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
first three places. race and compl etely domin ated the event. Honda took the "fast Freddi e" Spenc er led nearly every lap of the Superbike Be ll Su pe rlJ ille 10 0 S p en ce r le a d s H o n d a sw e e p By Gary Van Voorh is "Fa st Fred die" Spe ncer live d u p to his nick nam e in the Bell Sup erbi ke 100 at Day tona Inte rnat iona l Sp eed way by lead ing all but the first lap, esta blis hing race reco rds for time and speed and leadin g a 1-2-3 Hond a sweep into th e winn er 's circle . Team mates Mike Baldw in a n d Robe rto 10 Pietri, second and third respect ivel y, follow ed Spen cer home. Wes Cooley, aboard a Yoshim ura/ Suzu ki GSIOOO , p laced fou rt h whil e Ka wa sak i's n ew est team mem ber, Wa yn e Ra in ey, took h is Kerker/ Kawasa ki to fifth . The race, ru n at a n ave rage speed o f 108.796 , edged Wes Cooley 's 1981 wi nn in g speed o f 107.744 o u t o f th e recor d books. Steve Wise, n ow turnin g his talents fro m MX to road racin g, ma de believers of everyo ne wh o th ought he wouldn 't, or co uldn' t ada t. Wise provid ed a spark in wha t was an o therw ise rel ativel y predi ct abl e race . Runnin g as high as second in th e ea rly laps, o n ly Wise's over-an xio usness lea di n g to a n off-co urse excursion in turn on e, and a bi t of ca utio usness whe n h e hit a n oil slick a nd th ough t the p ro blem was with h is bik e, cost h im what surely wou ld have been a top five fi nish . T he official resul ts listed him eig h th. Kawa saki 's Edd ie La wson , th e de fendin g AMA Superb ike Champ ion shi p title holder , had ano ther kind of problem. H e sa w h is seco nd p lace go a way for lack of enough gas to fin ish the last la p. Lawson had been ga m bling he cou ld run th e 100 m il es withou t a gas sto p (not requ ired ) a nd was a lso hoping Mother Nature would tilt th e odds in hi s fav or unl eashin g the rain that had threate n ed. Neithe r gambl e worked . " I rea lly don 't kn ow wh at wa s go in g throug h Eddie's head." said Kawa saki team manager Gary Mathers. "It wa s a m ista ke to do th at. If he had been a ble to draft one of th e fast guys for as littl e as five laps he p ro babl y would have sa ved eno ugh gas to have made it , but he lo st th ai chance wh en he sm ok ed th e tire on the start a nd lost th e lead group. " Mathers left the Kawasa ki pits soon after the fin ish , preferr ing to cool down a bit before tal king to his star rider . Both Kawasaki and Suzu ki debuted n ew model s. However , by race time a Wes Coo lev's Suzuki Katan was sitting in th e pits an d Co ol ey wa s a boa rd th e bike h e ro de last season. " We had cra n k and p iston problem s," said Cooley. " T he factory in J a pan hasn 't reall y begun to do a full scal e ra cing progra m with th e bik e yet. That 's a shame becaus e the Katana puts out 14 more horsep ower than the bike I rode.la st season ." Kawasa ki 's full-rac e Eddi e Lawso n Replica, th e KZIOOOS , suffere d only minor teethin g probl ems. T eam Honda made a change also, but not to a n ewer model. Last year's bik e was based on th e CB900 F, This year, the team reverted back to the CB750 F for a base in prepar ation for a rules change in 1983 which drops th e di sp lacement for Superb ikes from 1025 to 750cc. Qualif yin g, at least for th e p ole, went as expected by most. Spencer wa s nearly in a class by himself , o ver seven -tent hs o f a second qui cker than Bald win. In the process . Freddi e set a trac k record of 2:04. Lawso n was th ird a nd then th e sur p rise - Wise was fourth q ui ckest. ' Pietri rounde d out th e to p fi ve. The AMA, well a wa re of a fast ap p roachi ng storm front , got the race off half an hour ea rly . It was Baldwi n