Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1980 03 12

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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o 00 CJ) 16 ways makes winning difficult, and his bike has always got a double dOle of ho~. But Roberu'luck at Daytona IS just about as bad as a penon could have, 10 I'm counting on Roberts' luck being the same. He won't fmish. I'm just considering Roberts out and then re-arranging all the luck down the line. If nothing happens and Kenny finishes, I still think that if the fourstrokes are fast enough, then Roberts may have a chase on his hands. But if everything goes Roberu' way, it will be II cMse. Dale SiDgletonlTaylor White Yamaha/two«roke Dale always goes real fast at Daytona. He had a lot of problems in the last half of the 1979 seuon though, and I'm not real sure how he's going to come out of that problem. I don't know if that psychologically bothers him or if he will come back to Daytona with the same energy as he had last year. Last year at the stan of Daytona he looked like he was mentally going to win and then he did win the race. He was really pumped. He had his pet pig there; he had everything going for him. But I have a feeling that it's going to be a little bit tougher for him this year than it was Iut year. Dale will be right up in there. He'll be competitive, for sure. But he won't win. llaDdy Mamola. I don't know what kind of machinery Randy will ride at Daytona, whether it will be a two-stroke Yamaha prepared by George Vukmonovich or a Suzuki GB Fonnula One four-stroke or even an RG500 Suzuki two-stroke, 50 I don't know if his machinery is going to be competitive. But Randy should really be mentally up for Daytona. He's been getting a lot of European experience. I watched him last year. I raced with him for a little bit at Daytona in the 1979 200 miler until I got sideways in the chicane and lost the leaders. He was riding just fantastic at Daytona last year. And judging by all the press I've read about him in Europe, he's been doing quite well. I think Randy will be one of the toughest competitors at Daytona this year. Randy had matured, and his attitude is a lot better than it used to be and I think that he should go really well. He may win. Skip AkalaDd/Yamaha/twO-ltroke Skip probably has had as many problems at Daytona as a person could have. Last year he was so favored to win and just didn't do anything. He had mechanical trouble all week long and one thing after another. Then be had trouble with his din track program all season after Daytona. So I'm not sure about Skip. Mentally, you have to be really pumped for Daytona. 1 haven't seen Skip. I know he'll be riding hard, but I don't know if he'll be riding on factory prepared machines again this year or not. If he's not, I think that is going to take away some of his chances. Mike BaldwinlYamaha/two«roke Well, if he's physically up for it. Mike will be a threat but 1 hope his riding strategy changes. Last year he was pushing 50 hard and he wanted to win 50 badly that he over-rode the motorcycles he was riding. I think if you want to have a long racing career, you don't try to over-ride your motorcycJe or go beyond its capabilities. I just hope that he's done some thinking since he's gotten out of the hospital and maybe smoothed out a little. Mike's probably one of the best riders I've ever seen. But I think he had a problem last year - he thought he could do no wrong on a motorcycle. I think that unfortunately he found out that he could do some wrong on a motorcycle, and I think it is a mental outlook thing where he has to get it together. I hope he does that. I wish him all the best of luck at Daytona. I just don't know if he can really be it. If there is a scale of 10 measuring hard riding, David will run it at 11 until it quits. Moriwaki Superbike and Formula 1 By Pat Eagan Baed on e Z1-R Kaw_kl. the MorIwlIkl blk. could be the ....per of the lot. Although w.ll-known In Jepen. Europe end AuRreIle. Memoru MorIwlIkl hu nev. before fielded en .ffort In the United Stlltea. A strong end poaItIv. d.parture from the Kew_kI Superblk.a of e few years ego Is the good handling of the MorIwlIkI blk., Frame modlflC8'dona ere few but obvioualy Importllnt. The rek. hu been Increued e degree by cutting the top backbone end bringing the steering heed back. The horizontal a1denIlla have been breced allghtly to the downtubes up front just below the steering heed. As I*' atenct.d prectIce. the backbone end a1derIIlls have been joined by tubing end aheetm8UI1 In front of where the aider8l1a curve down toward the awIng.-m pivot. The awIngerm pivot Is atenderd but e gusset hu been edded where the frame tubes meet just behind the pivot. The awIngerm Is stock length but hu en extnl brec:e running .....1eI end undemeeth the erma with en .xtnI curved brec:e betwe.n the erma end right In front of the wheel. SuspensIon Is henc:l1ed by the tried end proven KYB edjuateble forks end ahocks. At 38mm dlamet8r. the tubes ere at8ndIIrd size end they ere 3O.6lnchea long. Length of the ahocka Is 12.91nc:hea. Wheels ere Engllah made Dymega - WM4-18 front end WM6-18 rear. Dymega ere reported to be the Hghteat on the m.ket. Gooclyeer tires ere mounted - 3.518 In the front end 3.75-18 In the ..... Muter cyIl~ end c:ellpers ere Lockheed ell eround ec:tIng on atenct.d KZ1000 rotors up front with e domeatlc Z2!iO front rotor for the full fIoetIng .... brak•. The atey .rm for the rur brlIk. Is ettachecI to the frame making Ilk. e perellalogrem. Being e menufec:turlng bualneaa. MorIweki mak.. ell the nonatendwd components. Th. haed Ia the meln aource of pow•• end MoriwlIkI'a chief mechanic. K.nael Seto porta end fIowa the heed to e mirror finish uaing 38mm Intak. velv.a end 31 mm .xheust v.Iv... cam timing Is set et &6°.26°, 26°-66°. Mor1wllkl menufectur.. hla own platona ualng e preaaur. castIng m.thod. WIth e 7O.3mm bor•• the alngle Dyk.. compression ring platona yield 1024.8cc. right on th.llmlt. The crenkahaft la atenet.d. e. Is the clutch, but the trllnamlnion la c10H-1'l1t10. Ignition la atendard KZ1000 Mk II. Both Superblk. end Formula 1 motors ere to the nme apecs. Including Keihin CR carburetors. Oil coolers are hand·mad. by MorIwekl .mploy. .a .nd .r. fed by brlIlded ateellinea. The fram. on the Formule 1 bik. la ell hand bent by on. of MorIwakl'a employ.... Yeau Kometaukl. Uk. the MorIwlIki hand-bent .xhaust pipes fitted to both blk.a. the tubes are filled with und end then heated up In the right places end then bent - the frame Is e reel work of art. The Formula 1 fram. w.lght ia 26.4 Ib comperec:l to the Superblk. frame which weighs 42.9 lba. Rectangular tubing measuring 1" by 2" la uaecl for the awIngerm. KometlIUkl hend-forma the six gallon fuel tenk from aluminum with atanderd qulck-fil provlalona. For the Daytona 200 mile Formula 1 r.ce. Keweukl Japen teat riel•• M_kl Tokuno wII rIcIe one "Monster" end southern California hero. end U.S. Ke~kl factory riel. Eddie Lawson wII pilot the other. Tokuno will rIcIe one Superblk. end SoCaI club rae:.- Pet Eagen win get the opportunity of r1e1lng the ottt. one. competitive after being in the hospital for 50 many months. Dave AldanalYOIhimura Suzuki/ four«roke Dave's going to be tough. He's probably going to be the fastest rider on the Yoshimura team. I watched him ride the four-strokes at the Suzuka EightHours Endurance race in japan last year and he had a little bit of a problem stopping the machine because of the engine braking effect. I think that with time he'll catch on and fall right into the groove. His size and weight will give him an advantage over Graeme Crosby (another Yoshimura Suzuki rider), and his detennination is very strong. So, if Yoshimura gives him a competitive motoccycle, he's gonna be tough. It·s just that I have a feeling that the Yoshimura bikes might not finish the 200 miles. If they try to run the same type of horsepower that their Superbikes had last year, or maybe even try to hop them up a little bit more. I just don't know if the engines will take it. Last year when I rode for Yoshimura, when we rode them hard for very long, we had rod problems. I understand they've got a different crankshaft and some new pans, but there has yet to be any long-distance testing done on it to my knowledge. 50 the longevity of the engine is the doubtful point. But I know that David will run Wes CooieylYOIhimura Suzuki! four«roke Wes will be a threat. He's always been very fast on the Superbike Production machines. But Wes has always had problems in the GP class and he's always been just a little off the pace in GP. I think maybe he's lacking just a bit of experience and confidence. I think he'll be running good, but I don't think that he'll be up in the very fast four-strokes at Daytona. I think he'll probably be off the pace just a little bit. I think he has the ability. but I don't think that he's got the confidence yet in that class. He's never had a really good finish yet, so mentally I don't think he's up. And being mentally up is what it's going to take to go really fast at Daytona this year. Graeme Cl'OIIbylYOIhimura Suzuki! four...troke Crosby is going to be new at Daytona. He's from New Zealand and he has done very well racing Down Under, in japan and in Europe in Fonnula One type races. But the Daytona track surface will be new to Crosby, which is a disadvantage. From the ability he's shown me, I'm sure he'll be going very fast and ride the motorcycle very hard. It's just that I think that not being at Daytona before could be a factor. Among the three Yoshimura riders, I think that David Aldana has the best chance with Crosby second fastest on the team and Wes third. David EmdeIHap JODes Yamaha/ two-etroke David will do real well. He's good for finishing racers. He's easy on motorcycJes, which is imponant for Daytona. If Floyd (Erode) and mechanic Tony Smith can get together a fast engine for David, he'll be alright. I understand he's got a new sponsor, Hap jones, and hopefully his mechanics are good. He might be able to pull off a third win for the family. It sounds good, but realistically I'll have to say that the odds of him winning are against him right now. Harry Klinzmann Klinzmann will be going good, but I'm not sure what he'll be riding. As yet he hasn't had a good GP ride. Ifhe gets one he'll be good for the top 10. Richard Schlachter/Yamaha/twostroke Schlachter should be going real good at Daytona. His last perfonnances of 1970 were very good. I understand that in Europe he had lOme problems, but on the short courses over there he was doing fantastic. But once again, Daytona demands horsepower, and if Richard is doing his own engine work I think that he'll be lacking on that good horsepower down the long straightaway. It's very difficult to get that power and 50 far only a few factory machines, Yamahas, will be there. The Yamahas up front will be the factory Yamahas, the ones with factory Yamaha pans. Freddie SpeDcer/Erv Kaaemoro Yamaha/twCHtroke I think Freddie and Erv will be going for pole position in qualifying, but Erv's finishing record at Daytona is not too good, 50 I think that will be a factor. Freddie showed last year that he knows how to ride the Daytona Speedway really well. I saw him ride the 250 race last year and he was superb. The last couple of races last year on the Superbikes he did superb. I think that his ability is there and Erv Kanemoto's engines are rocketships. But they have a problem finishing Daytona, and think that might be a factor. If Erv can get his engine to run die whole 200

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