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/126399
THE PAPERS "... And now ladies and gentlemen, we are going to pause for a 200-mile National road race. " That's the way it seems to be going for the annual Daytona Cycle Week, which • actually is closer to two weeks long this time. It's d e to all the ad dit iona l U • events that ha ve ,cropped up In " recent years on the half mile. short track and motocross tracks from Atlanta to Tampa. For the poor old Expert- ranked road racer there are only three events: the 100 -mile Superbike Production , the IOO -mile 250cc International Lightweight and the Dayton a 200. For the dirt tracker , there are so many ev~nts that a rank No~ce could dam near head south for hIS first Pro race and come home with enough ,Points to not only get out of the NOVIce class , but if rules allowed,. scor~ ~~ough to get out of the Jumor dIVlSIOl: and become a full fledged Expert m less than two weeks! . For years, there were few-If-any h~lf miles in Florida d~ring an ent.lre season. Now there WIll be half miles four straight days (two day events, two n ight races) starting on Saturday, M~rch 3 at the brand ,new Tamp a ha lf mile , a nd the n th ere s a day race on Sunday just west of Dayton a. The~ the near- Daytona track, for the firs t tim e , hosts two straight nights of half m.iling on the Monday and Tuesday evenmgs. The Novice riders keep right on going and move into the Daytona quarter mil~ for 'Yednesday and Thu.rsday night. WIth Wednesday Novl~e"only .and . Thurs~ay.a combmed Novlce/Ju.mor affair. Friday and Satur~ay mghts are for the Ex~rts andJun~ors. . BIll West , JIm France and Bob Janelle are the three promoters of the half miles , and all have sponsors for the shows . ~XL hosts Ta~pa , Busch beer tags mto ~he Volusia Co~nty Speedway half mile for ~he first tI~e. Bill West will keep ng~t on gomg after the Daytona ~~ek IS ~ver and host a raft of. additional ~Irt track events for the nders who don t want to go back north to the snow and cold. . When a rider runs out of .r~ces ~n Florida, he can ?ea.d w~t to. California where J.C. AgaJa~uan IS gomg to h~st week ly Friday mght Pro hal.f ml!e races. starting with. the last Fnday m March and ru n n m g t~rough the middle of May. T here WIll be m or e Professio.nal oval track races before May I this year tha~ ever before. . By the way , the kicker for all J~mors that ride the wee kly Ascot races IS that these will be the J u nior qua li~ers to ride in the May 6 San Jose mile and Ascot half mile National "Juni?r I nvi ta ti?n~ls. " The top 12 or 15 WIll get the mvues. - DoWn' arDaymm.- and' Tampa ,"Ja y'- Springsteen's 'lit tl e brother Chuck, who is a head ta~ler ~han Jay, makes his debut as aJumor dirt tracker. Gary Scott and many other talented Experts are already signed up to ride most of the din track events. Yes, Gary is also going to ride in the Daytona.200. . Kawasaki returns to Flonda with a full-fledged team after .m issing for several years. Kork Ba llm gt on from South Africa is the rider that won the world .FIM road racing titles last year in both the 250 and 350cc classes and was the only double victor. But t4,e Big K is not conte~t to)u~t bring the winner. Also heading m IS Greg Hansford from Australia who was the runnerup in both classes behind Ballingt on .. The thi rd man, taking his first factory ride: is Mike Bald win , the New England ace who fin ally ca.me i.nto ~is own in '78 and ended u p With vrctories and the high point title in the road race division. Honda will be there with their motocross team bu t along with them will come key managem~nt people from both sides of t he Pa cific to ta ke one fina l look at the road r ace picture. That's the same people th at came in ' once before a few years ago , won the 200 , and went back to selling street machines. Honda scored one in the TT at Houston and the people are pumped higher than ever before on racing. The time is very close , I would guess ,. for a total Winston Series effort - Just 'a guess , mind you. Last year's top Novice road racer, Freddie Spencer, who won every race he finished, joins th e Expert 250cc Lightweight ranks with veteran Erv Kanemoto turning the wrenches. Now that's a combination. Fred die was a runaway winner in the Novice Daytona road race last year but will be pitted against the best 2501:c riders in the world in the Saturday event. Don't bet that he can't run with the best of them; he already has in previous races. The headliner , of course , would have been Kenny Roberts. who won his first Daytona 200 last year in a record ride that found hi m lapping t he entire field . Bu t King Ken ny crashed whi le . practicing in J a p an , a nd his inju ries will kee p him from co mpeting at Dayton a . At the time of this writi?g, he was in a body cast after havmg broken a bone in his back. Dayton a would have been his first American race since last September when he raced at Laguna Seca. Kenny had been to Daytona already , lapping at close to the two , 7) " . • " " (.GfJ!, lan u ed- ro .fNZge I '/ r: YOU WANT A HIGH Y.I. FORK 01 I know thot Lubri-Tech High V.1. Fork O il maintains fork perform an ce for longer than ordinary fork oils. Hey, Lubri-Tech inven ted fork o il for motorcycles almost ten years ago a nd they have kept up with the sport. Their higher viscosity index (V.I.) means that thei r oil retains consistent thickness through a broader range of temperatures. TREAI YOUR FORKS RIGHI I don 't take chances with my suspensi on. You haven 't been ra cing in the dirt ver y long if yo u do n't inspect yo ur forks reg ularly . If fo rks a re leak ing, the seals ore pro bably shot . . . and it might be caused by the oil you 're using, Lubri-Tech keeps sea ls from dry ing out or swell ing. Some other fork oils a ctually cause a swelling of the seals. I don 't want that, you don 't, and certa inly no manufacturer of quality forks recommends distort ing the seals. "DIAL N" A WINNING FEEL If you know your bike like I do , you can play around with various weights of Lubri-Tech High V.1. Fork O il to get the feel and response you want. Blend l.ubri-Tech oils to get the viscosity you know you can win with. Cha nge fork a il we ight as track conditions require. But, remember to care for yo ur forks. When I follow the Lubri-Tech 12 step {a ce prep and use Lubri-Tech quality products, it rem inds me to have my bike ready when it's time to race. When you 're your own tuner, you need all the help you can get. • The Serious No. 1 5 Alwa ys follo w tbe recommenda tions of moto rcycle a nd equipment mart fO urers. u d Alwoys use Lobn -Iech lubrica nts and performancechemicalsa s recommend ed. ' l Lb' i.Tech Pr6ducts. 1251·N . Kil o rre i~ ;"Gbl"*e: 1l6OOJ.l.~ ~ ..: _ _ ~ _ _- -=-':-::-_...... ~ r b " ,i 4