Another great photograph in the Rich Chenet Series. Kenny Roberts leads Yamaha teammate Eddie Lawson in the 1983 Daytona 200. Roberts and Lawson were on Yamaha’s OW69. It was a Daytona special, a 680cc version of Yamaha’s 500cc GP machine. The bikes were capable of 190+ mph and were definitely the bikes to beat. The only question was whether or not the big powerful two-stroke would shred its Dunlop tires. Honda came to Daytona with two different bikes to challenge Yamaha. Freddie Spencer and Englishman Ron Haslam rode NS500 two-stroke GP bikes, while Mike Bladwin and Steve Wise raced four-stroke FWS1000s. Most of Hondas dropped out and Roberts, in spite of an unscheduled pit stop to check a tire, went on to win the race over Lawson. Motocross racer Steve Wise took a surprising third on a factory Honda. Chenet is still shooting today. You can check out his website here.
Kenny Roberts leads Yamaha teammate Eddie Lawson in the 1983 Daytona 200. Roberts and Lawson were on Yamaha’s OW69. It was a Daytona special, a 680cc version of Yamaha’s 500cc GP machine. The bikes were capable of 190+ mph and were definitely the bikes to beat. (Rich Chenet Collection)
rick burdick says:
What a lineup of different bikes with the best riders in the world aboard!
August 17, 2010, 4:41 pmC.J. Eisman says:
I remember that race well, KR stated he was changing his lines to conserve the back tire. I also remember reading
August 18, 2010, 5:57 amthat he straight lined the back stretch chicane in practice on purpose and was clocked over 200mph. He just wanted
to see how fast the bike would go.
admin says:
Yeah, KR had to come through just about the entire field after thinking he had a tire going down and pitting to check it out relatively early in the race.
August 18, 2010, 7:45 am