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/128322
Tie Goes To The Pioneer agnificent as was Valentino Ro ssi 's he r oic victo ry aboard the lactory Y amaha YZF-M I at the 2004 MotoGP sea so n- o pe ning Grand Prix 01 Malaysia, it didn't represen t the first time that a man recognized as the sport' s absolute best had elected to abandon the salety 01 a team tha t provided a stable foundat ion for his success and travel into unc harted territo ry wit h a diffe rent brand. On March 10, 1974, 13-time (later IS-t ime ) World Road Racing Champ ion Giacomo Agost ini came to Daytona Beach, probl ems amo ng ot her glitches. If t hings we nt well, then t he TZ700 would be the class of the field. If they didn't , Yamaha's st reak w ould be over. The we ight of this was certainly not lost o n Agosti ni, who discussed t he '74 Dayton a 200 w it h Cycle News on t he 30th anniversary of t he eve nt. "To me, it [winning] was ve ry, very importan t," the now -60-year-o ld Agost ini said. "I had just left MV Agusta, and I was used to the four-st ro ke engine... I was scare d when Ilelt MY, because that was my family... Dayton a w as my first time w ith the amaha , and tw o- stro ke, my first time with Y my first time in the USA." Th e plot wo uld th icken w hen Agostini qualified only fifth fastest - the last rider on the front row - behind Suzuki's Paul Smart , fellow Yamaha rider s Hideo Kanaya of M Florida, in an even m ore dire circum stanc e. Following a season in w hich Agostini had repeate d as 3S0cc World Champion but seen his seven-year re ign as SOOcc World Champ ion halted by his MV Agusta teammate, Phil Read - arguably the most disliked man eve r to set foot in a GP paddock the Agostin i made shocking deci sion to leave t he Italian factory and its blood- red lourstroke thoroughbred racers behind in favor of a new de al w ith Yamaha. Still ev e ry ounce wo rt h his salt but not getting any yo unge r, Agostini's first test would perhaps be his biggest, as the factory e nte red him in th e Daytona 200 (the race was to be shorte ned to IBO miles due to the U.S. gas crun ch) aboard a mot o rcycle wit h far fewer com bat miles unde r its belt th an Rossi's M I , Yamaha's inline four-cylinder two-stroke . TZ 700 Much of t he R&Dfor t he new machine had been carried ou t by American Yamaha race team manager and former 2S0cc World Champ ion Kel Car ruthers, who upon first riding the machine had effect ively pronounced it a tw o-wheeled shitb ox . As de liver ed, the pro totyp e TZ700 was basically roc ket engine mated to ro totiller chassis. '1\t anything over 160-abou t mph, the t hing w ou ld start doing ta nkslappers," Car ruthers reca lled. After le ngth ening the swingarm and so rting o ut a few e ngine details, the TZ700 was to be Yamaha's rep lacem ent for the venerable giant-killer TZ3S0s that had wo n Daytona in '72 and '73. De spite the factory's confidence tha t the machine had been sufficiently sorted, t here were some reliability co ncerns, as preseason testing at Daytona revealed exhaust pipe breakage over Kanaya on the first lap. Ago kept upping the pace , turning 2:04s, t hen an incredible 2:03 o n the fifth lap, the same o ne that saw Kanaya crash out of the race. Then Agostini slowed, and Sheen e too k over the lead o n lap 10. Gary Nixon would hold the lead by lap 20, only to give it to Ago when N ixon stopped for gas. Ago gave it back w hen he stopped a lap later. By lap 33, N ixo n had II seconds on the second-runn ing Ago by lap 33, when the lorme r AMA champ made his second stop. Four laps later, he wo uld crash while exiting the infield to the West Banking, end ing his bid for victory. Agostini pitted t he lap after and returned to the track wit h his lead intact . According to the Cycle News account of the race, "Fro m lap 39 to the 47th and final go-around, the only ques tion hanging ove r Daytona Speedway was how 30 YEARS AGO••• May 7,1974 The wil illustrad tion on the cover of Issue # 17was penned by Dave Grieve of Sacramento, Califomia .. The Shamrocks M.e. held an ISDT Quali ier in f Barsto Califomia w, Carl Cranke (Pen) turned in the best indMduai performance, while the Penton team of BillFriant, Steve Hurd and Eric Jensen won the Manufacturer's Teamaward... High school MX was a happening scene in Southem California. Such schools as SaddlebackHigh, Cypress High, KennedyHigh and Granada Hiils High were taking part in the program... Jim Gianatsisauthored a great tech piece on how to wring more power out of old Husqvamas... We also featured a test of the new red-framed CZ2S0,calling it "a race r's dream and an accessory salesman's nightmare." Guess it was pretty good. 20 YEARS AGO•• • May 9. 19B4 Long before becom ing our Euro- pean editor, Alan Cathcart was riding cool bikes, old and new. Cathcart gave us insight into what it was liketo ride Dave iililii'!:l Aldana's factory BSA Rocket 3 road racer, the subject of our Issue # 17 cover... There was also a story o n Suzuki's deci- sion to build RGSOO streetbikes based off the company's GP racers... Team Honda teammates Bob Hannah and Johnny O'Mara split the Insport/Wrangler Supercross Series double-header at the Pontiac Silverdome. Hannah won Saturday, and O'Mara won Sunday... Former World Trial Champion Bernie Schreiber (SWM) won round six of the World series at Osnabruck, Germany, the 1979 title winner climbing to within 16 points of series leader Eddy Lejeune... Dan Smith (Hus) won the Vikings M.e. Hare & Hound in Lucerne Valley, California. 1U YEARS AGO••• May4,1994 Japan and Kenny Robe rts, and Englishman Barry Shee ne on anot her Suzu ki. All appeared capable of beating Agostini. And if it we nt dow n that way, it would not go unnot iced on the radar. Just as the eyes of the motorcycling wo rld we re o n Rossi at Malaysia in 2004 , with over 4S,OOO spectato rs on hand to w itness the event, so too were they on Ago in at Dayto na in 1974, where crowd count for the race was an estimate d 48,000. These were the co nditio ns t hat Agostini faced w hen the green flag dropped to start the 33rd running of the Dayto na 200. Once the clutch was let out on his num ber 10 mac hine, there was no turning back. He go t off to a flying start, pulling t he holeshot on the field and stretching his lead through the infield to build a 20-yard gap 114 MAY 5, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS far ahead of Roberts would Agostini be at t he finish." In the end, Agostini wo n by over 30 seco nds, Roberts electing to take a safe seco nd place afte r suffering both the anticipated exhaust problem and engine overhe ating. Kawasaki's Hurley Wilvert finished t hird. Against all odds t he World Champ ion had do ne it. And among Agostini's few quotes afte r t he race was o ne tha t beaut ifully capped t he e motion that undo ubtedly must have been shared by Valentino Rossi in Malaysia all of 30 years later - indeed, it could just as eas ily have been uttered by him. It was a simple statement tha t spoke volumes . "The first I ride Yamaha," Agostini said, " l w ln.' 40th Anniversary S COTT ROUSSEAU Mike laRocco (Kaw) bagged hissecond career AMA Supercross win at Texas Stadiumafter Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) and defending series champ Jeremy McGrath collided on the last lap. Kiedrowski got up offthe ground before McGrath to finish second. McGrath was third. Jimmy Button (Suz) won t he 12Scc main... We ran an interview with Doug Chandler, who was attempting to win the World 500cc Road Race Championship in hissecond year with Cagiva... Terry Rymer led a Kawasakimounted team to victoryat the 24 Hours of Le Mansin France... Bobby Schwartz (Wes) outgated Josh Larsen (Wes) to stop Larsen's Scratch main w in streak at C osta Mesa Speedway A complete, original, ... unraced 1975Y amaha TZ700 was for sale in our Want Ads section for $20,000.