Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eDYON PREVIEW AT A CycleWeek '90 , The foreign invasion O'l By Chris Carter I""""i here will be people wh o will jeer when they read that once again th e Prophet Ca rter is forecasting th at a n Englishman , or rather a British rid er will win th e 49th running of th e Daytona 200. Yes, I rem ember th at I said last year th a t a Brit would end th e unbroken run of failure to win th e bi g race at ',Daytona , but th is year - even a llow-. in g for my overly optimisti c attitude - I think th e U nion Jack will be flying proudly in victory lane. So who is going to do what peop le like Barry Sheene, Paul Sma rt, Cliff Ca rr , Mick Grant a nd Ro n H asl am have fai led to do? Take your pick from Niall Macke nz ie , Jamie Whitham and Carl Fogarty. . Whitham raced last year on a Suzuki that even th e kindest fan of the British team from Crawley would have to describe as sluggish and unreliable. Last year, Whitham lea rn ed a lot about what you need to w in th e Daytona 200. Now he's back on a new team and the RC30 H o nda that he will rac e will be as fast as anything else on the race trac k, I suspect , and th e Yorkshireman is excited about his new tea m and the prospe cts of victory. Whitham has raced only once since badly breaking his leg ' in a crash at the Ulster Grand Prix in August and still has limited movement in one ankle, but winning a race like the Daytona 200 is as m uch a matter of men tal preparation and mac hin e reliablity as, physical fitness. Jamie still has ambi tions of becoming a World Champion. He is still very ' young but now has accepted, like many Europeans, that the route to 500cc World Championship teams is through success in superbike racing and he must impress in this class to ca tch th e eye of the factory ch iefs. Carl Fogarty, Whitham's teammate on th e Honda UK squad, ha s been the TT Formula One World Ch ampion for th e past two seasons. Like Whith am , Carl wants to be racing in th e World Champion shi p 500cc Road Race Serie s, but despite two successive TT titles no o ffers ca me h is way for the 1990 season. H e, too , must impress th ose who matter by winning su pe rbike races. Ca rl is th e tal ented racing so n of a talented rac ing fathe r, George Fogarty. H e ca n race well on both pu re roa d circu its like th e Isle o f Man a nd close d circuits. Now tha t America has fall en in line with th e rest of th e world in acce p ting so me of th e more exo tic Su pe rbikes like th e RC30 a nd Yam aha' s aWOl , the Eu ropeans have the machinery to wi n th e big race a t Dayton a. But if I'm suggesting th at Whitham a nd Fogarty are al one in ha vin g th e necessar y ' qualifica tions to zap th e o p position, stand by for th e sh riek of bagpipes a nd the swir l o f th e kilt as Ni all Mack enzie comes into view. , Mack enzie has been a 500cc Grand Prix racer for several seasons. The Scotsman has co me close to winning several GPs in the past and American enthusiasts who sa w hi s performance either live or on TV a t the U.S . G P a couple of years back at Laguna Seca will know just how good he is. The capitalis t antics of Eddie Lawso n , Wayne R a ine y and Kevin T 16 Sch wa ntz have tak en th e bu lk o f th e avai lable cas h in 500cc GP raci ng, lea vin g severa l top clas s riders lik e Mackenzie without a ride in the 1990 season. But Ni all has been loaned a factory Yamaha awol by th e Brit ish - based Loctite team for th e Dayton a 200 and a few o the r major superbike races . Mackenzie has been assu red th at th e bik e will be co m pe titi ve and like th ose to be raced by hi s teammat es Terry R ym er and R o b Mc Eln ea i n the opening round of th e World Ch ampi onship Superbike Series in Spa in a week after Daytona. If the bike is good enoug h, we kn ow th at Niall is good enough. Put him down as an odds-on favorite. T he rest of th e British line u p as it stands are top 10 mat eri al but little more. Andy McGladder y won the British Superstock Seri es, despite th e inevitable big crash th at left h im with a broken leg after a Donington Park spill, and this race will be hi s swan song. The colorful Geordie will end his racing career in the Florida su nshine. On hi s day, Andy is a hard man to bea t, but he has been o ne o f the un luckiest me n in th e sport, and it would need for the rest to cat ch an outbreak of his bad luck for Andy to win this one. Dave Leach is more of a pure road race circuit specialist with wins a t the o u t, like las t year , H o lden could win. But th e man who must stand as good a cha nce as anyon e in th e race is Daytona reg u lar Martin Wimmer. Last 'yea r, on a virt ually sta nda rd Suzu ki road bik e, th e West German fini sh ed sixth with hi s br ake s almost , worn down to noth ing. This yea r he returns with an awol Yam aha and the prospect o f victo ry well within hi s grasp. But Martin is probabl y thinking more abo u t winning th e 250cc Lightweig ht race th an th e Daytona 200. T he Grand Prix star will hav e h is works Aprilia for the 250cc ra ce and th e bike is well suited for a high-speed circuit lik e Daytona. In fact , truthfully speaking, it 's diffi cult to see anybody beating Wimmer in the 250cc race. Sadly, Niall Mack enz ie has withdra wn h is Lightweight race entry even though th e Scotsman ha s been forced to co ncent ra te his efforts on th e World Championship 250cc Road Race Series this year. And with Mackenzie gone, who else ca n beat Wimmer? G ar y Cowan for o ne will be trying. H e is th e new boy in Kenny Roberts' 250cc Ameri can team a l o n g side Ri chard Oliver. The Ulsterman has tu rned hi s bac k on the 250cc World Championship after ba ttl ing away as a priva teer. The chance to wi n the American 250cc Ch ampionship to replace King Kenny's J oh n Kocinski o n that throne was too good to tu rn dow n , but Cowan hopes that this will pu t him back in th e big time on the Grand Prix trail. Cowan, though, will ride a standard TZ Yamaha wh ich would not appear a match for Wimmer's super fast little to me , I must confess. . but the hard fought Japanese home co m pe tition co ntin ues to produce new names every year and th e chances are that hi s Yam aha will be quick. Best of th e Fren ch is Alain Bronec wh o is mem orab le for three reasons. The fir st is his developing form in th e 250 cc Wor ld C hampionship. The seco nd is th e machine he wi ll race, a 250cc Fior Aprilia, wh ich should be interesting to look a t, and even better to look at is the third reason: his English girlfriend Katrina. Sadly, whatever your political feelings might be, th e scarcity of South Africans in international motorcycle sport is sad . But two racers from th at politically troubled country, Wayne Doran and R ussell Wood, hav e entered for the 250 race . Doran, I know litt le abo u t, but Wood is a good young rider from th e country tha t produced Kork Ballington. Let us turn our a ttentio n to the ProTwins event where' Pa ul Lewis, th e diminutive Australian , will be racing a very com petitive Ducati 888 a nd could win. But another Co lonial, Robert Holden, who is, as we explained earlier, a New Zealander and who will ride a Britten 1000 similar to the one that Gary Goodfellow wi ll race . Gary tells me that the bike is co ming on well and was im p ressive when he raced it back in New Zeala nd this winter. Finally, we cannot let this preview to Daytona go by without reference to one , of the world's greatest racing journalists (as he wo u ld be . th e first to point out), Ala n Ca thcart. Last year it was suggested, rather cruelly, that it wo u ld take a mass pile- Apr i lia. But does an yon e have a nythin g as q uick as Wimmer 's bik e? Take Wimmer ou t, ,tho ug h , a nd it sudden ly becomes a very open race. Germa ns Bernhard Schi ck a n d H a rold Eckl are both Grand Prix ru nners wit h Eckl th e more experi enced , bu t both are capa ble of top th ree places. Du bli ner Ed die La yco ck returns with hi s Yama ha a nd can be rel ied on to be in the action, while from north o f th e border comes Johnny Rea, a tal ented U lsterm an wi th his Yamaha. .. Th er e a re three Finns - Mika Jokin en , Esko Kuparinen and Johnny Wickstrom. Of the th ree, Wickstrom is the most tal ented with a great dea l of Grand Prix expe rience and although he is unlikely to win, a top six place is on the cards. Keiji Tamura from J apan means u p , severe o utbreak of food poisoning a nd unbeli evable mechanical br eakdo wns for him to win . This year the sa me crue l th oughts ar e being spoken a lo ud by a lleged expe rts. Wh ether it is true or not , to Alan this is a ll irrelevant. For at th e end of last year, using me thods th at must obvio us ly rem a in secret, a di stinguished pan el voted Alan as a, rather th an th e, Journalist of th e Year back in Britain . You see he 's a winner a lready I And ta lki ng o f winners, don 't forget it was me who to ld you tha t Martin Wimmer could be th e third man to win both th e 250cc Lightweight and Da ytona 200 races, equalling the achieveme nts of the magnificent and colorful Gary Nixon wh o scored the double in 1967 as did th e ultra-fast a nd la ter con troversial Freddie Spencer in 1985. CN LEGEND , ""' sc,,~ Of FICES & TOEY DEPT 2 SPEEOWAY OFFICES & IoI ILAQOt,l A 3 UNOCAL 71 G"S STAl ION .. GAT( 7 ENTRANCE !o TU NIII[ L E"" F1 ANCE I HOSPIT ALIT Y AREA I 7 HQSPlT ALITY AR£ A " I ELECT RONIC TElESlG IoI '} LAME LLOYD ' 0 OATE 21 R V ( NTR... »ce " GATE 3' R V ENTRANCE '2 MARLEY HEA VEN BACK STRETCH SEATI"tQ (UNR ESERVED GRANDS TANOI '3 ROAD R/ICING CHICANE '.·1.... W' N ST()frrl SCOR ING TRYLON S ' $ QOOOVE AA BUllOIN(i/GAAAO f AREA ., PEPSI P,,"OOOCIl. ",RE'" 17 UNQCAL1&S"" ION I l' BEiliN'!' "' '''''N INFIELD PRE SS ROOM IN T[ RN..." ()f\I ..... SPEEDW ...., CORP PU8LICA 'IOHS Of"" " PI' RO"' D POOOtO TOWER :0 VICTOR" LA NE 21 "' U ~ 'LI"'R " n SPOfl'S C"' R P A.OOQCII INFIELD DIS.... ...., ...RE'" O",.,TO"'''' 9E"'C'" REGION "' L ...IRPOR i ROAD R CE SCORING BUILDING ~ 1RI ov SCORING BU ILDING 26 MOTOR R"' CING NElWOAl( 'IT C "' ECI( EREO FL "'G 9 UIL[)lN G 'lfI C Io4...MPlQN SP...RII PlIJG 8UIL DI NG 'l9 INFIUD C...R E CEN TER 23 24 ... 8 C o E r G H /" OLD FIELD GR " NOSlANO DEPAL M A GR AN DS TAND JOE WEAn"ERt., GRANDST AND C AMPe EL L GR " NOS T" NO WINS TON TOW£R r IflE8 A1.L RD8ER TS GR A"' OS'AND S£QIl AvE GRANOSTAND II EEC'" QIl ANOSTAND HOUST(lfIj l ...WING J'AESS 8011 Isle o f Man TT a nd elsewhere to prove the point. H e is fast, safe a nd consisten t but not really a pr e-race favorite. Robert H o ld en is li st ed in th e adva nce entry' list as being from England. If you accept th e fact th at Ga ry Goodfell ow is a Ca na d ian , yo u would go al ong with th at . But th e fact is that Robert , like Gary, is a New Zea lander. For suc h a small country, New Zealand has p roduced a lot o f good riders over th e years a nd they are looking for their fir st Daytona 200 winnersince Graem e Crosby.pulled off the win in th e '82 race. Well, Robert Holden could be th e man to gi ve them th at win. His form in Britain, particularly in th e las t half of the season, was superb. He rides an R C30 Honda from the Francis Neill stable and that 'means he has th e bi ke capable of doing the job. If some of the more fancied men dr op

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