Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

two points from two rides. The Danes' margin of victory was the biggest in World Team Cup competition; their total score tied the record. • waukee. None were published. Got something to say? Stand tall and sign your name. • " by JIM SMITH TIlE ~ORCYC~ INDUSTRYS C"ANGE NATIONAL PAPERS .,. I'VE boT A BU()D" WHO WOIZKS oN TI-lE Doc...K5 ... HE CAN beT ME A ~tJD-NE.W "x-f' By Roxy Rockwood snu.. IN THE C.RATE!! The new rules Bom Erin Marie Tafoya, June 16, to Yoshimura R&D of America Sales Manger Steve Tafoya and wife Debbie. The recent release about Daytona switching the Superbike final to Sunday and going from 100 miles to 200 is not a real sur- Bom Richard Earl Roloff, August prise. I have heard discussion on this for several years. Scheduling the Formula One race to Friday and cutting the distance in half, plus lowering the purse will bring about some comments from more people than Dave Aldana, I am sure. The more I think about the new format the more I am liking it - and maybe not for the same reasons as many of the readers of this column. Here's some for the Superbike event. I will like it if at least three of the four major brands have already indicated to the AMA that they will be involved next ye.ar and I am sure the AMA would not have made the change without getting a commitment from two or more. All but Honda and Yamaha have pulled completely out of Formula One racing for one reason or another and now they have a chance to get back into road racing in a different class. We all read week after week and month after month the glowing repons of how fast each brand is with several models. Now is the chance to prove it and there are six months to get ready. If there is one track in America to find out where the beef (horsepower) really is it is Daytona. This will also benefit the average street rider as a 200-mile Superbike race would not be approved without first going to several tire manufacturers to make sure that tires are available for the' heavier Superbikes which now run twice the distance at 150 mph-plus. All those streetriders who load and overload their cruisers to the maximum may soon have a solution to the problem that has been glaring of late. I have never seen Kenny Roberts race a Superbike. He did not like the F-I race at Daytona, he did not like the F-I machine that he raced to the win the past two years and he did not like the wide gap in rider ability on the track every Sunday once-a-year at Daytona. Yamaha will certainly take advantage of this change to promote their larger street machine and to make Kenny happy now that he can race on equal equipment that is at least 30 mph slower than what he has been riding there in recent events. It will make Eddie Lawson happy even though he never won a Superbike final at Daytona in the past. Now he might get that chance one more time. It should make Freddie Spencer very happy as it's been years since he lost a Daytona Superbike final. He will now be racing for far more money as well. Randy Mamola will be happy as he has. like Roberts, never ridden in a Superbike event before and his curiosity will now be satisfied. It will more than please Mike Bald- 16, to road racer Earl Roloff, 27, and wife Eleanore, 24. Appointed Bert Fox, sales manager of Cyclops Distributing Company. Prior to the appointment, Fox was employed as a sales representative for Wheelsport. Promoted Kelley Messinger, from sales manager to vice president of sales, Cyclops Distributing Company. RISK By John Ulrich ---,.--,. Getting letters published Everybody's got an opinion, andjustabouteverybodyisentitled to express it. There are a few things that increase the chances of your letter - out of the hundreds we get - getting published; letters should be short, to the point and possible to understand. There are also a few things that reduce the chances of your letter getting published; signing a fake name (or no name at aU) or inventing a phony address head the list. If you've got something to say and really believe in it, you shouldn't be afraid to sign your name. If you are afraid for some good reason, sign your name, include your address and request that we withhold your name. If we agree that you have a valid point and your name doesn't matter, we'll print the letter without your name; otherwise we'll throw your letter away. Recently we received letters from Kenneth L. Peterson of Indianapolis, D.A.L. of Bay City. Michigan and Manuel Gonzales of San Clemente. California. All dealt with the same subject; two were typed on the same typewriter; all were mailed from Mil- you "x-1" HEy J MoE 1 bONNA TAKE T~AT NEW TD TI-IE P-NEs? Cycle News proudly introduces a new series of cartoons, the creation of nationally syndicated cartoonist Jim Smith, who also does "Bumgardner." win who failed to win the Superbike title in '83 and will now get another chance. It will perhaps displease Fred Merkel as he may have to wait one more year to win the event. Roberts, Spencer, Mamola, Lawson, Baldwin and Merkel. A Superbike main event to end all main events. Now all we need is commitments and confirmations from each factory and the AMA that it is going to happen. I like the cutback in the Formula One National final from 200 miles to 100. I have sat up in the announcing tower since 1962 waiting for a close finish between one or more riders that has never happened. (It did happen in 1961, though.) Every year the first 100 miles is a run-and-gun affair and in the past as many as six to 10 riders have been in contention for the lead at that point, 26 laps. I am so used to seeing a close finish on Saturday for the annual 250 F-2 final that.a Friday F-I final will be like a bonus - if we can figure out a way to avoid gas stops and tire changes for all of the pre-race favorites. American racing has been very traditional in the past. It is nice to see some change for sake of change. For example, for several years a faction in racing has been trying to get a 500 rule into dirt track racing - all dirt track racing. But the few advocates of 750 have said over and over again, "What are we going to do with all the old 750's?" For sure a like faction will pop up and ask basically the same question and the answer to the road racers is, "Race them on Friday instead of Sunday and race for less money." Maybe not an easy solution but at least it is quick and simple. So it appears there is still hope for the dirt track faction afterall. Especially now that there are no tire manufacturers around that can supply a din tire for more than perhaps 10 laps on a mile track. Instead of building a new cart one just quickly and simply changes the horses (500cc?)_ But back to Daytona and road racing. Our racing in general has long resisted change, any kind of change. It has taken years sometimes to change a format or a few rules in any given year. Too often too many have taken a negative attitude long before the actual testing of a new rule or rule change. What Daytona and the AMA have done is to well in advance advise the road racing world that there is a format and purse change for the Speedweek in 1985. At this time nobody can say if they will now see Freddie Spencer and his Honda run away and hide on Sunday instead of Friday or if Kenny Roberts will do his hiding on Friday instead of Sunday. As of this date it only means that for you fans of F-I road racin~ you can leave Daytona earlier and get home sooner. If you favor Superbikes than you can leave home later and still see your favorite brand and rider. Let's give the manufacturers of cycles, the manufacturers of tires and the riders a chance to see how they all are going to react to this change in tradi tion before we make our j udgements. • 3

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