Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

not have enough bikes to allow Mamola to race. There will be only one bike fielded by Honda. but you can bet the effort and preparation will be enormous. Honda's rising star, Freddie Spencer will ride the bike and Spencer as well as Honda does nOllike to lose. He led a vast portion of the start and restart of last year's 200 on a Yamaha 750 prepared by Erv Kanemoto until mechanical problems called a halt to his ride with 12 laps remaining and nearly a min\lt~ lead in hand. Spencer's bike will utilize a frame from Honda's Racing Services Center in Japan. The engine, according' to team manager Ron Murikami, is a "wide open Superbike engine. Just about everything that was a problem last year has been scrutinized and, hopefully. corrected. Reliability is the key -- if you don't finish, it doesn't maller where you were running." "The 200 is a long race." said Spencer prior to a Friday, February 27 test session in Daytona. "We'll just have to wait and see who's around at the finish. It could be .very interesting. " Contrary to the above, rumors persist that Honda will send in a special engine from Japan with the express purpose of grabbing Honda another 200 win. Initially. it was believed that Kawasaki would not field a Formula One effort, concentrating instead on the Superbike Championship. It was also thought if they did, they would contest the 200 with their contracted rider Eddie Lawson. Not so on both counts. Apparently Lawson and Kawasaki could not come to terms on money for his riding Formula One so Kawasaki was forced to look for another rider, contacting, among others, Rich Schlachter and David Erodf'. Schlachter declined and Erode gOlthe job. A factory endurance racer like the one Lawson and Gregg Hansford rode to a Second place finish in last year's 8 Hours of Suzuka Oapan) will be modified for Daytona. It will incorporate a single shock suspension. There will be a second factory entry by Kawasaki .. the Moriwaki Kawasaki team. This effort is much like that of Yoshimura in that it is an outside funded R&D efforl. The entrif'S will be riaden by Englishman Roger Marshall and Australian Wayne Gardner. Marshall's entry will feature a box section aluminum frame with conventional swingarm and lay-down rear shocks while Gardner will have a more conventional frame. The power. is from a Moriwaki-modified Kawasaki engine. There is one entry that should be looked at as at least semi-factory assisted .. that of Roberls/Lawwill Racing for Mike Kidd. With Kenny Robens fielding his own team it seems fair to assume that the machinery will be nothing less than the besl. Kidd will ride the injured Skip Aksland's bike. Aksland and Roberts are close friends and Aksland's machinery has always had the benefit of at least some technical if not mechanical help from the factory. Kidd. although having road raced on just a few occasions recently, was one of the beller road racers in the early to mid·1970 s. There are plenty of strong runners in the rest of the field. However, one we will not see is defending champ Patrick Pons. Frenchman Pons was killed in a racing accident late last year. He was the second foreign rider to win the 200 and then die in the same year. Finnish rider Jarno Saarinen, the 1975 winner, died in a GP accident that year. Dale Singleton, who won the 1979 200 and finished second last ~ar, and Geoe R'omno." ·.'lio Won - tbe !OO 'ill .-4 00 0') .-4 1975, are the only previous (with Roberts) winners of the event entered. Singleton will be gunning for another win or at least a top three finish to hoist himself into the record books. Roger Reiman, Cal Rayborn and Dick Mann all wllected back·toback 200 wins, but could never put together a third consecutive top three finish. Singleton will be aboard an updated Yamaha TZ750 upon which he won the Pocono National last year. With over 200 miles of recent tire testing for Goodyear at Daytona behind him, Singleton says he is "ready" to do business. Singleton will have assistance from John Redding. his Australian GP mechanic, at Daytona. Romero, one of th .. most popular riders' around, will probably not compete. He split from his sponsor Don Vesco at the end of last season and hasn't firmed up another one. "Right now," said Romero on February 25, "the chances of me riding in the 200 are between slim and none. If things aren't right and I don't have a bike to believe I can win on then maybe it's better not to race. This will be the first DaYLOna 200 I've missed in a long time -- a very long time," Two-time U.S. Road Racing Champion Richard Schlachter has not had very good racing luck in the 200. He will be looking LO .break that jinx. "I don't have a major sponsor this year," said Schlachter. "The bike is the one I used last year but has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. I expect to have a very good race." David Aldana. who broke while battljng for the lead with Dale Singleton in the final laps of the 1979 200 and put a Yoshimura Suzuki 4stroke in sixth last year (he protested he finished second, but it was disallowed), will have a "very fast" bike for the 200. Aldana will ride a Yamaha fielded by Yamaha Motor Canada's Bob Work and Bonneville veteran Don Vesco. Work-prepped bikes won the 1977 200 and fmished fourth and second, respectively, in 1978 and '79. Gina Bovaird, Caner Alsop and Wendy Epstein. the only women road racers to hold an expert license, are also on the entry lisl. Bovahd, who became the first female rider to qualify for the 200 last year. will again ride her Yamaha TZ500 GP bike. Both Alsop and Epstein feel more at home on production mOLOrcycles and will attempt to qualify 4-stroke Suzukis -- basically their Superbike entries. There are plenty of riders too numerous to name who have a shot at cracking into the top ten. The 200 is just that, 200 miles of nat out racing and just being there at the finish, as opposed to beiDK in contention, can be very. ~ difIituIt. ' , ,. . The biggest question is are the 4· strokes a threat to the 2-stroke domination? The bikes have come a long way in a year's time. The Superbike Championship (in this country) has been a very good proving ground. The lap times at Daytona in the final Superbike round were nearly four seconds faster than the year's openjng round on the same track. Translate that power into a new bike with any frame you wish and streamlining and you have a viable Formula One contender. There are many pluses and minuses to debate. Only time will tell. However, what it really boils down LO in the end is still a good shake from Lady Luck. If you don't think so, ask Kenny Roberts. This is Robens' tenth visil. He has been and still remains the odds-on favorite in the 200. Yet he's only won once. Superbike 100 In past years the Superbike event has been one of the most looked forward to races of Cycle Week. This year is no exception. If you've never heard the thundering power of 80 4· strokes roaring into the first tum on the opening lap or the symphony of sounds _. dIstinct by brand and even within brand -- during gear-changing in the infield then you're in for a treal. Over the past few seasons the balance of power has shifted overwhelmingly to the Japanese four cylinder machines of Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Yamaha does not com pete since they do not manufacture a readily adaptable model that falls within the displacement -- 1025cc maximum .. limits of the class. Unfortunately, the days when BMW. Ducati, MOLO-Guzzi and Laverda twins were contenders is no longer around. However. that has not SLOpped them from hanging in there keeping everyone honest. Defending Superbike 100 champ Graeme Crosby of Australia and AMA Superbike Championship titlist Wes Cooley head the list of entries which hover around the 100 mark. The pair will be Yoshimura Suzuki mounted. At this writing Yoshimura was still planning on using GSIOOO-based engines. Perhaps that leaves the door open to something from Japan. The swingarm will be boxed aluminum: The bike will be updated. AMA rules have been rewritten following the controversy involving a frame modification by Yosrumura which arose in the final round of the championship. Last year's rules were loosely interpreted and loosely enforced. In shan, everyone bent them. This year everytrung that was illegally but universally used last year is now basically legal. The definition of the frame has been narrowed to the main engine cradle. In addition, cutting tbe steering bead and the \IX of accessory swingarms is allowed. There will be a three rider team from Honda - Freddie Spencer. who finished second in last year's event, new team rider Mike Spencer, and support team rider Roberto Pietri. Suspension. as with most others, has been the main area of concentration on the updating of last year's models. The bikes will use different forks. a boxed chromoly swingarm and Ohlins shocks. The bikes Eddie Lawson and David Emde will ride for Team Kawasakj will have a new chassis. According to a spokesman fOt Kawasaki, "The bikes will use the 1981 (KZ) 1000 chassis. The engineen have done a fine job of designing it and there will be no changes whatsoever. There will be no changes in the engine (KZIOOO based). just continuing development and a lot of time on the dyno." As in the Formula One event, Moriwaki will field a two rider Kawasaki team of Roger Marshall and Wayne Gardner. The bikes will be updates of last year's bikes with more emphasis on engine development. With the posting of $2,000 each in bonus money by Honda. Kawasaki and Suzuki for the top ten placing privateers on each respective make, the privateer battle takes on added emphasis. Chuck Parme took fifth place in the final Superbike Championship standings last season. It was the best by a privateer. Parme will be back this season and Kawasaki mounted. He leads a growing list of strong entries who will be battling to break the factory domination of the top finishing spots. International Ughtweight The International Lightweight event is probably the best wsplay of a tuner's talent. The boltom line everyone shoots for is extra horsepower. but measured in small quantities like one or two rather than a handful with the bigger bikes. Theoretically, everyone stans out equal. The keys are an extra edge in horsepower, streamling so as not to lose any of that edge, a very smart rider who knows how to use the draft to his advantage and a rider who doesn't weigh any more than he has to. A difference of eight pounds between two riden could cost the heavier a one horsepower loss. The racing is usually so close that the Speedway brings out a camera LO film the finish so there will be no doubt about the winner. Actually, the close racing extends throughout the field. Although they may not be challenging for a top position, the racing usually breaks up into rider groups which depend upon each other and the draft to pull them along. ~ ia little- factory· participation 17

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