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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126461
o ex> 0') .-4 Daytona 200 Road Race Lady Luck smiles on Pons, frown By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Charles Morey and Tom Mueller 1)AYTONA BEACH, Fb~IIL\ll.' Frenchman Patrick Pons, after placing third in last year's event, finally got his wish - a win in the 39th Annual Daytona 200. Pons, aboard a Sonauto/Gauloises/GPA Yamaha TZ750, used consistent riding and a bit of help from Lady Luck to reel in the , I WIn, Second place went to ast year's winner Dale Singleton and 6 his Taylor White Construction/Beaulieu America/PJI Yamaha TZ750 while Dutchman Boet Van Dulmen put his Yamaha into third, Rounding out the top five we~ Skip Aksland's PJI-sponsored Yamaha and the Yamaha of F~nchman Marc Fontan. David Aldana is credited with putting his YOIIhimura Suzuki four-stroke into sixth place. However.. Aldana protested that he was scored incorrectly and actually placed second, The protest was tunaed down by AMA's Bill Boyce. Aldana now has 10 days to appeal that ruling. Until then the only official finisher is Pons. Honda's Ron Pierce placed seventh - the only other four-stroke in the top 10 followed by Benny Del Monico's Amol Precision·sponsored Yamaha, the Yamaha of Jimmy Adamo and the Mr. AI's Restaurant Special of Harry K1inzmann. "I am very happy to have won the 200," said Pons in winner's circle. "I came he~ as 'F750 World Champion with winning on my' I feh tIuIt I bad a chance if I got _luck. I did." Singleton and his mascot, Elmer n, again hogged most of the limelight. "Our early gas stop paid off," said Singleton. "However, if it wasn't for that rain delay I wouldn't have done anything. The changes we made during that time were what made my race. I want to thank my sponsors Taylor White and Carl Bouckhart and my brother Toot plus my whole crew. We finally got thinp toget~. It's been a long week. I'm glad it's over." Van Dulmen, who does speak some English, did not get a chance to say anything in winner's circle other than express his happiness at finishing third after having problems which wrote DNF on his effort last year. Pons' good fortune was bad luck for Freddie Spencer, who just 12lapa from the checkered flag had a full minute lead on the field when the crank broke in his Howard Racing/Arai·sponsored Yamaha. "Of course I'm very disappointed," said Spenar. "But rlD~ disappointed for Erv (Kanemoto) be· cause he worked all winter on the bike and really had things dialed in." Bad luck also struck Kenny Roberts who completed two 1apa before puking his factory Yamaha with problems caused by grit in the throttle slides. Rain, as last year, was again a factor. This time it halted the program after 10 laps and caused an almost three hour delay while the track dried. Among the new wrinkles for this year's edition of the 200 w~ the introduction of the Formula One class which reo places F750 and allows four-strokes up to 1025cc to run with restricted 750cc two-strokes and unrestricted 500cc two-strokes. In addition, for the 6rIt time in road racing, t~ a~ three women licensed as Experts. Of those three '.' _ ..... ~ ~ ...... t· ~ ...