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/141049
JUNIORS '" " '" '" C1. ... en M o '" ~ '" :2 ~ w Z W ..J U >U Bob Oeiss broug h t his Harley home third. Where do Jun iors get them? M s. D aytona Speed Week , meet Phil Mc Uonal o. by Gary and J oanne Van V oorhis DAYTONA BEACH, FLA " Mar . 10, 197 3 - Phi l McDonald cel eb rated his 17th bi rt hday (five days la te) in fine fas hion with the bes t present any road racer co uld wi sh for - win nin g a race at Dayto na. In Ph il 's case it was the 100 mile Junior even t, b ut fro m the ex huberance of Phil and hi s tuner/father Norm (the N in K & N) it mi gh t just as well h ave been the 200. McDonald figured to b e the pre-ra ce favorite b y virtue of his pole grabbing heat victory, but ther e wer e man y riders there wh o had o th er th oughts: J ohn Long, last year's Novice winner : De nn y Varnes, second place finisher in the Novice event; Ted He nte r, Talladega Novice win ner and Mike Devli n, a Ve sco Yamah a rider. R udy Galindo (Y am) surp rised everyone by shoo tin g in t o the lead on t he firs t lap followed by Devlin , Varnes, Joh n Green, and McDonald. T igh t traffic and furiou s dicing fo r the lead mo ved Devlin into the lead by lap three , with McDon ald displacing him on lap fou r an d retainin g the lead for th e rest o f the 26 lap event. Galindo swe p t into th e pits for an unscheduled pit st o p o n th e fo ur th lap, ruinin g an y ch an ce h e might have had for a top placin g after it t ook th ree lap s to repai r th e undiscl osed mal fun c tion. Long mov ed into second place on lap six after o u tp owering Devlin on the bankin g and then se t his sights o n leader McDon ald . Denny Varnes con tin ue d to keep th e le aders in sight while John Green's Kawasaki 75 0 wasn ' t u p to the task of staying with the Ya rna has, L o n g c o n t i n u e d to s tic k to McDonald's tail and act ually appeared to have the st ronger machine on the banking, but it was usually Phil across the start lin e first with Lo ng outbraking him in to the infield. Devlin was the first casual ty o f the frantic pa ce wh en his gea rb o x pack ed up an d reduced him to pedestrian s tatus in short order. Long be came a spec ta to r two laps later when his engine soured just as thin gs were really gettin g tight. The rapid chan ge in fro nt runners opened up third p lace to Bob Deiss (H. D) w ho had been p lugging away within a reason able d istance of four th p lace man Varnes. Gary McG o ron and Mik e Caves also fo und themselves in the top five b y th e en d o f 20 laps . Denny Varnes st eadily pressed McD onald for th e remaining laps but th e lead the fro n t runner had buil t in his duel with Long an d Devlin was t oo grea t to o verco me in th e laps remai ning. Varnes c ruised in to second with Deiss a di st an t th ird . Accident-wise it was a fai rly safe race, with o n ly Bob Peppe r, the racin g d o ctor, an d Mik e Odern requirin g ho spital att ention . Peppe r, a hi ghly c o mpe titive priv at eer las t year. had finally gotten a good ride on a Dee ley Yam ah a on ly to put his shoulder ou t of wa ck and his machin e in for repairs. Odem suffered an injured leg . Pennsylvania rider Denny Varnes and Bob Dei ss of Pekin, Illinois shared the H oly Markell H ere they come. A lready Mc Donal d (58) is making him self felt . John Green (50) is in the lead . A lso playing the game are Pat Hennen (64). Deiss. and L arr y Bli el (1 0). glory of the winner's circle . V arne s , cool because hc 'd been there before, Deiss a b it apprehensive be cause the ' win ne r's circle at Daytona is always a li tt le scary th e firs t time, while :Vl cDonald 's onl y c o nce rn w as how to squee ze m ore time o ff fro m high sch ool to go ra cin g. ' 7 6 MI LE J U N I O R RACE Ph il M cD onald Yam Denny V arnes Yam Bob D ei ss H ·D G ary M cGoron Y am Mi ke Ca ves Y am Joh n G reen Kaw Jessie Byar s Yam L arrenc e Ble il Ya m Brian A b b ott Yam Bru ce Li nd Kaw William Payn e Y am B ruce Sh o em a ke r Y am Thomas Bovaird Y am Ted Sturgess H on A lan Ba rbi e Yam Jim Graham Yam Ma nuel Rad bord H on Joh n Sartor ius . H on Gary H orto n Ya m D avid RU dolPh Vam Jo hn L on g (4 5) came clo se to t he front b ut ha d to quit w hen his motor lost int erest.