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/126605
C'J 00 ..... 0') ........ ~ r........ ..c: u .... ro ~ 3 ), Randy Mamola (7 ) and Ken ny Freddie Spenc er (1 9), Wes Cooley (3 4), Mike Baldw in (4 (A bove) Rober to Pietri (8 8) rocket s off to lead the start over at the halfwa y point. r . (Below right) Eddie Lawso n (2 1) laps a rider while leading Rober ts (2). (Bel ow left) Rober ts leads Baldwin and Spe nce 8 Kenny Robert s didn 't beli eve it an d to push th e p oint home, cut a 2 m in ute, 01.84 seco nd lap a t 11 4.346 mp h o n h is 500cc Yamah a GP bik e. That broke Ro bert s' old ma rk of 2:02.397 at 113.826 mph, set in 1980. " I cou ld have go ne faster," said Ro bert s, "if I had used a sticky (soft ) compo und tire. We had one, but when I pi tted in qualifyi ng and was told I ha d don e a 2:0 I, I figured that was good enough . I'm on the pole with a tire tha t will do 200 miles. I got only o ne clea r lap. T here are bikes in qual ifying th a t are 40 mph slower than us. T hey shou ld n' t run th e Superb ik e riders in with the GP bikes," Baldwin a lso bro ke Roberts ' reco rd to put him self on th e front row . Spencer was third with Eddie La wson a nd Crosby ro un ding out th e top five. You couldn 't ask for a more varied fron t row: There were two Yamah as (Robert s, 500cc; Crosby, 750cc); two Honda s ( Ba ld w in a n d Spenc er, 1.000cc 4-stro ke) and one Kawas aki (Lawso n, 500cc). In additio n, all three tire compa n ies were represe nted wi th Robert s on Dunlo p, Baldwi n a nd Spe ncer on Goodyear. Approx imatel y 140ent ries were divided into th ree grou ps with eac h having a 40 min ute session. Each rider was required to pu t in five laps duri ng h is sessio n wi th th e fastest lap of the five co unted as his qualify ing speed. Shou ld a rider fa il to qualify in th e T h ursday session h e, o r she, st ill had a cha nce in a session onFrida y. (The top 20 q ualifier s on T hursda y were guara nteed th eir gr id positions. All ot hers were su bject to sh u ffling, shoul d so meone go faster .) Randy Mamo la had a bit o f a tim e qualify ing. He had just go tte n in hi s require d five laps whe n he cras he d going into turn one, gas h ing h is left hand and doing minor damag e to his works Su zuki RG500 . Wes Cooley didn 't start off too well in qualify ing either. He ran out of ga s during his session . Single ton was a bit down on power from last yea r a nd was 10th fastest as oppose d to second fastest in 1981. Steve Wise didn 't m ak e th e first day 's qual if ying but ca me back to be th e fastest in th e Frida y se ssion . Dutch man Jack Middle bu rg saw his trip to Da ytona go for zero as he cra shed h ard in qualify ing to end his ride for the week . He was uninju red. Th e 200 The weather h as played a part in previo us 200s. but this year Mother Na tu re nearly ref used to cooper a te. Rain Saturd a y eveni ng ga ve wa y to cloudy , blustery weather on Sunda y mornin g. Th e forecast was for sho wers fo llowed by sho wers follow ed by clea rin g. The earl y mornin g pr acti ce session was an exercis e on stayi ng on two wh eels as gusts of wind buffet ed . riders and mov ed th em aro u nd th e track at wi ll. "1£ you lean it o ver , the wind starts tak ing the bike, " sa id Robert s as h e waited for a change in gearing . " T h e wind is so strong tha t yo u 're go ing 20 mph faster than yo u want going into the chican e. On th e front straigh t it' s just the opposi te; you can't even use sixth gear," The session was cut short by the first of many ra in squalls . "Wean ticipared we could get practice in, wait ou t th e rain and th en ra ce," said AMA' s Bill Boyce. Howev er, as th e storm hung in there, faces were long on everyo ne. Finally , it was grid time. The lo ng delay -- th e race was to have begun at 12:30 p .m . -- was put to good use by many. A five lap practice was sent off , a nd Robert s was back in the p it s after on ly o ne la p . " Every thi ng's OK ," said Rob erts. T he gr een £lag waved at 4:19 p .rn ., and th e first o f three waves (30-30-20) cha rged down pit lane, onto the access road an d ou t onto th e track. It was here that Randy Mamol a' s ride came to a n en d even before it sta rted . Mamol a and two other riders went down . "Crosb y hit me, " was Mamol a 's terse repl y to what happen ed. Crosby was Mamol a 's teamm ate on Suzuki 's GP team last year, but was droppe d this year, alleged ly because of politica l mane uveri ng by Mam ola . Pietri played rabbit into the infield and out onto the bankin g. Then Spence r took over to lead the field across the finish line and keep his string of leading every lap he has ridden in Dayton a 200 compe tition intact. That didn 't last long, as Baldwin took th e lead on th e next go-