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/923720
CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE T he mere fact that Eddie Lawson was even entered in the 1986 Daytona 200 was a minor miracle. Going into that sea- son he was focusing on winning back the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship he'd lost to rival Freddie Spencer in 1985. One might expect Yamaha to want Law- son to avoid the potential risk of Daytona, but the sportbike market was starting to heat up. Yamaha had introduced its excel- lent FZ750 the year before. They threw numbers at the '85 Daytona 200, hiring a bunch of riders to race the bike, but it was too early. The FZ as a superbike lacked de- velopment and it was a Honda clean sweep of the podium. The highest finishing Yamaha in the '85 Daytona 200 was Canadian Rueben McMurter who finished fifth. Suzuki was stepping up the stakes even higher in '86 with the American introduction of the GSX- R750—and they had a young gun named Kevin Schwantz. The young Texan was already show- ing tremendous potential in '85, scoring three AMA Superbike victories in limited outings on the outdated Suzuki 750ES. Yamaha recognized that its window of opportunity to win America's biggest road race with the FZ might be narrowing. "Yamaha in America wanted it pretty badly, so I decided I would do it," Lawson told Cycle News in an interview a few weeks before Daytona. "I told them I would only do it if the equipment was capable of running in the front. They seem to think it is and after testing it, it seems good." Lawson went on to say he was impressed by the handling of the '86 factory Yamaha FZ750 Superbike, but had been away from superbike racing long enough that he was at a loss in terms of trying to assess the bike's power. "After getting off the 500 [Yamaha GP bike] everything seems slow," he added. The loss of his world title served to snap Lawson into hyper-focus. His off-season regiment was the toughest he'd ever put himself through and the results showed. Lawson was lean, cut and mentally tough when he showed up to Daytona. His concentration level was astonish- ing. In those days, rarely did an entire Bike Week go flawlessly for any rider, but that wasn't the case with Lawson. Everything went to plan from the first practice session. He not only won the pole with a track record, Lawson also took an easy victory in his heat race, the faster of the two, with Rainey winning the other. Daytona '86 was expected to be a showdown with defending race winner Freddie Spencer, but Spencer never showed up. Honda said that Spencer had been ill with a sinus infection and had lost 15 pounds. Spencer's absence certainly disappointed fans and perhaps opened the door P104 Winner Eddie Lawson is joined by Kevin Schwantz and Fred Merkel on the Daytona 200 podium in 1986. Lawson Gives Yamaha An Important First