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/1465975
A nton "Toni" Mang didn't re- ally need a Daytona victory to secure his place in mo- torcycle racing history. Coming into the 1986 season the West German was already a four-time World Champion and a winner of 32 Grand Prix races. He was a factory Honda rider in 1986 for the powerful Rothmans Honda squad and had over a decade's worth of GP racing to his credit. The purse money for the AMA 250 Grand Prix support race in no way covered the expenses of him and his team making the spring trek to Florida, but by '86 Daytona was something Mang considered unfinished busi- ness. In five previous attempts at winning Daytona's International Lightweight race, he'd come close, scoring three podiums but never took home the top prize. By '86 Mang was 36 and prob- ably figured he wouldn't have that many more opportunities to add that elusive Daytona victory to his already impressive resume. Toni Mang was raised in sub- urb of Munich, not far from the Bavarian Alps. A little-known fact was that Mang was a child actor. The first form of racing Mang participated in was skibob, which is about as closely related to motorcycle racing that you'll get on a ski slope. He progressed to become one of the leading junior skibob racers in Germany. So, it was not that big of a leap going from skibob to motorcycle racing, which Mang did in the late 1960s, while still a teen. He was also training as a tool and die maker and quickly gained knowl- edge on how to work on race machines as well, serving as a team mechanic for Dieter Braun, who would win the 125cc World Championship for Suzuki in 1970 and 250cc crown on a Yamaha in 1973. Mang put his schooling to good use when he teamed with Sepp Schlögl and Alfons Zender and the trio designed their own 250cc road race bike, the SMZ 250 named after each of their initials. It was abord an SMZ that Mang made his world championship de- but, finishing sixth in the 350cc GP class in the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix at the Salzburgring. In 1976, Mang scored a major breakthrough when he won the 125cc World Championship Grand Prix German round at the Nürburgring riding a Mor- bidelli. His margin of victory was one minute and 40 seconds! He finished ranked fifth in the CN III ARCHIVES P136 BY LARRY LAWRENCE SIXTH TIME'S A CHARM FOR MANG Four-Time World Champ Finally Won at Daytona in 1986 Toni Mang had a winning bike in 1980, but he cooked his tires trying to get away from Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson. In a last-lap shootout between those three, Mang got nipped by Lawson at the line to finish runner up. PHOTOS: HENNY RAY ABRAMS