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/126604
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Will the Daytona winner's circle be another Pig Farm (left) or can the
Yamaha crew (above) get Kenny Roberts' 500cc square f our there?
By Steve McLaughlin
Steve M cLaug hlin won th e Daytona Su pe rbik e race in 1976 on a BMW an d in
1978 on a Yosh imura Suzuki. H e led th e Dayt ona 200 on a TZ 750 Yamaha in
1975, crashed wit h 15 lap s to go, and p ick ed up his bik e to finish 6th without a
win dscreen.
I n 1980 he uias m anager of the H onda racing team and rode a superbike for the
team. Going back fa rther, the current Superbike rules started with M cl.aughlin 's suggestions, ditto with th e current Form u la One ru les. H e w as AMA rider
representative fo r six years. H e's no longer racing , bu t he's pa id enough attention to want to stic k his neck ou t with th ese Daytona predictio ns.
The 200-mile
Formula One race
T he Da ytona 200 is un ique in severa l ways. First is th e doIl ar s. It has
th e biggest purse of a ny single race in
the world and a lways ha s. And th e
rid ers get th at m oney n ot thro ug h
start m o ney- th ere is n 't a ny -but by
wi nning, so the riders ge t w hat th ey' re
worth.
.
It 's a lso a n event with the fas test
mo torcycles in the world co mpe ting
o n th e fastest track in th e world .
Because of th e Formula One rul es
wi th different displ acem ent capaci ties
( I025cc four-strok es, 750cc two-strokes
with 23m m intake res trictors, unrestricted 500cc tw o-strokes) the race
has interesting co n tras ts mech an ica Ily.
The len gth, being 200 m iles, mak es
th e race more di fficult. Grand Prix
races ar e abou t 100 miles. The Da ytona 200 isn 't quit e long eno ug h to
cha n ge tir es partwa y throu gh , so th e
ti res ar en 't working very weIl th e la st
40 miles a nd neither is the chai n , genera Ily. There's a cert a in a m o u nt of
wear a nd tear and fatigue and stra tegy
going on. In th e 200 mile races I've
been in -I think I've been in 12-the
great est machine mortalit y ra te co mes
about 40 m iles from the end.
The setu p of the machine is uni que. You're run ning at a higher
speed th an a t a ny ot he r m otorcycle
tra ck in America. You h ave to set
yo ur suspension u p a littl e stiffer for
th e ban k turns a nd yo u try to work on
your h yd ra u lics and your fork damping, so you don 't get extreme p itch ing
when you' re o n the brakes. Yo u co me
u p to a turn a t suc h a hi gh speed a n d
j lim p o n th e brak es a nd you get a lo t
of weight transfer and you have to
keep the rear wheel on the ground.
It 's basicaIly a horsepower/brake
track. You naturallv have to have
good brakes a nd have to get the suspe nsion rig h t so the thi ng is stable
a nd ha ve yo u r tran sm ission ra tios
righ t for acce lera tion and to p spee d,
and yo u 've got to hav e pow er.
Da le Singleto n ha s won the Da yton a 200 tw ice and finished secon d
once a nd he's a perfect examp le o f the
most successfu l stra tegy . AIl the guys
I've seen win a t Daytona did th e sa me
thing. Thei r primary effo rt isn 't to be
th ere with th e leader s a t the drop of
th e sta rti ng flag. T he successful stra tegy isn' t to be th e ha re but ra th er the
hound. But yo u h ave to be close, not
ou t of sig h t o f th e leaders, a t th e critica l last 20% of th e race. At the beginning Singleton a lways run s a bo ut
si xth , seven th , eigh th, right aro u n d
th er e. And h e's read y when th e o the r
g uys h ave th eir probl em s.
Th is yea r th e race wiIl have an un us ua Ily large num ber o f co mpe ti tive
riders, so p it stops, getting in and o ut
of th e pits and gettin g re fueled witho u t ca tch in g fire , is going to be very
importa nt. Eve n pit signals co u ld
m ak e the difference.
You're looking a t th e best 200 field
since 1974 when Ago stini won. Ra ndy
Mamol a , Kenn y R o berts, Fr edd ie
Spencer, America 's best , co up led with
two-time winner Singleton and a
very strong lineup from Europe, Fanta n , Sa rron , Va n Dulmen. Unfortu na tely, I u nderstand th at 500cc World
Champion Marco Lucchinelli will
no t co m pe te.
T he n there's the co n flic t bet wee n
machine typ es. T he top works four
stro kes will hav e the most horsepow er.
Next in th e power ba ttl e a re th e
Yamaha TZ7 50s, bu t o n ly th e very
to p runners in tha t g roup, like Singl eto n's . T he big four-strokes wi Il ha ve
th e top speed, th e T Z750s w iIl h ave
th e acce lera tion, a nd th e 500s will be
very close j udging by the la p times
turned by Law so n a nd Ma mo la in
testing . T he fo ur strokes wiIl get the
two stro kes coming off th e line bur
the agility of handling and th e light
weight of both the 750s and the 500s
will even it out as the race goes on. I
still think the Yamaha 750 is the best
bet for win . We sti Il do n' t kn ow if the
works 500s will last the dis ta nce.If'he
Yam aha 750 has a proven track record.
The four-stro kes have yet to ca rry a ny-
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