Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 09 March 2

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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CN III ARCHIVES A lthough Yamaha's soon- to-be-all-conquering TZ700/750 four-cylinder project was in the pike, it wasn't ready for the 1973 road racing season, so Yamaha elected to continue with its 350cc twin program against the much larger Kawa- sakis and Suzukis in AMA Grand National road racing as the season-opening Daytona 200 loomed. Don Emde's win aboard a Yamaha 350 had seemed to be a case of David among Goliaths in the 1972 Daytona race, and yet David prevailed. For '73, how- ever, the Goliaths were returning, and they were bringing friends. Kawasaki would field no fewer than six factory riders aboard its potent 750cc triples, includ- ing former Daytona winner Gary Nixon, Yvon Duhamel, Cliff Carr and Hurley Wilvert. Suzuki had four riders, with New Zealand Champion Geoff Perry and Emde as its top runners. In terms of technological ad- vances, Yamaha elected to play it closer to the vest, introducing water-cooled versions of the TZ350, but the ace up Yamaha's sleeve would come in the person of Finnish road racing sensation Jarno Saarinen, the 1972 250cc P102 1971. By 1973, the Australian was Yamaha's race team manager, crew chief, rider coach and factory racer. As if preparing the quiver of factory bikes for stateside factory riders Kenny Roberts, Don Castro and Gary Fisher wasn't enough, Carruthers also had to get a machine ready for the 27-year-old Finn. It made for a busy time in Carruthers' EI Cajon, California race shop, as he recalls. "I had my regular guys, and World Champion, destined to meet with an untimely death little more than two months later. Responsibility for the prepara- tion of all the Yamaha road racing machines, including the 250cc bikes to be run in the Interna- tional lightweight 100K, fell on the shoulders of one man, 1969 250cc World Champion Kel Carruthers, who had come to wear several hats for the com- pany since moving to the United States on a permanent basis in BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU TIME AND UNTIMELINESS: JARNO SAARINEN

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