Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

any time in th e history of this event ,' officia ls said, " That statement triggered protests by m an y privateers from all na tio ns . Typica l of the co mpla ints was one rider's: .. I came to ru n 200 m iles. I ca n ru n 200 m iles on a set of tires . If th ose ultra -quick guys can' t - tou gh l Do n't cha nge the race for the be nefit of a co up le of factory spo nsored bullet s." Rider reps were chose n to represent each co unt ry which had two or more riders present . (Pa t Evans asked . after the list of countries that had riders present was read off by referee Charl ie Wa tson "W ha t about California?") . The results of th e meeting which fo llowed produced th e following statement , "T he 200 -m ile race will be run in two 100 ·mile legs , using th e Olympic -FIM scoring system to determine the winner. One hou r will separate the e ve n t s . The race organizers said tha t the change is regretable (sic) but ha s been done at the req uest of th e riders and th e tire manufacturers in the interest of safet y: ' "Regrerable" was the released word , but " a bsolutely sick" was how on e Daytona In t e rn at io n a l Speedwa y spo kesman des cr ibed bow they felt about the who le dale. "You can bet it' ll be a 200 ·mile race next year. H aven 't they ever hea rd about weig ht m inimums or ca rbu retor restrictions?" W ha tever, the decision stuc k and riders face d two 100-mil e legs Sund ay a fternoon . W he n asked if th ey woul d be paid for performa nces in each leg , t hey were to ld th at th er e was n't enoug h time to brea k do wn th e purse and that t he pay -off wou ld be based , as the officia l sta tement read , on th e overa ll resu lts. Q ualifying. delayed by rain unt il Fr ida y. turned out as ex pected when Steve Bak er and Kenny Roberts posted ncar identical one-lap record speeds; Baker at 111. 772 mph and Robert s at 111.678. Down more than three mph to Bak er was Warren W illi ng in third sta rti ng position with a 108.708 mph lap. Rounding ou t the front row of the three-wave sta rting grid of 80 riders we re la st yea r's Da yt o n a win ner J ohn n y Cecor t o ( 108 . 16 6) and Frenc hma n Pat rick Pons (107.755). T he first no n -Yamaha rid er 'was next on the grid a nd th e "re bel" was Australia 's Gregg Hansfor d (107 .569) . H ansfo rd 's N.J.' Doyle sponsored/ tuned green- meanil' had been trimmed down from its 1976 weight of 320 pounds to 300 . Ron Pier ce was next fastest ( 107. 467) on the first Yamaha non-Ow'S] repl ica he rod e Harry Klinzrnann's TZ750C. Just as time trials proved what had been expected, so did th e start and finish of th e first (and last ) 100 ·m ile leg . Roberts and Baker rocketed o rr th e grid and led th e field around th e 3.84 mil e Da ytona course. Ha nsford cros sed the line third a t th e completion of lap one , follow ed closely by Skip Aksland a nd Patrick Pons. Several riders failed to complet e the first lap . David Emde unloaded in th e chicane whil e trying to pa ss Cecotto (" I think Cecotro dropped oil ," said Emde la ter .) with Mike Baeder and Ron Mass c ra sh ing after hitting Emde's bike a nd trail of debris. Emde po pped his disloca ted shou lde r back in pla ce himself, a nd was released from the track hospita l after x·rays. Baeder a nd Mass were re tained overnight in th e local hospital : Baeder wit h four broken ribs . Mass with a b roken co llarbone. La p two saw the Roberts-Ba ker (or was it the Baker-Robert s?) show establish their stre ngt h as th ey ope ned up a five -second lead over th e trail ing field . (Ab ove) U.S, Road Racing Champion Randy Cleek (Yam 29) pulls Jean Paul Bo inet (Yam), Pierce , and Dale Singleton (Yam) around inside lappe e A vrum Gudelsky (Yain 149) at midrace. (Below) 1976 Daytona winnerJohnny Cecotto retired with a gearbox leak after three laps, but not before oiling the chicane entrance and causing the first-lap crash of David Emde, M ik e Ba ed er, an d Ron Mass, T he large Venezuelan contingent on hand shed tears on the third lap whe n their national hero J oh nny Cecotto pull ed into the pits a nd re tired from the race due to an oil lea k from his ge arbox . T he leak was the ca use of Emde's lap one crash . At the end of Lap Five Bak er had opened up a slim m argin on Rob erts a n d was ave ragi ng 108 mph. Ta kazu m i Kat ayama h ad mov ed into th ird . a posi tion th at Ge ne Romero. Greg Ha nsford and Pa t rick Pons were also trying to sec u re . Mech a nical retirements by th e nin th la p included go -fasters Skip Aksland (clutch), Steve McLaughlin (ignition) and Gary Scott (seizu re). Mc l.aughlin had gone down in Sunda y morn ing's practice session and Scott had suffered a seized engine in th e same session . By lap ten Baker was averaging 109 .099 and held a seven -second lead over Roberts. whose best motor had broken in practice. Roberts was riding with a spare engine and later said. "Steve had a bit more power coming o ff the corners. Ra ther than ride too hard to sta y with him I backed off and j u st waited to see wha t wo uld happen. " Behind the front running d uo the field was settli ng into several race-lon g dices for top positions. The ru ndown a fter ten la ps read Ba ker , Roberts. Katayama . Hansford , Romero . Pons. Ron Pierce (t u rn ing in a fine ride aboard a No n -O W3 1 Yamaha T Z). Du tchman Boer van Du lrnen , rei gni ng AMA road ra cin g cha m p Ra ndy C leek an d reigning Formul a 750 ch amp Spa niard Vic tor Palom o . Gas sto ps started on the te nt h lap of th e 26 -lap heat with lead er Bak er coming in on the 14th lap and bringing' th e cro wd to their feet with a foursecond stop. With Baker pitting. R ob erts , aboard a c o m b in a t io n Yamaha wh ich uti lized the chassis of 7

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