Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

- .. .. .... .. .. valv e Suzuki a nd he's go t reli ability pro ven in his winning a bunch o f end u ra nce races last year. I beli eve th e Vance & Hines engine is quit e the eq ua l of an ything. It may not be right up there with th e top factory Honda effort , but even th e Yoshimuras can 't field a team like Honda's. And what can you say? H ammer's got th e reliabili ty, he didn 't DNF a single race he ran last yea r with the Vance & Hines machine, a nd th ese were 4 and 6-hour endurance ra ces. He 's got a new Rob North chassis, and Rob has the knowledge to make a stable machine, and Hammer has the backup of the Moriwaki chassis he ran last year. They're not in a loser situation. I would say Bruce is looking good for a solid top five finish. , . o ~ ...... The 500. Freddie Spencer (top) and Randy Mamola (above) are among the favorites. Both are very fast. but have had little luck at Daytona. 22 un less he wins th ro ugh attrition but he's definitel y a co nt ender. Freddie Spen cer ha s th e abi lit y to beat anyone, any ti me around an y racetrack. H e can sit on the pole. I bel ieve th is is Fredd ie Spencer 's Daytona , as far as h im being the fastest g uy on the track. Bu t tha t doesn ' t mean he 'll win th e race. I ca n' t reall y say a bo u t Mik e Baldwin because h is efforts o n big fourstro kes last year centered aro u nd th e European endu ra nce races, and hi s results were not high. It's hard for me to sa y si nce he's ridin g a to tall y new machine and his recent track recor d on four-strokes has been throw it or blow it. I think he's reco vered from his big wreck of a few years ago but this is not the same Baldwin who lived before the wreck, with blood in hi s eyes to win every rac e. This is a more mature Baldwin, but I don 't think he'll ever put ou t the same effort that he on ce did to win a race. Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast and maybe this will work for Baldwin. Honda has the might but Yoshi mura has the track record...for 100 miles. And that' s all I can say for them. They have no track record for 200 miles. They're going to be running two-valve GSIOOO engines for the Formula race so I don't put them in the results. I can see them qualifying well , as long as Wester (Cooley) is straight, providing he 's got it together. I mean, let 's not forget that not so man y months ago he really injured himself seriousl y at Da ytona, and it's hard to recover from something like a hip injury. Unfortunatel y, he 's got to reco ver with all the pressure of the biggest race in th e world on him, Daytona. Wes ha s never shown the ability to stay with th e Formula One front runners at Daytona. I mean the Yosh imura machine has always been good for th e opening lap , get it o u t of th e hole, but Freddie was abl e to pass Wes on th e bank tu rn last year and tha t shows power a nd the ability to put power o n the gro u nd. I don't see Wes as a rea l co nte nder in the 200. I th ink th e only o the r reall y strong , major fo u r-stroke effort worth watching at Daytona is th e Tea m Hammer mach in e with Bru ce H ammer ridi ng. Bru ce never has been a rea l con tender at Daytona, but he' s a lways ridde n his ow n two-strokes. Now he's goin g to be ru nning a Vance & Hines 4- What can yo u say about Kenny Roberts? He's th e king. Three times World Champion. But I think this will be the first time that Kenny has ever come to Daytona when he's going to have to put on his pants the same way everybody else does. What I mean is this: The average spectator sees Dal e Singleton on a TZ750 Yamaha a nd Kenny Roberts o n a TZ750 Yam aha and he certainl y cannot a p p recia te th at the TZ750 Roberts rides cost 10times what Singleton 's machi ne did. Plus Roberts has th e advantage o f Kel Carruthers, T revor Til bury , Knobby Clark, a very well -seasoned sta ff of very knowledgea ble race peo pl e. Someone like Si ngleton does it a ll o n hi s o wn. So I think that th is will be the first tim e, beca use he 's o n mor e or less equal terms. Bu t he is the best and I .p red ict that he'll be going for the pole p o si tion in a strugg le with Freddi e. Ap parently Roberts has n' t decided wh ether to use last year's factor y bik e. On th e Grand Prix circu it it didn ' t look like Roberts had any engine reliabil it y problem bu t historicall y Kenny ha s very bad lu ck a t Da ytona. Certa inl y I don ' t think hi s carburetor slides will stick as th ey have in the pa st two year s. . Jimmy Filice will be on !1 production Yamaha 500 a nd I think whi le he'll do well because he has cer ta in inherent road racing sk ill s, his production bik e will have quite a bit less horsepower than a works 500. This will be his fir st 200 and he has a lot to learn about that. I think Randy Mamola will be riding at Da ytona with a ven geance. He's returning to th e Grand Prix circuit. He just missed winning the championship last year. H e showed up at Da ytona for testing, came right out of th e truck and did 2:04 laps right off th e bat. I'm sure Suzuki GB and Suzuki Japan a re putting an effort behind him. There is a chance th at Virginio Ferrari will a lso ride on a works Suzuki a t Da ytona , which would be gr ea t because he's an excellent rider a nd a personality. Suzuki ha s the gr eat est depth in Grand Prix racing and I think that if they don 't lose power pa st the halfway point, th en th ey have th e highest potential of an y 500 for winning. From m y information, Eddie Lawson's lap tim es on hi s KR500 , during a test session, were around 2:05. That's a sp read from Spencer 's 2:03s, but track conditions were cold for Law son . Law son has so me adva n tages . He ha s a team around him that reall y lik es h im , th at he ca n co m m u n ica te with . . I understand th at th e factory team has hired Marti n Ca rney , wh o did the origina l development work on the KR500 wit h Kork Ball ington. So th ey've got a real goo d mech anic for th e KR500 in Carney and they have th e support of Steve Johnson, whose credentials are flaw less, tuni ng for Ph il Read 's 250cc World Champion-

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