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/126758
(Above) Freddie Spencer had a wave for the crowd after his dominating ride. (Below) John Bettencourt took third after a late-race battle. Sam McDonald waited until the last part of the last lap, but then passed Bettencourt and out-ran him to the flag for second. AMA Su~erlJi.e Series: Round! Threestraight for Fast Freddie By Gary Van Voorhis DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 9 Freddie Spencer~ in runaway fashion, scored his third consecutive victory in the Bell Superbike 100 at Daytona International Speedway. On his ride to the checkered flag, Spencer lapped his way through fifth place while leading 24 of the 26 laps. The real race was for second 16 of three bikelengths, Roberto Pietri ran an unchallenged fourth while Jimmy Adamo rounded out the top five. The top fou,r linishers were riding and consisted of a battle in the final Honda Interceptor-based machines eight laps involving Sam McDonald with Spencer aboard his full factory and John Bettencourt. McDonald mount and the other three riding cam~ 9ut01] top by_t.h,e.sli.rvMrgi~,• . n'lachihes they had purchased after using them last year as members of Honda's 1983 Superbike Support team. Adamo, aboard a Cagiva 900cc twin was the only finisher in the top 20 not riding a 750cc multi. Missing from the starting field were Yoshimura Suzuki riders Wes Cooley and Graeme' Crosby, both former Daytona Superbike winners and considered two of the strong non-Honda entries. Crosby had been given Cooley's mount after Cooley went to the hospital for a checkup following a crash in Formula One qualifying. Cooley returned to the track to find he didn't have a bike to ride unless he wanted Crosby's. "I knew my bike was better so I refused to ride Graeme's," said Cooley. "They should have tried to contact me before they did that. I only skinned my elbow. but since I had injured it before I wanted to take no chances with something which might turn up later." Crosby had engine problems in his qualifying session and didn't get in the required five laps. He sat out the race also. Spencer, in a preview of what he had planned for the rest of the field lowered his own track record in Thursday's qualifying to 2:05.892 secs. at a speed of 110.666 mph. The run would have qualified him for the second row' of the 200. Fred Merkel, second fastest and the only other factory-backed Honda rider in the field, was nearly three and a half seconds off Spencer's pace. Bettencourt, Pietri and McDonald filled out the remaining slots on the front row. McDonald rocketed off the line on the gre~n flag in the final only to miss a shift, damage a shifter fork, and hand the lead to Merkel with Spencer tucked in behind in second. "Fast Freddie" waited two laps before taking the lead as he passed Merkel heading into the infield to begin lap three of the 26 that make up the event on Daytona's 3.87-mile combined infield/oval course., '~pencer' turned I ;" 1.0 I, t • f • on the afterburners, was three and a half seconds ahead by the end of the lap and was off on a race of his own. Merkel's edge on third-place Bettencourt was similar with McDonald looking for a way around Pietri to take over fourth. The rest of the 80rider field was strung out behind. One of the first to retire from the contest was Yvon DuHamel, who was lured out of retirement to race at Daytona for the first time since 1976. "I think the engine hada bent valve," said DuHamel afterward. A battle for sixth developed on the sixth lap between Glenn Barry and Rueben McMurter which raged throughout the next two laps. It came to an end when Barry became a spectator after low-siding in the chicane. By the lOth lap, Spencer had increased his leading margin over Merkel to 22 seconds with seemingly effortless ease. Bettencourt was an equal distance behind Merkel in third with McDonald and Pietri riding their own race in founh and fifth. Ricky Orlando, who had been behind the Barry/McMurter duel, lost his position with a very lengthy pit stop to fix an unexplained problem. Merkel's ride came to an end as he coasted into the pits on lap 12. "The engine blew up big time," said a dejected Merkel afterwards. Bettencoun, now second, was the first of the frontrunners to pit as he came in on lap 13, filled up with three and a half gallons of gas and was quickly on his way. The 14th lap saw more smooth pit stops, but Spencer's crew was left waiting and ready as he went around for another lap before coming in. Spencer was ready to roll in six seconds, stop to start, and had enough of a cushion that he remained in the lead by about 20 seconds over McDonald, who had yet to pit. McDonald came in on lap 17, having.lfs.ed the previous two laps to put