Kenny Roberts (2^nd), Dave Smith (1st) and Robert Winters (3^rd) gather for the winner’s circle celebration after the 1972 Daytona Expert/Junior 100-Mile race (later to be called the AMA 250 Grand Prix, which became a national series in 1977). Smith won the race on an ex-Kel Carruthers Yamaha TD2, the same one Carruthers had won the race on the year before. Roberts, who battled Smith all day and finished a very close second, was on one of Yamaha’s new TD3s. Every finisher in that year’s 250 race was on a Yamaha. There were only three non-Yamahas in the race – two Kawasakis and a Suzuki – but they all DNF’d.

Kenny Roberts (2nd), Dave Smith (1st) and Robert Winters (3rd) gather for the winner’s circle celebration after the 1972 Daytona Expert/Junior 100-Mile race. (Courtesy Daytona International Speedway)