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/126511
D gtona'll least one lead change per lap among the top three riders in the 56·minute 1.962·second race. A mob of reporters and photographers instantly surrounded Pops and Fujlo Yoshimura as their for· midable Superbikes rolled silently into position. The circle expanded to include Spencer's Honda; all others were virtually ignored. Finally the grid was cleared, the one minute card f1i~ped sideways and ,Wes Cooley found hImself in the lead as his rear slick found traction first and catapulted him into turn one. By the time they'd completed lap one, Freddie Spencer had secured himself to Cooley's fender with Crosby in his draft. On the next lap, Crosby slipped around both of them to take a turn at the head of the leading triad. Eddie Lawson held fourth with Moriwaki's Wayne Gardner in fifth. The lead·swapping continued up front. Cooley would be credited with leading seven times with a total of 14 laps in first place. Crosby's tally would be six changes, nine laps in front. Lap four saw Mike Spencer pull around Gardner into fifth. Dave Erode ran into trouble on the fifth lap, stepping off his works Kawa· saki near the pit entrance as he at· tempted to pull off the track. Early reports said the bike caught fire. "~o, it didn't catch on fire," a very dejected Dave Emde explained later, "I was coming off the bank; it just quit running on me. I was heading for pit road ... I just parked it in the dirt, but the throttle was hung up a little bit, so I jumped off of itl I probably didn't need to do that; I could have Slopped it, hit the kill switch, but I was in a panic ... " Freddie Spencer led lap five, towing Cooley and Crosby. The lead·swapping continued as the fast three tested each other and planned for the upcoming fuel stop. Pit stops caused problems from mini to near catastrophe. Lap 12 almost stopped Freddie Spencer's charge when fuel somehow overflowed onto the hot motor and burst into flamesl Freddie bailed off, letting the bike .fall, but the alert crew blasted the· flames with fire extinguishers before terminal damage was done. Spencer remounted and left the pit are before the smoke had cleared. Meanwhile, both Yoshimura bikes pulled in for gas, and after a minor mix·up about which bike went where, both exited with Cooley wheelieing out first. Now it was Eddie Lawson's turn to lead. The team Kawasaki Superbike had one advantage: The other three riders had taken "slow" pit stops. Eddie had another disadvantage: He had to stop for gas sometime. and the Yoshimura machines were closing fast. Kawasaki delayed so long in calling Lawson in, that speculation began that they might try to go all the way. Team manager Gary Mathers may have wished that were the case, but in an instant interview with pit announcer Ted Otto, Mathers confirmed the obvious: Lawson must pit. Harry Klinzmann dropped out on unlucky lap 13, motor smoking and dripping oil. Mike Spencer rolled into the Honda pits. completely out of gas. Lawson continued, still without pit· ting, and led for laps 13 through 18. Cooley caught him first, then Crosby. Lawson looked down at his motor. then pulled into the pits. Oil was leak· ing, coating the machine from the motor back. Still, they topped the fuel tank. and Eddie headed back out on to the track. Cooley and Crosby kept the action hot, repeatedly swapping places for the lead. Freddie Spencer, some 19 seconds back in third place, was out of the contention for the win. On the 22nd lap. Lawson slowed noticeably, then pulled into pit road and rolled the Kawasaki directly be· hind pit wall without stopping. to discuss it with the team. Oil covered the footpegs, making it all but impossible to accurately control the machine. "It kept going sideways real bad, trying to highside me, so I came in," Lawson said. Fingers were crossed in the Yoshimura pits as the laps wound down, closer and closer to their fifth consecutive win at the Daytona event. Mike Spencer returned to the track after refilling his empty gas tank, but when he tucked in going down the in· field straight, fuel sitting by the gas cap blew up onto his face shield. He looked down to see where it was coming from, then looked up just in time to realize that he'd overshot the next turn! Once again he got back on the course and made it payoff with a fifth place. Cooley found himself in the wrong place - he thought - on the last lap. He was leading, and he figured Crosby would slingshot past coming out of the last tum. It was not to be. Wes Cooley roared across the Daytona International Speedway finish line 0.7 seconds ahead of his teammate with a race speed aver· age of 107.744 mph, a new recordl "Everything worked out just great!" Cooley understated happily in victory circle. "Graeme played a game I thought I was going to play. He stayed behind to pass at the end." "Wes pulled a fairly big slide coming out of the chicane," Crosby responded to the why·didn't·you ques· tion, "I did, too. I'd like to re·run those last few lapsl" Freddie Spencer added a parting note: "There's many more races to cornel" Then it was time for photographs with Pops and Fujio joining their riders on the front row. Fujio summed it up with a one·word expression of what the American audience had just witnessed: Banzai! • Results 1. W. Cooley ISuzl: 2. Grlletne Crosby ISuzl; 3. Freddie Spencer (Han): 4. Weyne Gordner (Kawl; 5. M _ Spencer IHan); 6. lang Hindi. (Kowl: 7. Richerd Ch8mberw (!(ow); 6. O••id Cheek ISuzl: 9. Kirk Guoy ISuzl: 10. Kurt Uebmon IHan); 11. Norm Murphy ISuzl; 12. Ruoty Shorp (Suz): 13. Arthur Kowitz (!(ow): 14. Tokumi Ito (Han); 15. Duncon Milcetic ISuzl: 16. John T-.uro IM-G); 17. Kurt W""'* (Suzl; 16. Rondy Smith (Suzl; 19. Joe PlItIOn IHarll; 20. Tony DeSi"..",. (!(ow). "The heavy fog and rain of Pocono del not make my life easymbutthe outstanding traction of Continental tires enabled us to compete, almost rep lie. of track cOlldlllons.1 know of no II ont tire that Iaccept more brake In the rain the RB2.lt's reassurilla to know that the same fine tire Is available for "eet machines." Joseph z.......t ~.... oft:he Poc:oIIO 500 SupertIIke Race. "'1980 (QnOnenfill 17