Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126327
Randy Mamola had the 250cc Lightweight lead by the end of lap one and he continued out front to win ahead of David Emde. Mamola marches to 250cc Lightweight • win By Henny Ray A bams LONG PO ND , PA , AUG. 12 "We've gotten everything together this yea r, and I hope it lasts , " Pocono International Raceway 250cc Lightweight win ner Randy Mamola desc ribed his first AMA win of th e year. Mamola , second place finisher at Da ytona , put his Jim Doyle Ra cing, George Vukmanovichtu ned Yamaha in to the lead at the end of lap one and continued for the remaining 17 laps . Sears Point winner David Emde held his Floyd Emde/ND Spark Plugssponsored Ya m a h a in secon d after Mamola took the lead from him at the start /finish line. "I was hoping that I could close th e gap on Randy , but no way ," sa id Emde of his pursuit. Third place was decided on th e fin al lap as Bruce Patterson put his sel fsponsored Yamaha into winner's circle lea vin g a disa ppoi nted Miles Baldwin fou rt h . ' 12 There was p len ty of ra cin g for the posit ions followin g Mam ola and Em de with T ed Boody doi ng his best to pro ve th a t he ca n go ju st as fast on pavem en t as on th e', di rt. He held down t hird , when th e bottom end in his fa ctory Harley-Davidson let go on lap 11. Self-sponsored Dan W arren was th e first rider to make a gra b for fou rt h pla ce . Miles Baldw in , on t h e SKF/Diamond Chain Yamaha quickly moved ' in to make Warren fourt h , John Long then put his Longevi ty Yamaha into th e fight a long with Boody. Meanwhile , Bruce Patterson was moving up throu gh th e pa ck from a bad sta rt. W ith Boody out on lap I I , Baldwin found h imself, Pa~erson and Long swapp ing places. Third was d ecided in a last lap d raft and slings hot move by Patterson on th e final charge to the flag. " It was a helluva ra ce , " sai d Baldwin, " I came ou t of the chicane a gear too high and by th e end of the straight, I knew that I was in for the agony of defeat. " Baldwin finished a close fourth with Long breathing on him . Long's ride was im p ressive in that he had sta rt ed from the rear of the grid aft er not finishing h is heat. For Mamola , th e victory was a sweet one as he had skipped Loudon to prepare the machinery with his new mechanic. "I had to work my butt off to keep up with David in th e heat race ," said an ex hausted Mamola after compla ining about th e humidity. " In th e final I let him follow me ," Emde didn't feel tha t his bik e was 100 % . "I'll just ha ve to try a littl e harder at Lou d on ," he said. Resul t s l 8-LAP FINAL: 1. Ran dy Mam ala (Ya m); 2. David Emde (Yaml ; 3.Bruce Patterson lYa ml ; 4. M iles Baldwin (Yam); 5. Joh n Long (Yam): 6. Dan W arren (Yaml; 7. M ike Baeder (Yaml: 8. Pierre Beullac (Yaml; 9, Frank M cTagg art (VarnI; 10. Don Mankie (Varni . Cooley cools Baldwin in Superbike thriller By Gary Van Vo.orhis LONG POND , PA , AUG, 13 W es Cooley and Mik e Baldwin staged their own version of guess· wh o's -in-first during the raindelayed Superbike Production event and kept , the crowd guessing right down to th e final dash . Cooley, on the Yoshimura R&D Suzuki GS 1000 , ca me out on top of the final power play to beat Baldwin's Reno Leoni-tuned and sponsored Ducati 860 . John Fuchs turned in a superb ride to finish third on his Randy Carabe.lli-sponsored Honda 750 . Baldwin may have to wait awhile to collect his reward since he was rid ing the race under protest. AMA tech inspec to r Walt Fulton disqualified Baldwin 's bike for having what appeared to be illegal cases and a d ifferent su m p. ' Baldwin protested tha t the cases were fabricated (legal) rather specia l items (illega l) like those used by Mike Hailwood to win th e Isle of Man . A t the re feree 's op t io n, Baldw in was allowed to ride under protest with th e results of a tear-down at Berliner , Corporation , th e Du cati importer , lat er this week to decide the outco me . In any case , Baldwin 's bik e was very fast. Wes Cooley held th e lead in the'15lap event when a sudden show er sen t three r iders sprawling in separa t e accidents on lap three and brought out the red flag. An hour's worth of work to remove the water standing in a reas of th e track , clearing skies and th e sidecar , eve n t dried the t ra ck suffi ciently for a restart. 'l Cooley immediately picked ,u p where he'd left off, but found himself under a lo t of pressure from Baldwin and John Long whose GP Performance Group BMW was humming . Unfortunately for Long, a rod let go three laps later and ventilated the cases. " It was running really strong," said Long afterwards . " I know we would have been in the hunt if it hadn't let go ," John Bettencourt, Harry Klin zmann and David Emde moved up to join in the fun as Baldwin began a determined charge to close on Cooley. Klinzmann soon took an excursion into the grass at the chicane and dropped to th e back of the pack. . , By lap eight , Baldwin had closed ' and began to show Cooley that his Ducati could outhandle and outbrake Cooley's Suzuki in to and through th e tight and twisting infield portion of the track . Cooley countered, with raw horsepower - gobs and gobs of it. For the rem a ini ng laps, the swap a nd swap again saga went on as ea ch determined th e best strategy for th e fi ~al la p cha rge . Meanwhile John Fu chs had moved int o third ,a n d o pe ne d up some breathing room on th e Am ol Precision Ducati of Kurt Leibmann and Rich Schlachter's George Vicen si-sponsor ed Duc at i. Baldwin led th e fin al lap into the in fie ld and held on until he got