Don Emde Mike Hailwood and Dick Mann 1971 Daytona

In 1970 the British made a full scale attack on Daytona, fielding BSA and Triumph triples, the only noticeable difference between the bikes being the BSA cylinders were inclined forward, the Triumph’ s straight up and down. Top British and American riders were engaged to ride them, and although they were the fastest machines in the race they were plagued by cooling problems caused by the centre cylinder. Dick Mann won the race for Honda, the first Japanese victory at Daytona in the then 33-year history of the race. Mike Hailwood led the race for the first ten of the 53-lap race on a BSA but was side-lined when the bike began to misfire and he was forced to retire. The British contingent was not discouraged and they returned in 1971 with

ten motorcycles and a large staff. They were not disappointed, Dick Mann won the race for BSA, Gene Romero was second on a Triumph and Don Emde third on another BSA. Hailwood again suffered mechanical problems and didn’ t finish. Following the BSA victory in 1971 Don Emde won the 1972 event on a Yamaha, and Yamaha would go on to win every Daytona 200 race until 1985. In the late 1970s the race began to lose much of its prestige, and failed to attract as many international riders. This could have been partly because the owner of the circuit refused to pay start money, which had been approved by the FIM. In 1978 Daytona lost its status as a round of the F750 World Championship. The emphasis had begun to shift back to Europe once again.