Racewatch
RACEWATCH
More inside info from Daytona, including Supercross, F-2 and pit notes; Vance sets Pro Stock Records on a Honda, then parks it; Freddie Spencer wins 1983’s first Grand Prix
VANCE & HINES HONDA SETS PRO STOCK RECORDS
Terry Vance rode a Byron Hines-prepared CB1100F Honda to victory at the first NMRA Pro Stock race of the 1983 season, in Gainesville, Florida. Vance's first pass on the bike, which never set a wheel on pavement before the event, produced an 8.42 sec. E.T. Vance set both ends of the NMRA Pro Stock record with his best pass, turning 8.40 sec. at 156.79 mph. Vance held the old E.T. record at 8.55 sec. but Superbike Mike Keyte held the old terminal speed record at 154.63 mph.
The last time a Honda held a national Pro Stock record was in 1976, and that Honda was also built by Hines and ridden by Vance.
VANCE PARKS RECORDSETTING HONDA
Terry Vance says he won’t continue to race the CB1100F-based Pro Stocker he used to set new NMRA E.T. and terminal speed records. Vance used the bike to win at Gainesville, the bike’s first outing, but said later that negotiations with Honda for financial support fell apart and that he'd finish the 1983 season on his 1982 Suzuki Pro Stocker.
“We’ll just park the Honda in our shop," said Vance. “But setting the record with a Honda did us a lot of good, because we’re going to sell a lot of Honda parts."
RIDER STRIKE CALLED OFF
A rider’s strike demanding safety-related changes at Road America and Laguna Seca Raceways was called off after strike organizer Bruce Hammer said significant improvements were made at both tracks. Hammer, who is in a wheelchair as the result of injuries suffered in a crash at Road America in May 1982, founded the Jon Woo Memorial Safety Project after the death of Jon Woo at Laguna Seca last season and called for a boycott of the two tracks, eventually gaining the support of 117 racers.
“We didn't get everything we wanted and it always seems like things are moving slowly, but there has been progress," said Hammer. “The bottom line is that Road America and Laguna are safer than they were last year and that improvements will continue to be made in the future."
SPENCER WINS FIRST GRAND PRIX
Freddie Spencer won the first Grand Prix of 1983, at Kyalami, South Africa by a margin of seven seconds. Kenny Roberts was second after starting last when his new Yamaha V-4 wouldn’t fire. Also left behind on the push-start grid were Yamaha works V-4 riders Eddie Lawson and Marc Fontan of France, Lawson eventually finishing eighth in his first 500cc GP ride and Fontan finishing fourth.
Roberts’ charge through the pack brought him past reigning World Champion Franco Uncini and former champions Marco Luchinelli and Barry Sheene.
At the finish Ron Haslam (Honda V3) was third, followed by Fontan, Randy Mamola (Suzuki Square-4), Uncini (Suzuki Square-4), Raymond Roche (Honda V-3), Lawson, Luchinelli (Honda V-3) and Sheene (Suzuki Square-4).
Spencer qualified fastest at l min. 26.60 sec., followed by Lawson at 1:26.64, Takazumi Katayama (Honda V-3) at 1:26.88 and Roberts at 1:26.94.
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THE DONNIE CANTALOUPI SCHOOL OF ROADRACING
Three-time 500cc road racing World Champion Kenny Roberts has often had problems with lapped riders during his career, complaining that encountering a slower rider can force a faster rider to take risks to avoid losing momentum around a corner.
But after this year's Daytona 200, which saw him knife through traffic at an astounding rate to win on an oversize Yamaha 500, Roberts had no complaints.
“I never had any real big problems,” said Roberts. “They kind of stayed out of the way. This year was better, because we had enough torque that we didn't have to worry about dropping rpm. 1 could roll it off on the bank and still go, where last year I had to downshift. We had the bottom end power to sort of wait a minute and go around them.
“I learned that trick from Cantaloupi, riding motocross this winter . . . just shut off, wait for 'em, pick a good place to pass, and go.”
That’s Roberts: still learning after all these years, even from a young motocrosser, taking valuable information wherever he finds it.
NETO FIRST IN DAYTONA F-2
Antonio Neto won the Daytona F-2 race, taking the lead on the second lap and continuing to stretch it out. Jimmy Filice was second with transmission shifting problems and Con Law' was third on a Rotax-engined Ehrlich.
Neto and Filice’s positions were unchallenged from the second lap, but Law didn't secure third until the last lap, when he drafted fourth-place Rhys Howard and passed until-then-third Randy Renfrow, who ran out of gas on the last banked turn before the finish. Renfrow pushed his Yamaha about half a mile, at a run, to cross the line. He was credited with 12th place.
Rusty Sharp was fifth with Dave Busby, on a Danny Co-prepared TZ350 with barrels modified to air-cooling, sixth. Busby started the race on the 16th row, in 77th position, and picked off clumps of riders until his front brakes faded, the front lever coming into the grip without much braking action.
DAY TONA 200 NOTES
DAYTONA 200 Qualifying Times
1. Kenny Roberts 1:59.751 Yamaha OW69
2. Eddie Lawson 2:00.037 Yamaha OW69
3. Freddie Spencer 2:00.062 Honda NS500
4. Ron Haslam 2:01.910 Honda NS500
5. Mike Baldwin 2:03.377 Honda FWS1000
6. Steve Wise 2:04.280 Honda FWS1000
7. Wes Cooley 2:07.525 Kawasaki KR1000
8. Dave Aldana 2:08.265 Yamaha TZ750
9. Nick Richichi 2:08.331 Yamaha TZ750
10. Steve Baron 2:08.759 Yamaha TZ750
The qualifying times for the Daytona 200 show that the factory teams dominated qualifying, with Kenny Roberts taking the pole by being the first man to lap the track in under 2.0 min. The first privateers on TZ750 Yamahas Dave Aldana, Nick R ich ich i and Steve Baron were eight full seconds off Roberts’ time.
But as fast as qualifying was, and although Roberts finished the race in record time, the race wasn't a sprint, but rather an exercise in winning by going as slowly as possible. After he got sideways coming through a fast infield left, turn three, Roberts slowed the pace he (and his most-of-race-shadow, Eddie Lawson) was running. Roberts wanted to save his rear tire, and said later that he had to feather the throttle on the banking because full throttle caused the rear end to drift.
Earlier, Lawson led a bunch of laps and was passed by Freddie Spencer and Roberts after their charge through traffic from early, unscheduled pit stops. When Roberts and Spencer flew past, Eddie was obeying “slow down” orders from his pit crew, given by a signal board between turn one and turn two. Lawson lost ground for a few laps, then instantly caught up and latched onto Roberts just as Spencer developed bike problems. Which shows that Spencer and Roberts were trying to save their equipment.
BALDWIN WINS TALLEDEGA SUPERBIKE RACE
Honda’s Mike Baldwin won the Talledega round of the Superbike series, with Kawasaki's Wayne Rainey second and Honda’s Steve Wise third. Rainey and Baldwin ran together and pulled away from the field in the first half of the race, until a rock thrown by •Bald win's bike punched a hole in kainey’s bike’s windshield, startling Rainey. Baldwin pulled out a lead at that point and eventually finished 7.0 sec. ahead.
All five Honda support riders finished, Dave Aldana, Fred Merkel, Roberto Pietri, Sam McDonald and John Bettencourt taking fourth through eighth. The first privateers were KC Racing's Lynn Miller and Luther Wickle on CB750F-based bikes in ninth and 10th.
Dave Emde won the F-2 race by less than 6 in. from Hugh Humble after a fairing-banging, lead-swapping battle that put the pair far in front of thirdplace Randy Renfrow. Rhys Howard was fourth and tied with Humble to lead in series points.
Jimmy Adamo won the Battle of the Twins after Jay Springsteen crashed on the last lap while leading by 35 sec. Malcolm Tunstall was second.
Lawson, of course, eventually had a flat rear tire and pitted for a wheel change, finishing second.
For most the race Dave Aldana on the iBud weiser Light/Don Vesco TZ750 raced back-and-forth with Thad WolfiTs »Escargot Suzuki, a works endurance fftke painted pink and white in the colors of a Japanese clothing form, Italia. Italia’s owner is good friends with Mr. Suzuki (yes, the Mr. Suzuki) and bought fhe bike from the factory after the 1982 Suzuka Eight Hours. Fitted with a CFoshimura engine, the bike made it to Daytona for Wolf! to ride, wearing pinkand-white leathers as per the sponsor’s wishes.
Just ahead of Aldana and Wolff was Steve Gervais on his Alex Mayes tuned, Castrol-Canada sponsored TZ750. Both Aldana and Gervais had trouble seeing through their windscreens after the refueling pit stops, when pre-mix spray coated the insides of the screens. Wolff's Suzuki sucked a rock early in the race, damaging a piston, and blew up (after burning all its oil) three laps from the finish, with Wolff in fifth, behind Qervais, ahead of Aldana.
HANNAH WINS DAYTONA SUPERCROSS
After promising in the best tradition of vaudeville to use his competitors for berms, Bob Hannah won the Daytona Supercross, leading a Honda sweep.
Before the race, Hannah said that Mark Barnett and Broc Glover made better berms than motorcycle riders, and ¿hat Honda would dominate the race. The race was Honda-dominated, with teammates Johnny O’Mara and David Bailey following Hannah across the line. And while Hannah didn’t get a chance to set knob on Barnett or Glover, they did finish back in fourth and fifth place.
Hannah later said that “It’s easy to y in when you have five horsepower on everybody,” and that he switched from Yamaha to Honda despite Honda’s offer being $100,000 less than Yamaha’s.
“Yamaha had a lot of money but no power,” said Hannah. “I traded about $100,000 for five more horsepower.”
HANNAH LEADS SUPERCROSS SERIES
Team Honda’s Bob Hannah led the Supercross Series after seven races ^nd took to shaking his fist at competing riders as the latest twist in his ongoing act. Hannah started taking one hand off the bars as he passed other riders in winning the first round of a doubleheader in Houston, beating David Bailey, Broc Glover and Johnny O’Mara. But in the next night’s race, Hannah was caught in a first-turn pile-up and the event was won by Mark Barnett, ahead of O’Mara, Glover and Rick Johnson. The win gave Barnett, who also beat Hannah in the muddy Atlanta round held the weekend before Daytona, a series total of 177 points. Hannah had 206, Bailey 187.
