Daytona
DAYTONA
A good day for privateers... disaster for the Harley Team... Saarinen leads a 1-2-3 Yamaha sweep in front of a record crowd of 61,000.
JARNO SAARINEN (photo 1) didn’t think he could win the Daytona 200 miler. It isn’t that he lacks confidence. He has plenty of that. It’s just that he doesn’t consider Daytona a riders’ track. And, he may be right.
There are really only three places riding ability pays dividends. One is in the hairpin left at the end of the start/finish straight. Another is the sweeping left at the end of the infield straight. And finally, there is the chicane, inserted at the end of the backstretch to reduce speeds into the high banked turn.
Because his water-cooled 350 can’t compete with the horsepower boys on the rest of the course, Jarno played a waiting game—a game that earned him a $15,050 purse, including contingencies.
Saarinen’s stiffest opposition came from teammate Gary Fisher who passed the Finn (photo 2) on the twelfth lap. The two ran together for almost 70 miles with Gary’s more aggressive style giving him the edge. Then the duel ended. Suddenly. A broken crankshaft put Fisher out of the race.
Some 50 seconds after Jarno took the checkered flag, Yamaha racing team manager Kel Carruthers (photo 3) ended his ride.
Kel, who has had victory snatched away on the last lap twice in his stateside racing career, was really glad to see that checkered flag at Daytona. Endless hours of preparation on all the team bikes, memories of 18 seasons of racing, the heat, and a worn out rear tire had Kel thinking he was too old to race. >
THIRD PLACE finisher and the man who completed the Yamaha sweep was none other than rookie expert Jim Evans (Mel Dineson 350). Evans (photo 4) in company with Dave Smith (Don Vesco Yamaha) gave fans a race long duel that almost went down to the wire. Going into the 50th lap, they were close. Wheel to wheel close. Outwardly it appeared a tossup. But Evans had an advantage. Gas. Smith ran out for some unexplainable reason. It’s unexplainable because he had a surplus of fuel when he made his pit stop, executed after the halfway mark. Powering from a third wave start to 4th overall is a rare occurrence, but former Grand National Champion Dick Mann (photo 5) did just that. Mann is one of those competitors that you can never count out of the running. He starts strong, finishes strong, and rarely takes chances. That’s why he gets results in spite of the fact that his Triumph Triple offers only moderate power when compared to the opposition. Mann’s teammates, Gene Romero and Gary Scott, looked like high finishers as well, but luck was not with them.
Romero ran out of gas on the back straight, decided to borrow some fuel from a parked Yamaha, and was disqualified. Scott was slowed by carburetion problems that had his Triple turn Single in the turns. Triumph had some bad luck, but when it comes to disaster, none can match Harley-Davidson. Grand National Champion Mark Brelsford (photo 6) collided with teammate Larry Darr in the fast left hander at the end of the infield straight. Both bikes immediately burst into flame and both riders were injured. Brelsford may be out for the season! To make matters worse, Harley’s premier road racer, Cal Rayborn, lost it in the chicane and required hospitalization. His engine locked up, sending him into a slide. Then it partially freed, causing the crash. Contrasting this, Dave Sehl and Mert Lawwill placed 16th and 17th respectively. Lawwill would have done considerably better had he not lost his gas cap following his stop for fuel. This not only slowed Lawwill drastically for one lap, but also forced another pit stop.
Tafter HE the AWESOME first few Kawasaki laps of the 750s 200 were miler, fast they in practice looked like and the bikes to beat. Art Baumann and Yvon DuHamel were in the 1-2 positions, dicing for the lead. Gary Nixon was hanging back slightly in 3rd and the trio was pulling away from the pack.
Lap 10 seemed to be the turning point. Steve Dalgarno (350 Yamaha) had gone down in the infield horseshoe and when Baumann came around, he lost it in the debris Delgarno’s bike left all over the track. DuHamel, still pressing for the lead, had to lay hfe Three down to avoid hitting his teammate. So much for Team Hansen’s 1-2 punch.
That left Gary Nixon in the lead. Nixon was lapping smoothly, consistently. But he was being pressured by Suzuki riders Ron Grant and Geoff Perry, who were locked in a duel for 2nd. Nixon pitted for fuel on lap 19, and although he only lost one position, his race was all but over. Two laps later, a piston failed and Gary was out.
Nixon’s retirement left Kawasaki with one hope. Cliff Carr. Carr (photo 7) had been hanging back, conserving his machine. He never really challenged the leaders, but did work his way into a solid 3rd place near the end. All he had to do was hang on. And Carr would have, had something not punctured his rear tire—a tire which had more than enough tread left to go the distance.
Team Suzuki had a similar day. Paul Smart (photo 10) set fast qualifying time for the 2nd year running, but never got
going during the race. He got a slow start, picked his way through traffic to 5th, then pitted for fuel. During the stop, Smart’s engine quit, then was reluctant to start. A lap later he was in for plugs and that was the beginning of the end.
A similar situation sidelined Perry, who held onto the lead briefly after Nixon pitted for fuel. When Perry retired, hopes of a Suzuki win rested with Ron Grant. But Grant broke a rear chain. That left No. 25, Don Emde (photo 8), but Emde was in no position to challenge anyone as his machine did not have sufficient brakes. His rear disc faded almost immediately and the situation up front wasn’t much better. It’s a credit to his riding ability that he finished 5th. Don’s was also the only Suzuki to survive the 200-mile grind.
American Honda Motor Company surprised everyone by entering a team of three riders, Morio Sumiya (photo 9), Steve McLaughlin and Roger Reiman. Reiman will probably compete the entire season as his machine sported the familiar Krause logo. Both Sumiya and McLaughlin were scheduled for one race only: Daytona. McLaughlin really got with it in practice, and early in the week had one of the fastest bikes in Florida. Sumiya fared better during the race, and although his Four was off-song, it lasted for 7th overall.
John Player Norton was back again, this time with more riders and some updated equipment. Peter Williams had the newest equipment and was the only finisher in 23rd overall. His machine (photo 11) was one of the lowest and most unusual bikes at Daytona. The fairing has side bulges to allow
clearance for the handlebars and fuel is carried low to lower the center of gravity. Chassis is monocoque and the vertical Twin has been modified for a slight increase in bhp. Contrast this with Dave Aldana’s Norton—a bike identical to the one Phil Read rode to 4th last year. Between these two extremes was the Norton prepared for John Cooper. Cooper’s bike had the new fairing, the new gas tank location and the updated engine, but sported a conven-
tional tube frame. Neither Cooper nor Aldana were among the finishers, but they had a good dice going. Ironically, Cooper was never able to overtake his American counterpart on a more outdated machine. Also unusual were the BMWs (photo 12) entered by Butler & Smith. The bikes were a bit down on power for Daytona, but could be competitive on some of the shorter circuits. Note the gas tank which takes advantage of the flat engine configuration. >
IN an RETROSPECT, instant replay the of 200 the miler 100 mile was Junior-Expert Combined event. Team Yamaha finished 1-2 with a private Yamaha in 3rd. Gary Fisher (photo 14) was the victor and was never seriously challenged after Carruthers dropped out on the fifth lap. Surprise of the event was a race-long duel between Fisher’s teammate Don Castro and privateer John Long. Long finally outbraked Castro, but just before the flag on the final lap, his bike ran out of gas.
Castro was close enough to beat him across the line.
Yamaha mounted Phil McDonald (No. 58) did a job on his junior opposition. McDonald, in company with John Long (photo 13), began easing out a slim lead over Mike Devlin, who was pulling away from the pack. Devlin’s gearbox then gave out and Long’s engine expired, leaving McDonald with a sufficient lead for the win.
Gary Lee Blackman won one of t*«p most unusual Novice events of all Rain delayed the initial start until d
At that point, the pack was set free, only to be red flagged five laps later. The cause, total darkness. The event was restarted the following morning and after the opening laps, Blackman and Jay Levingston homed in on the checkered flag. Levingston was first over the line, but he was penalized a lap for creeping up during the restart. Blackman thus inherited the win...his first time out, too!
INADEQUATE tires practically dictated the outcome of the 200 miler last year, but no more. A chicane in the backstretch has ended high bank running at Daytona and its passing has given tire companies a reprieve. Even so, there are a couple of new trends worth noting. First is the treadless tire, pioneered by Goodyear. Both Gary Scott and Gene Romero on team Triumphs used them front and rear with good results. And then there’s the mag wheel which will accommodate tubeless as well as tubed tires. Use of tubeless tires will probably become widespread because they offer the advantage of less unsprung weight. |g]
