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/127717
switched to a rented Honda after losing his Suz uki ride to Schw an tz - and Yam aha's Sam McDon ald into the top five. When the green flag finally signaled the sta rt to the Daytona 200, several of the top s ta rs w ere already in trouble: Sch wantz, Me rkel an d McDona ld all fried their clu tches off the line and the man in fro nt was Cooley, in his firs tever ride on a Honda Inte rce p to r. McDonald was giving chase, with Spencer in third. By the third lap, Spencer was in front, with Cooley clear of the battle be tween McDonald, John Bettencourt and Pat Hernon. Just when it appeared the race for victory was over, Spencer waved Cooley past in the infield, and then cruised into the pits, thinking his Honda had dropped a va lve and that his day was done . Spe nce r's m e ch a n ics q u ickly checked for oil leaks or other problems, found no ne and sent Spence r back out. He was out of the top 20 and some two minutes behind Coo ley. By the 10th lap, Coo ley led Honda mounted Jeff Han ey, the dirt trackerturned-road race r having his best road race outing, as Spencer tried to fight back 'to the fro nt. On the 15th lap, he was up to eighth. Soon he was sixth, then four th, then third, the n second and only 11 seconds behind Cooley. On the 27th lap, Spencer took over at the front. An exchange. of pit stops saw Cooley lead aga in, but Spence r w a s soon back in front and he ended up winning by one m inu te and 23 seconds. Cooley was second, wit h Ha ney alon e in third to give Ho nda a 1-2-3 finish . . Even as Spencer sat on the start line for the 200, he 'd already had a weekend most racers only dream of. With the Formula One race being moved out of the spo tlig h t and into Fri d ay's sc hed ule, Spencer ove rcame both a st arti ng-line controversy and a broken exhaust p ipe to take victory o n hi s factory H ond a NSR500 GP machine. The start line incident was controversi al in that Spencer was forced to restart his engine after the one-minute b oard had alre ady been s ho w n, a vio lation of AMA rul e s . Altho ug h there wa s so me g ri p ing, no protests were filed. The broken exha us t pipe occurred on the 21st lap, bu t whil e it slowed Spencer some, it didn't end his d ay. At the finish, Spencer wa s still so me 10 seco nds ahead of Mik e Ba ld w in . Thi rd place wen t to Ron Haslam with Randy Renfrow and Richa rd Schlachter rounding ou t the top five ; all five were Hond amounted w ith Ca g i v a' s M arco Lucchinelli the first non-Honda rider, in sixth place. Spencer's third victory came prior to the Dayt ona 200 on Sunday morning whe n he romped to victory in the Intern ational Formu la Two race . Spencer to pped Germa ny's Siegfried Minich (Yam a ha TZ2 50) and Bri ta in' s A n dy Watts (EMC), the only- two riders who weren't lapped by Fast Freddie. At the end of th e d ay, Spe nce r wa s asked what it felt like to fina lly win the Dayton a 200. " It was mor e of a relief... after coming here for so many yea rs and not wi n n ing the 200 is frust rating," Spencer said . "But it's a great.fecling to w in all three races, th ree races I've never won before." (~ :1985 Daytona 200 .Qualifying . 1. . Freddie Spencer 2. ' . Fred Merkel ·' . 3. ' K~vinSchwantz (Abo ve) Victory Lane following the Daytona 200 featured (from left to right) Jeff Haney, Freddie Spencer and Wes Cooley. (Below) Freddie Spencer was perfect in 1985, winn ing the 200, the Formula One race and also the Internat ional Lightweight race on his NSR250. Wes Cooley 5. Sam McDonald :RonHaslam . 7. .Dave Busby " . 8. Jimmy Adamo 'Jimmy Filice, ·io. .' ' Robert Pietn 4. " ,6 : ,9 : .Honda Honda' . . Suzuki, . . Honda . Yamaha Honda . Hornja Cagiva Yamaha Ho nda ' . 1:57.768 1:59.680 2:01.380 2:03.684 2:03.716 2:04.685' 2:04.697. 2:04.901 . 2:04.901 2:05.137 '1985o"aytona 20o Results' · FreddieSpencer . 1.' 2. ' , Wes Cooley . , 3.. Honda ' Honda Honda . Honda Yamaha Yamaha JeffHaney Ron Haslam. 5. Rueben McMurter .. 6: . Jimmy Filice 7. MikeHarth' Honda 8. : Glenn Barry Honda ·9. . Steve Parrish Y amaha 10. John Bettencourt Honda · Time: 1 hour, 58min.• 1 ,3.067 sec. Average Speed: 102.989mph. . . . 4: . . ·1985 International Formula Two Results 1. . 2. , 3. Freddie Spencer ." Siegtried Minich . Andy wattS , 4. . Joh Long . n '5 . Rich Schlachter .. 6. . Kevin Brunson 7: JeffHeino · 8. Da Frankln le i 9. Eduardo,A1eman 10. Doug Brauneck ... Honda . . Yamaha .' EMC Yamaha ' . Honda' Armstrong Honda '. Yamaha Yamaha Sponson . ' ' 1985 Formula One Results . · 1. . Freddie Spencer ' . . 2. ' Mike BaldWin . 3. . Ron Haslam · 4. " Randy Renfrow 5. ' ' RichSchlachter 6. . . Marco Lucctiinelli .7. . ' JeffHaney '. . WesCoo . '. ley , 9., - ' Doug Brauneck · 10. . Alan labrosse 8 : Honda Honda . Honda Honda . Honda . Cagiva Honda ' H~nda Yamatia Yamaha . . ~