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/126252
(A boue} Kenny R ob erts ( Yam 2) leads Steve Bak er ( Yam 32) , Gregg Hansf ord (Kaw 302) and Skip Aksland ( Yam 27) ea rly in t he race. (Be low) Warren Willing ( Yam 385) , R on Pierce (Yam 97) and Pat Evans (Y am 51) wen t back andfort h before Willing p ulled ah ead . (B ottom) 1975 win n er Gen e "Burritto" R om ero finished fifth . R omero is always near th e f ront at Dayt ona. Steve Baker wins "Daytona IOO"bY28 seconds By Jack Mangus DA YTONA BEACH , FL , MA R. 13 What should have been the 36th-annual Daytona 200 became the Daytona 100 Sunday afternoon. Tire wear problems caused officials to break the race down into two 100-mile legs, 6 and th en ra in ca used th e seco nd heat to be ca nc eled. Yam aha 's St eve Bak er , who ran awa y fro m his o n ly o p position - Ken ny Robert s - in the first leg , wa s d ecl a red t he winn e r of th e o pe n ing ro und of th is year's Fo rmula 750 W orl d Championship Series . The victory nett ed Bak er ove r $19 ,000 a nd pu t him at the head of th e pack in the three-r ace AG V H elmet s W o rld Cu p T rop hy Seri es which will see the conclu d ing ro u nds ru n a ~ France's Paul Rica rd C irc u it a nd Ita ly's Im ola A utodrorno Dino Ferrari . T he win acco mpanied Baker's Lightweight race victory th e pre vious day to make him th e first " do u ble winner" since Ga ry Nixon's 1967 do u b le , T he wee k sta rted off on a down not e as rai n cancelled all of Mond ay's sche d uled pract ice . T ues day brought the first in di cation o f t rouble- to-come as tir e problems cro p ped u p . T he two "laser -beam quick " Yama has of Bak er a nd Ro berts wer e obviously goi ng to requir e a tire cha nge in a 200 m ile ra ce . O ther co mpeti tors a lso had doubts a bo ut the cha nces of th eir tires last in g th e fu ll 200 mil es o n a track whic h was m ore a brasive this yea r due to recent Florida freezes. Saturday saw m any making alter a tion s to th eir bik es to cut d own o n th e tim e req ui re d to change rear wheels . Kel Ca rruther s sai d both Bak er's a nd Roberts' bikes co uld have the rear wheel replaced in a bo ut 30 seco nds . Privat eers fort u nate eno ug h to have spa re wh eels sa id th eir ch a nges wo uld t ak e fo u r to fi ve m inu tes - ra cers without the m oney for spa re whe el assem blies were ou t of lu ck . The fir st officia l ch ange in the sta nd ard running procedure of the ra ce was issue d in a ' rel ease Saturday, It read , " A t t he concl usio n o f the 32nd lap of com pet ition (123 mil es ) all competito rs will receive the bl ack flag to ch eck ti res and m ak e cha nges if nec essa ry. The race will co ntin ue one hour later o n th e 33 rd lap with the checkered flag scheduled to fa ll after 5 2 laps and 200 mil es . . . Acom bi na tion of fa ctors has caused th e orga nizers to m ake this decision. 'The factors include higher horsepower of the m ach in es wh ich is expected to lead to higher competitive speeds than at