ~O pounds ligh ter than last year. W ith three fewer teeth on th e rear sprocket. Roberts' factory 250 engine is pulling th e same peak RPM in top gear; and ha s al ready been clocked at ISO mph. . AlI th ings considered, Roberts is th e favori te , with Baker and N ixon close . and Emde a darkhorse , Supe rb ike Production 16 There's usualIy more back-and-forth ra cin g in th e popular modified street bike Superbike Production class than in any other. Reg Pridmore domi nate d th e races and won the title of Superb ike Production Champion in 1976 on his Butler a nd Smi th BMW, BMW teammates Gary Fisher and Steve McLaughlin came in second and third in th e series, with McLaughlin tied for third with Cycle ma gazin e ed itor Cook Neilson and his Phil SchilIing-prepared Ducati sss« Desmo. Pridmore, after a few months of uncertainty and disputes, is back with a H elmet Kern -bu ilt BMW RI00S -based racebike for 1977 . Two of th e fast BMWs have been prepared. both more stock -look ing than last year's bikes , with Kern uncertain wh ether or not to use one as spare or to recru it another rider for th e team. Neilson's Du cati is faster th a n it was last year, and Ne ilson has another year of ra cing experien ce under his belt (He only sta rted road racing in 1973 ). In 1976 , Neilson's Duck was faste r than anything else at Da ytona , but th e trio of BMW pros beat him with sheer skill. At Ri versid e , Neilson demonstrated tha t he had learned a few tricks during the season - beating McLaughlin in the last turn in spite of an ill motor , finishing second behind Pridmore. Wes Cool ey Jr.'s Yoshimura R&D of Am eri ca ZI would hav e been a favorite for th e Da ytona race, with handling to match its awesome horsepower fina lIy sort ed ou t of th e former-wobbler. Cool ey beat Pridmore and Nei lson at an Onta rio clu b ra ce on Feb . 1~ , bu t his bike's m ot or burned up in a fire a t Yoshimura 's five days la ter . Pops Yoshimura was inj ured in that fire . a nd re mains hosp ita lized . Pops' son , Fuj io, a nd assistants scra m b led to prepare a new engi ne and two spa res , borrowing shop space from another tuner. T wo qu estions clo ud th e Yoshimura entry - W ill th e mot or run without Pops' personal attention? And wilI th e bik e handle withou t th e ilIega l- by -Su per bi ke- Prod u ction -ru les BiMoto box -section swin garm ? The ra ce fa vorit e is Pridmor e , with Neilson a nd Ron Pierce , who will ride the BMW that McL aughl in ra ced last year (now owne d by Johnny Kok inos of Johnny's Motor cycles in Bak ersfield, Cali f. ) close contenders. Pierce ha s be a ten Pridmore (Lagu na, 1975 ) a nd Neilson has led Pridmore . but Pridmor e has th e most experience a nd best fin ishing reco rd on large producti on bikes. If th e Yoshimura bike handles , and if it runs as fast at Da yton a as it has at Ontario, Cooley could win . A d a rkh orse is Ke ith Code . R elativel y inex pe rie nced, C od e led P r idmore , Fish e r , McL au gh lin , a nd Ne ilson a t Laguna Seca for fou r laps in 1976 , until his b ike sto pped pulI in g fifth gea r a fter su cki ng in di rt a nd loosing co m pressio n . Pridmore fina lly won . Code seco nd, with Fisher , McL au ghl in and Nei lson not finis hi ng. Code's bike , wit h a Yoshimu ra engi ne , sho u ld be almos t as fas t as Cooley's and sh ou ld handl e better , th anks to th e efforts of Pierre Des Roch es. a ma ster frame tuner. Sponsor ed by Racecrafters , Code ma y surprise some people a t Da ytona . Code's b ike is already sup rising - th e swing arm of th e KZIOOO looks stock exce p t for a tubular brace running across a few inches ahead of th e tire. Everyone knows such a stock -looking swing arm can 't . work on a bike infamous for wobbling - unless there's magic inside. Novice race As usual , most of the Noviceentries are unknown to all but their fri ends , One hard-to -beat ride r in the Novi ce event shou ld be John Glover of Garden Grove , Calif. Glover took a th ird place in his first 250 GP race at Ontario last yea r , H e's also beaten the Open Pr oduction class at Onta rio on occasion with a 750cc Norton Commando. Along with co -rider 1' ,]. Rice , Glover piloted an RD~ 50 to fourth overall a t th e 1976 AFM Six-Hou r Endurance race at Onta rio , For Da ytona , Glover will ride Tony Mu rphy's Mack Kambayash i-runed TZ250 . T he co mbination of bike a nd rider will be hard to beat. Ed di e La wson , wh o al rea dy has a n envia ble record as a Western Region No~j ce dirt tracke r. has received a Mack Ka m bayashi Yam aha for the Da ytona Novice event. W ith top ca libre equipment Lawso n , who has been building ex perie nce a t Cali forn ia club races. becomes a n insta nt th rea t. Harley-Da vidson team racer T ed Boody will rid e a n RR 250 in t he Nov ice cl ass. Judgi ng b y p as t performa nces of America n 250cc H ·D ro ad racers. Bood y p robably won 't be in the hunt. M otocro ss. Class C. and other st uff T he AMA Supercross Series will hit Daytona d irec t fro m th e Atlanta ro u nd . T he ser ies is an a ll important one to t he. fac tories: so th ey are unlim berin g a ll their new machl?ery for It. It a p pears that J immy W ein ert , th e d.efend l'.'g. S u perc r~ss Cha~pi on will be th e on ly top rider mlssmg . (We inert will be sid eline d wit h a n el bow in jury). If t ha t .isn't eno ugh , chec k ou t the spee d way raci ng a t VOIUSl3 County Speedw ay with a go od fie ld of both east a nd west coast rid ers ., Although probably sold ou t, the short tr ack action a t Mem orial Stad iu nns not to be m issed if possibl e. Other spo rts include ca ro usi ng, wenc hi ng, drinking, sightseeing, cruising. swim m ing and just plain t aking in the whole scene . . .Enjoy . •

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