Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ w u « a: ..J « z o ~ Z a: w I- Z « z After m issing Honda's private test session on February 27-28, it now seems that Freddie Spencer w ill miss the Daytona 200. Accord ing to Honda's road racing team manage r Udo Geitl, Spencer has a sinus infe cti o n . "We are going o n the assumption that Freddie Spencer will not race at Daytona this year." Geitl said on Monday, March 3 . " Unl es s something changes we will concentrate our efforts on Fred Merkel and Wayne Ra iney." Spencer swept to unprecedented wins in the Superbike. Formula One and Formula Two classes at Daytona last year. Efforts to reach Spencer prior to press time proved fruitless. Yama ha YZ250-mo unted Mike Baker claimed th e D-37 Viewfinders GP overall at Riverside Int ernation al Raceway, in Riverside, Ca lifornia , edgi ng Husq varna 's Dan Smit h and Dan Ashcra ft after the 100-m ile race. Alth ou gh Smi th crossed the finis h lin e firs t, Baker too k th e overa ll o n th e basis of time. Smith took the 500cc class win, while Ashcraft finished second. Cagi va's Duane Summers captured the 125cc P ro win o n Sa turday. Honda-mounted Ted Boody won th e Wisco /Daytona D irt Track Series opener at the Busch HalfMile on March 2 . Boody beat Harley-Davidson-mounted Steve Morehead and Pete Hames. The Jun"ior c lass was won by Rotaxmounted Bryan Villella whi le Willie McCoy took the Pro / Am class. Husqvama-rnoun ted Ed Loja k won the second round of the AMA Nationa l Hare Scrambles Ch am p ionsh ip in Gai nesville, Florida on March 2. Loja k, who was rid in g in the 250cc A class, bea t Ca n-Am's John Mart in , who was a lso o n a 250. T he Open class win went to Ca n-A m's Geoff Ballard over Kevin- H ines (KT M) a nd Fri tz Kadle c (H us). Steve Genner (Han ) won the I25cc class. Roger Re iman won the 500cc Prem ier Class at the Invitational Historical Amateur Road Races held at Daytona Inte rn atio na l Speedway on Monday. March 3 . Reiman rode a 1957 side-valve HarleyDavidson KR750 to victory. Barry Higgins won the vintage motocross held at the track the same day. Look for a full report in next week's issue of Cycle News. Dutchman Kees van der Ven led a KTM sweep of th e top finishin g pos itions in th e Le Touquet Enduro in France on Su nda y, Febru ary 24. Van der Ven 's wi n was his fo urth in th e event, the most prestigious beach race in the wor ld. Great Britain 's Laurenc e Spence, J an van Po ppel, J ack van Velt hoven a nd O li vi er Perr in , all KT M-mou nted, rou nded out the top five. Van der Ven rod e a KT M 500 MXC to victory. 6 Hap Jones Distributing is sponsoring Scott Pearson. Terry Poovey and the Mert La_ill Racing Team in Camel Pro Series d irt tracks for 19B6. Hap Jones is also sponsor· ing Mike Green.who will ride a Tri- ~ Marc o l ucc hinelli , w ho will ride Cagivas in both the S uperbike a nd Battle of The Twins. t e sted at Da ytona on February 26 . o <, w Z ~ > z z w umph in Battle of The Twins road rac e s . T he February 25-26 testing 'sessio n at Dayton a In tern at io nal Speedway invo lved six tea m s a nd 15 r iders. Yamah a U.S. and Yam aha Ca na da were jo in ed by Yosh imu ra Suzuki, T he Super T eam , Cagiva and Harl eyDavidson . By th e end of the secon d day of test in g. 1984 500cc Road Race World Cha mp ion, Eddie Lawson o n a Yam ah a U:S. Fl750, was do wn to withi n O.OI-secon d of th e track record at o ne m in ute 57.77 seconds. Defendin g Dayton a 200 wi n ner Freddie Spencer's ecord from last year's q ua lifyin g o n the 3.56-mile roa d course 1.57.76. Yoshi m ura 's Kevin Schwantz was second quickest in the unofficia l timing with a one minute 59.6 second la p. Wea th er co nditions were coo l and windy . Roberto Pietri, out of the American road racing scene most of last year, is back at Daytona, Pietri, who fin ished third in both t he Daytona 200 and Superbike 100 in 1982. went home to Venezuela w ith his w ife t o await the birth of their baby, Wh ile t here a fr iend ta lked Roberto into raci ng speedboats and he caught the b ug . Pietri won three of the races he w as in and plans to continue racing on t he water. Pietri w ill be a board a Cagiva for the 200. A record Da yto n a 200 pre-entry number 160 riders - 19 of them factory su pported. incl udi ng reigni ng 250 an d 500c Wo rld Champion an d defendi ng Dayton a 200 win ner Freddie Spencer, three former World Champions, the defendin g Superbike Champion and the defending Grand Cha mpion. has Daytona Internat ional Speed way 's J im France smiling. " Right from the start we've belie ved su perbikes were the com ing thi ng and that they were the way to go ," said DIS vice pres ident Jim France."The num ber of bik es, and the n u mber of cha m pions entered in this year's Daytona 200 o nly supports that premise." In winning round one of the AMA National Hare Scrambles in louis iana. Husky's Mark Hyde used a device that enables the rider of a Husky to start his b ike and put it in gear by releasing a lever on the handlebars. Look for this mechanism to be available in kit form by HuSky Products as soon as testing is complete, John Kocinski tested h is Fl750 at Dayton a February 25-26, but he wo n't ge t to ride th e Da yton a 200 becau se un der FIM ru les yo u have to be 18 and Kocinski doesn' t have hi s 18th birthday until March 20. J immy Filice had a problem also. He isn' t too young, but th e IIO-pound Filice is too light. Yam aha had to order specia l sp rings for th e suspension on hi s F1750 after findin g everythi ng th ey brou ght to the sessio n was too stiff fo r th e " ligh tweig h t" Fi lice. "" > '" CIl ==~-",,"" ~ Kev in Schwantz at speed on his S uzuki GSXR750 du ring a two-day test session on February 25-26 at Daytona International Speedway. S uper Team owner Tom Tucker (left) and three-time Grand Nationa l Champion Jay Springsteen discuss Springer's practice session during mid -week test sessions at Daytona Internationa l Speedway. Mike Baldwin. ridi ng on a one race deal for Yamaha Motor Corp U.S.A. at Daytona before head ing to Europe and his 500cc GP ride with Kenny Roberts ' Lucky Strike backed racing team, has a very s imple strategy for t he March 9 Daytona 200 . " My strategy is simple , " said Baldwin during a February 26 testing session at Daytona International Speedway. "I want to w in as much money as I can ." T he Super Tea m's J ay Springsteen was smi ling from ear to ear after testing at Dayto na February 25-26. While work continued on the race bikes for Spri ngs teen an d team mates R icky Graha m a nd La nce J ones, the three took turns ridin g a stock - special car bu retors and piPe added - Yamaha FZ750. " I ra n two mi nu tes, 15second la ps when I won the Bailie of T he Tw ins fin al in 1983 o n the factory Harley-Davidson. I' m run n ing a t 2:08 o n th e stoc k bike with a revlimiter. I can' t wai t to see wha t my race bike will do." Satoshi Tsujimoto. the Japenese Formula One National Champion; smiled broadly when asked through an interpreter - if he liked the banking at Daytona. The Japanese Formula One class is similiar to our Superbike Series in that it is limited to 750Cc for multis. However. the Japanese limit engine modifications while allowing any frame changes including using an aftermarket frame . Tsujimoto like d his Superbike because it was "much faster" than his similiar Suzuki GSXR750 Formula One mount. Team Honda's R icky Johnso n, hot off h is Atlanta Supercross win, head s to Dayto na and the Daytona Supercross as the early favorite to cont inue h is red hot AMA/ l nsport Supereross Series perfo rman ce. "The o ne event on the circui t that I' d like to win ? T he Daytona Supcrcross. It 's rea lly a prestigious event and with everything go ing on it's more like the Super Bo wl and the Worl d Series tha n a reg u lar series event . It 's never a n easy race and that ma kes it even more exciting to wi n." The t rack for the Daytona Supercross By Honda is la id out o n the fou r-acre tract which comprises the trioval area between the start/ finish portion of the track and pit road . The O.S-mile serpentine course. built with over 1 000 tons of linestone hauled into the Speedway. was designing the track for the annual event with the first Supercross at Daytona in 1971. Larry Huffman , the host of the Motorcycle World radio show, will offer live reports from Daytona Beach , Florida at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sun da y, March 7-9 on KOLA/ FM 99.9 in San Bern ad ino and R iverside, California. A summary of the events in Dayton a can also be heard on the reg ular edition of Mo to rcycl e World on Sunday, March 9 a t 10:00 p.m. on the usual Californ ia stations . In ceremonies commemorating the 10th anniversary of AMA Superbike racing. the 1976 BMW rece team of Reg Pridmore. Steve Mclaughlin and Gary Fisher will make iE

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