Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Formula Two Spencer's second runaway win io w W 11. '" ..: ~ o u o Z Z Z w :I: > al '" ~ o Fred die _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _f_ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _-place_ __ _ _ried Minich_ _ _ _ _ 11. Spencer (11 6) looks or a way around the outside of second _ _ f inisher Sig f _ _ _ _ . :I: ___ John Long (1 3 2) and Ric h Schlachter (1 01 ) had one of t he best races of t he d ay. battling over fourth. Long took it by a foot at the line. swee p o f th e three maj or road races of Cycle Week. Averaging a blazing 103.475 mph in th e 28-lap, 99.68-mile final , Spencer Spencer (116). David Aldana (26). Rich Schlachter (101). John Long (13 2 1. and Dale Fra nklin (7 ) lead the pack off the starting grid. By Ga ry Van Voorhis DAYT O NA BEACH, FL , MAR . 9 Honda's Freddie Spencer, in blazing fashion , picked u p his first win in the Interna tional Form u la Two race at Daytona International 1.4 ~.P.,~ eHwlay. , ~N,dilrppy~~t?I).~ s ~ep. <;los~~/~ a • lapped a ll exce p t second-pl ace-finish er Sieg frie d Min ich of Austria an d Brit ish er Andy Watts in third. However, Spe ncer's ride wa s n ot without p roblem s as a sea m in his gas tank cracked in th e last third o f the race a nd began to leak gas o nto hi s lea th ers a nd the sea t o f th e bike. Minich , o n a Yamaha TZ250, fin ished nearly 90 seco nds behind Spen cer with Watts. on th e Ro tax-eng ined Eh rl ich EMC, over 20 seco n ds farth er back . One o f th e best battles o f th e day was for fourth between John Long (Yama ha TZ250) and Rich Sch lachter (Honda RS250). Th e two took their fight right to the finish wi th Lo ng a hea d by no more th an one foot as th ey crossed th e line. Spen cer wa s no less dominating in qual ifyin g, turning in a two minute, 1.562 seco nd la p a t 105.427 mph during hi s tim ed session . Minich , second, was 4.5 seco nd s and nearly 3.0 mph slow er. Sch lachter , Watts and U.S. F-2 Champion Don Greene rounded o ut th e top five. (T h is was th e fir st ti me th at timed sessio ns hav e been u sed in Formula Two a t Da ytona. Past qualifying was don e via heat races .) Schlach ter wa s o ne of th e luc ky peo p le in quali fying. H e got h is fas t la ps in befo re tumbl in g down th e track in the infield when a g us t of wind ca ug h t h im as h e was exiti ng a turn and literall y " blew th e fro n t end away. Luckil y, 1 had my laps in," said Sch lachter "a nd th e dam a ge wasn ' t so bad it co u ldn ' t be fix ed ." Durin g th e fin al practice sessio n p rior to th e fin al, Greene 's H onda seized; h e missed th e race . On th e wave of the flag , it wa s Min ich je tti ng o u t fro nt to lead th e firs t la p a nd ro b Spe ncer of a start-to-fin ish ru n o u t front . Spencer made up what li tt le distance h e was behind Min ich quickly a nd assu med th e lead before th e two exited the infield on lap two. Long and Schlach ter were a lready beginning a battle wh ich wou ld run off and on throughou t th e len gth of " " the ra ce, a n? Watts was fifth. T he top ,.& • • • & I' I " . . . . ...·_1 4 ~1 ~ two positions were a lready set o u t with th e next three changing pl aces before th e finish . The fin al was cu t one lap - from th e ori gina l 29 (103.24 m iles) to 28 - aft er AMA and Speed way officials deemed it necessa ry to make sure riders d idn 't ru n o ut ofgas in th e fin al ' la ps. So me rid ers topped up th eir tanks a fter th e wa rm- u p lap as a preca ution. " I was n ' t worried a bo u t fuel." said Spence r. "The bike ge ts good mileage a n d 1 kn ew it would run over 100 mi les on wh at we had in th e tank." Fue l proved to be a p roblem for Wa tts, a lthough it wasn 't gas mi leage he was wo rri ed a bo u t. " I hadn 't practiced with a fu ll tank o f gas," said Watts a fte rward . "The h andl in g cha nged and 1 ha d to coo l it a bit in th e ope n ing laps because 1 did n't wa n t to cras h. My slo w start a llowed Mi n ich to ge t away and o nce 1 got cooki ng there was no wa y I co u ld catch h im so 1 sett led in to fin ish as well as 1 cou ld." David Aldana, by th e end of lap five, had been in the pi ts twice on hi s Bud Li ght-sp on sored works Rotax a nd was nea r ly two laps do wn after gas lea ked o ut th e vent syste m o n to th e rea r tire. H e la ter cras hed exi ting th e infi eld , wh en th e transmi ssion lock ed , but was uninjured. Spe ncer h ad over nine seconds on Mini ch by th e sta rt o f lap six a nd wa s already lapping traffi c backmarkers. Minich held a sh o rt gap on the Schlachter/ Long duel for third with Watts fifth. Armstrong rider Kevin Brunson, in hi s la st ra ce before con cen tra ting on hi s fin al year of co llege,led H onda-mounted J eff Heino in seventh. Joey Sommers, running eighth at th e time on a MacLean Raci ng Honda, cra sh ed entering th e infield after getting sidewa ys and a lmost hilling H eino a nd was bruised and battered. Sommers is still on the mend from a broken femur su ffered in J u ne of la st year. Spencer , li ke a fine watch, continued to tick off the laps and extend hi s advantage on Minich . By "lap nine, the margin was 26 seconds. Schlachter was ahead of Long as they remained about 20 lengths ap art all " the way a ro u nd the tra ck. Watts was slowly inching h is way up on the pair after getting his fue l load down to where " the front end wa sn ' t pushing a n ymore." Da le Franklin was on the move on his Motorcycle Works/ Dave Haroldtun ed TZ and stalked sixt h-place Brunson with H eino, James Stephens (Sp o n d o n ), and Doug Brauneck (Spondo n) rounding out th e top 10. One lap later dirt tracker Chris Carr, ou t for hi s first AMA 250cc road race, found h is name o n th e list of riders Spen cer had put one lap down. " T he stra tegy was to run th e bike hard ," said Spe nce r. " T he race was a test of th e machine - just like th e Form u la One race yesterday - to see if a ny problem s cro p up. T h is is th e bike I'll be racin g in th e G Ps a n d th ere' s no better way to test tha n in a race." Spencer's strategy was proving frustrating to Minich wh o was settin g a very st ro ng pa ce h im self , but was sti ll losin g ground at th e rat e of two seconds or more per lap . Long gra bbed third from Sch lach ter on lap 13 wh en Schlachter wa s balked by slo wer traffi c near th e sta rt / finish lin e. Watts was ri ght behind the duel a nd in th e next lap clos ed , and then moved a rou nd both Schlach ter and Long to ta ke over thi rd, Watts quickly se t a bo u t o pe n i ng so me brea thi ng room, tryin g to close th e gap o n Min ich in seco nd . Back aro und 12th , brothers Eduardo a nd Alaj andro Alem an of Ven ezuela wer e slowl y movinz tow ard the top' t r f t" ~ J· ( 3 r ;. t l~ :' /"

• Cover