Yesterday the 79th edition of the famous Daytona 200 was to take place. Unfortunately, we learned of it during the night from Friday to Saturday, this had to be canceled due to coronavirus.
We can certainly regret it but, in any case, we must recognize that this event created in 1932, then contested on the beach of Daytona in Florida since 1937 and on the track of the Daytona International Speedway since 1961, has lost all the luster that she was in her 70s. So…
So we have time, so let's look, for example, at the year 1978. It's certainly not the most disputed edition but its context is nevertheless interesting.
Kenny roberts is then THE American star riding his official Yamaha. He has been trying to win the Daytona 200 since 1972 but has always had great bad luck in this event.
That year, he put pressure on himself by announcing that he was going to participate fully in the 250cc, 500cc and 750cc world championships. But before that, there is always this famous Daytona 200 which takes place in March and which has eluded him for six years now...
The program…
To face him, the “yellow dwarf” has a very official Yamaha. Honestly, it's the best, as undoubtedly proven by the 76 Yamahas lined up at the start of the 80 competitors selected for the race (97 pilots in testing)!
In previous editions, all won by Yamaha, the riders from the Americas regained control after the victories of Jarno Saarinen in 1973 and Giacomo Agostini in 1974: Gene Romero established himself in 1975, the Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto and in 1976 Steve baker in 1977, although each time Kenny roberts experienced mishaps.
In 1978, the regulations evolved because the Good Year, Dunlop and Michelin tires, both expanded by the centrifugal force due to the high speeds reached, and compressed by the downforce generated on the ring of the famous circuit, have no longer held the load since 1975.
This year, Barry Sheene had torn his Dunlop on the swingarm of his Suzuki during testing, while Johnny Cecotto won with a worn-out Michelin in 1976 while Kenny roberts had to retire with a punctured Goodyear.
The following year, oh sacrilege, we even had to split the race into two 2-mile events with a rear tire change in the middle! It ultimately didn't happen because of the rain but that doesn't remind you of anything?
In 1978, the motorcycles were therefore equipped with a inlet flange, 23 mm for all Yamahas (4 cylinders), and 27 mm for the 3 cylinders of Kawasakis.
Here is the official drawing, published at the time by Moto-Presse magazine.
For the tests, the opponents of Kenny roberts are of course the winners of previous editions, starting with the Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto, first in 1976 after having made an incredible comeback in 1975 (started last, came 3rd).
Kenny roberts : “this could be our year. The bike is good, the tires are good and it’s time I win this thing. If we can avoid the problems we've had in the past, I think we can do it. I expect my biggest problem to come from Cecotto and Baker, although I don't know if Steve can do it. Other guys who are fast are Gary Nixon, Gene Romero and Skip Aksland. »
Et Kenny roberts actually managed brilliantly to take pole position in 2'05.21 on his OW31, ahead of Johnny Cecotto (#305) in 2'06.15, Steve baker (# 32), Skip Aksland, and Dale Singleton.
Gene Romero (#3) qualifies 11th, Jack Middelburg (to whom we owe splendid archives) 18th, and the first Frenchman, Alain Vial 38th. The latter will experience a tightening in the race but our tricolors will experience a much better fate a few years later! We will perhaps come back to it if the forced break that we are experiencing continues…
Qualification table (numbers in black, qualifying place in red):
This domination of Kenny roberts is no surprise, as he served as a test pilot both to develop the intake flanges (with Gary Nixon et Dale Singleton) and Goodyear tires. Suffice to say that his machine (equipped with Lectron carburettors in place of the usual Mikuni) is finely tuned by Kel Carruthers, which is obviously not the case for European drivers since they only received the intake flange plan in January, when they registered...
If the Yamaha is perfectly tuned, the flanges cause Iwata's four-cylinder to lose 17% of its power, which will be enough to keep the tires going for 200 miles.
Without really being able to test in winter, the Michelins were overtaken at Daytona but nevertheless appeared on a few machines on the grid. The explanation is given by a participant…
“The Goodyear guys have been testing their new slicks here all winter. Their tires are perfectly suited to these conditions and this track. If we had also ridden Goodyears, our training times would definitely have been better than they are now. But yes, this race is a unique event, it no longer counts for the world championship, and we must rely on the Michelin competition department for the rest of the season. So we must not anger these people. »
At the start, the Canadian Steve baker, on a still factory Yamaha, gets off to the best start but Kenny roberts finally made the holeshot by winning on the first braking.
From then on, no one will challenge him for a long-awaited and long-awaited victory: the race will come down to a single rider from “King Kenny”, the other competitors only seeing the yellow Yamaha from this angle!
Steve baker, last year's winner, took a good second place before exploding his engine in preparation for the finish, then Johnny Cecotto regained this position but was caught out on the penultimate lap, turning five seconds slower on his Michelin tires than the rider of the Yamaha number #2… never seen before!
The Australian Gregg Hansford had a good race and placed his “non-Yamaha” in 5th position. It benefits from less restrictive flanges than those of the Yamaha but its 3 cylinders also run less quickly...
Kenny roberts However, he would not be able to defend his title in 1979. After his seventh attempt, this time successful, the winner of the 200 Daytona 1978 was seriously injured during a winter test for Yamaha in Iwata, Japan. During these tests, it will hit a safety barrier after a wheelie at 160 km/h. Suffering from a serious back injury (fractured vertebra) and some minor injuries such as a sprained ankle and a ruptured spleen, the American champion will return to the USA held by a corset, but his rehabilitation will not allow him to be ready on time in March 79.
As for Michelin, faced with a re-asphalted and rough track, the French manufacturer will prefer to withdraw…
The American champion, however, won the 1983 edition with his Yamaha 580cc 0W69 (four square cylinders with rotary distributor), then that of 1984.
Photo and document credits: Jack Middelburg, Facebook, Youtube, etc.
