Fast Enough To Do the Job.
DAYTONA '83
Freddie Spencer won the Daytona Superbike race, which ran pretty much the way it would have if Freddie had written the script. Freddie rode a superbike based on the VF750F Interceptor, and so did secondplace Mike Baldwin, thirdplace Dave Aldana and fifth-place John Bettencourt.
Honda's preparations for their sweep at Daytona started last year, long before the opposition, which shrank from Suzuki and Kawasaki in 1982 to simply Kawasaki in 1983, even had a glimpse of the stock machines their superbikes would be based on. Honda did its homework and testing, the Honda mechanics working long hours and longer weeks, beginning early and staying at it until the start of the race, and it paid olT.
There was the Honda factory team, riders paid a salary and riding bikes owned and built by American Honda's race team: Freddie Spencer, Mike Baldwin, Steve Wise. And there was the support team, riders paying their own way but receiving bikes and parts from Team Honda: Roberto Pietri, Fred Merkel, Dave Aldana, John Bettencourt and Sam McDonald.
The Hondas were tested and proven and ready for the race, Pietri losing an engine to dropped valves in practice but the rest of the bikes reliable and without problems before race day. Sam McDonald fell in final practice, his bike's engine over-revving as it lay on the ground, but it seemed fine before the start.
The biggest differences between the works bikes and the support bikes were the works dry clutches and declutchers (sprag clutches mounted on the crankshaft), but in earlyweek testing the support bikes w'ere almost as fast as the works bikes.
Kawasaki, on the other hand, had suffered through engine failure after engine failure, using up a huge stock of spare parts in testing before and during Speed Week, finally settling for a little less power in exchange for a greater chance to win. There were two Kawasakis entered, both based on the GPz750, one ridden by Wes Cooley and the other piloted by Wayne Rainey.
Baldwin jetted into the lead off the grid, Spencer close behind, and that became the race, Spencer passing early, gaining a few seconds, Baldwin making it up and repassing, Spencer sitting back and waiting, always within striking distance, waiting, waiting, the pair pulling farther and farther away from the field, in a race all their own.
Behind, first a few seconds back, then 18 sec. then 20 sec. adrift by the 10th lap, came Aldana and Rainey. Rainey ran it in harder in the infield, and Aldana used his Honda’s power to pass on the banking while looking for traffic to cut through in an effort to shake Rainey out of his draft. Cooley raced Pietri for five laps without a clutch, which wouldn't disengage after the start, until he lost fourth gear. Merkel moved up past Jimmy Adamo's lOOOcc Ducati to race Pietri, while McDonald and Bettencourt raced behind Adamo.
McDonald’s bike dropped a valve and he pitted. Merkel collided with a lapped rider in Turn One and fell, taking Pietri with him. Adamo broke.
Baldwin's quick-fill fitting, hidden under his Honda’s gas tank, stuck partially open after his refueling stop, and when Baldwin charged deep into Turn Two, still leading Spencer, a fog of gasoline shot up into his face, raw fuel sloshing over the tank. Baldwin sat up and drifted wide, Spencer drove underneath and was gone. Baldwin poked and prodded the fitting, but it wouldn’t close and he concentrated on finishing and losing the least amount of gas, braking gently and trying to stem the geyser gushing out of his tank at every corner.
Fast enough to do the job.
Freddie Spencer and the Honda Interceptor overwhelm the Superbike competition.
John Ulrich
Aldana finally got away from Rainey, and Bettencourt, still carrying a steel rod in the thigh he broke last year, rode around alone in fifth, lapped by Spencer and Baldwin. All the time, Wise watched from the pits, his bike’s chain having broken in Turn One off the start.
Spencer won, Baldwin second, Aldana third. Raineyfourth, Bettencourt fifth. Behind came the privateers, Joey Mills on a Du.cati, Ricky Orlando on a Suzuki prepared by Dennis Zickrick, Lynn Miller on his KC Racing CB750F.
Honda did its homework. Honda won.
HOW DO The 750s Compare
This year four cylinder Superbikes are limited to 750cc, down from the 1025cc limit established in 1977. The size change affected lap times and average speeds, the fastest Daytona Superbike laps being about 2:04 in 1982 and about 2:08 in 1983.
Freddie Spencer's winning average speed, included a refueling pit stop, over the 100miles of the race was 108.796 mph in 1982 and 106.085 mph in 1983.
While the new 750cc Superbikes have smaller engines, they’re also lighter, with the rule-designated minimum weight down to 390 lb., from 1982's 416. The 750s make less horsepower, around 1 18 bhp to a 1982 front-running 1025’s 145 bhp, but the 750s can put more of their horsepower to good use. That's because the street 750s used as basis for the racing Superbikes were designed with racing in mind. The chassis components are better, a good example being the Honda Interceptor swing arm, which doesn't even require bracing for racing use.
The 1025cc Superbikes used power as much as anything to turn good lap times. The new 750cc Superbikes rely more on superior chassis than brute power.
DAYTONA SUPERBIKE RESULTS
1. Freddie Spencer Honda
2. Mike Baldwin Honda
3. Dave Aldana Honda
4. Wayne Rainey Kawasaki
5. John Bettencourt Honda
6. Joey Mills Ducati
7. Ricky Orlando Suzuki
8. Lynn Miller Honda
9. Ruben McMurter Kawasaki
10. Glenn Berry Honda
