WHEN A TWO-STROKE CONQ UERED DAY TONA

The world of motorcycling has never known a bigger earthquake than the convulsion that transformed it in the early 1970s. The dominant British industry crumbled under Japanese onslaught and racetracks across the globe were overrun by two-strokes, relegating the four-stroke to grand prix history, until Dorna created MotoGP in 2002.

A big moment in this seismic shift was Don Emde’s victory in the 1972 Daytona 200, the first by a two-stroke. At that time the 200 was the biggest single motorcycle race in the world, contested around the huge Daytona speedbowl: just four corners, then four kays of full-gas riding around the banking, a nightmare for early two-strokes, which were prone to burning pistons and seizing crankshafts.

Emde wasn’t even supposed to be riding a two-stroke that year. The previous season he had been signed by BSA to ride its three-cylinder Rocket 3-based racers. This was the British industry’s final no-expense-spared effort to stay kings of the American market.