Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wes Cooley • previews Daytona (Top left) Mike Baldwin has f ully rega ined his pre, injury form and must be considered a th reat at Daytona. The narrow margin of his F-1 Championship win belies his speed. ITop right) Steve Wise has yet to win a big one. but consistency has Deen his trademark. That trait has won the 200, (Right) Britian 's Ron Haslam would have to be considered a dark horse. (Left) Freddie Spencer has clearly been fast enough to win the 200. but problems have forced him down or out, By Wes Cooley Daytona is unique. It's the first road race of th e year and most of the factory teams an d th e privateers alike start off with someth ing n ew, w hether it's an entire new works bike or a n ew en gine co m bin a tio n for a priva teer 's TZ750. Daytona is a long ra ce, a n d th e track is p roba bly th e h ardest o n engines because you 're at hi gh rpm for a long time going around the ban king. Especially for the fours tr o k e s : when yo u slo w do w n' from such a h igh speed for turn o ne or for the ch ica ne, it's real hard o n th e mot or. They have a tendency to dro p valves and bend crankshafts rig h t when yo u ro ll off th e th ro ttl e. Daytona is un iq ue because it 's a very p u bl icized event, probably the biggest motorcycle racing event in th e world. It has 80 starters, an d a lot of times th ere is a large qualifying time spread bet ween th e front row qualifiers and th e last ro w qualifiers , so the fast er riders see a lot of th e slo wer riders a lo t o f la ps, a nd that ca n ca use problems. You ca n ' t rea lly tell in adva nce wha t th e race is goin g to be lik e or what's goi ng to h appen. Ea ch yea r it's di fferen t, wh ich is one thi ng t ha t makes mo torcycle racing in terestin g to me . Every tra ck yo u go to is different every yea r, especially Da ytona. Very few things are ever exactly the same as yo u 've ex perienced before. I .Bu t it 's rillpossibl e to ta lk about the problems riders face a t Daytona, a nd the challenges the race pr esents. I thin k yo u h ave to hav e more stra tegy at Da yto natha n at an y other race. It seem s like th e p eople who start o ff a t a rea l quick p ace at the beginning of the ra ce have troubles halfway through th e race, just like the H ondas did last year. Freddie Spencer and Mich ael Bal dwin had tir e p ro blems . I th ink you h ave to set a good pace, li ke G raeme Crosby did la st year, a nd like Pa tri ck Pons did th e year he wo n . Your pace doesn 't have to be 2:03s or 2:04s like Ken n y Roberts a nd Freddie and Michael were doing last year, but so me w here around 2:06s, wh ich is really respectable. I think Dale Singleton is a very good exa m p le o f a rider u sing a good Da ytona stra tegy . H e's a very co ns is t-. ent ri der , a nd what wi ns th e 200 m ile event is co nsisten cy. There have been very few cases when the fast est person won, a nd the la st exa mple was wh en Kenn y won in 1978, he jus t went o u t and bl itzed ever ybo dy, ra n away fro m everybody. , My idea of th e perfect Daytona ap p ro ach wou ld be to go o u t an d ru n a consis tent rac e. I'm not co nce rned with leadin g the first 15 laps. It 's th e last lap th a t co u nts an d tha t's what to shoot for. It is important th a t die fro nt runners do n 't ge t completel y out o f yo ur sigh t, if it' s possi ble to keep th em in sight. T he bes t thing to do is to hook u p wi th so mebody who is riding a t a good pace an d use th e dr aft to co nserve you r engine. Starting like a rabbi t might mean abusing th e motor to stay up Iront; and th at ca tches up with yo u in the end, usu a lly. If yo u ca n co nse rve the en gine, not ov er-rev it , th en yo u' ll be better , o ff in th e en d. Set a pace, use yo u r red line, don 't overwork the en g ine and be as co ns isten t as possibl e. Then th ere are th e tir es. Tires a re a lways a bi g p ro blem a t Da ytona , especiall y toward you r final laps if you haven 't made a tir e chan ge. T hink abou t the big effect tir es have had on Dayto na 200s in the past. T he year J ohnn y Cecouo won , h e fini sh ed on rea r ti re co rds a fter Kenn y's rear tire blew o ut in th e chicane . T h e last time Dale won, h is fro nt tire wa s m issing huge ch u nks of ru bbe r, a n d h e sai d his bike was pushi n g th e fro nt end going into tu rn o ne. Barry Shee ne wen t end over end on th e fro nt straightaway a t over 170 m ph the last ti me he went to Daytona, beca use h is rea r ti re lost its tread. Last year tire p roblem s forced Freddie a nd Michael to ma ke two tire cha n ges each. T ires are a big p roblem . If yo ur tires start to go away, it will slow yo u r lap times down a nd for me, it seem s to ma ke me co ncen tra te h arder. It adds so me th in g to th e race, because yo u hav e to sta rt thinking a bo u t yo ur tires again . wh ich might not be a bad th ing. Maybe by th e halfway point, the 26th la p ; yo u' re ' set int o a pa tte rn, and yo u 're no t fighting to keep th ose lap tim es down. T he la p times seem to be more co nsistent a nd yo u don't seem to be fighting as hard . Two-hu ndred miles is a long ti me, and you don't want to brea k co nce ntra tio n. So , someti m es, ifth e tir es sta rt to go a way , it steps up yo u r co ncentra tio n. You start co n cen tra tin g a bit more on th ings. You have to kind o f feel it ou t when a problem presen ts itself. Maybe all of a sudden th e tires go a way real bad, rea l fast . Or they might slo wly wear the mselves a way. '1Jlat 's easier to adj u st to th an what happened to Michael and Freddie last yea r, wh en a ll of a su dden th e tire was bad. You have to be up for th e 200miler, you have to keep you r train of though t go ing th e whole time , co n ce n tra te, eve n if so meth ing goes wrong, li ke a bad pit sto p. Mentally th e race is th e ha rdest ro ad race in th e U.S. Durin g the first q ua rte r or ma ybe th e first h alf o f the race yo u're really psyc hed up , then may be yo u go through a lull in the m iddle there. T he n, for m e, if I' m st ill running towa rd the en d, th en yo u ki nd of ge t yo urself back up an d want to fin ish the race o u t go od. You 'r e ex ha us ted wh en you finish . Mentally yo u reall y get a letdo wn a fter you've wo rked 200 miles a nd gone through a ll yo ur br ak ing poi nts an d a ll yo u r sh ifting p o ints a nd a ll yo u r a p exes a n d co ncent ra ted on do ing it a ll just th e sa me on a ll 52 laps- It 's stre n uo us physicall y, too . beca use it 's a long race, but yo u hav e the stra ig h ta ways to relax on. The hardest p art- is' keepin g' you rself on -15 ~

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