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
, Ich Schlachter (481 dueled w ith Romero. but DNF. position he was never to lose for the remainder of th e 27 lap, 75-mile race. Behind Ba ldwin and Mamola lu rked Romero. Singleton , Wes Coole y. Schlacter, Mike Cone, Emde, Cory Ruppelt , Harry Klinzmann and Lo ng in a tight bunch. Posit ion swap pi ng was the name of the game in the ea rly laps from fifth place back. Mamola began to slow on lap three while the Singleton /Romero or Romero/Singleton battle which was to last for the entire race began to take .0 h ape_ J On lap four, Singleton and Romero 6 sand wic hed Mamola in a three-way d ive into turn one with Romero coming out on top. Singleton stole that away with a last -braking playoff the g ,OOO foot back straight into t he chica ne. Schlachter was past Cooley by A thi s time and slowly moving up on Mamola . Klinzmann, Long and Emde '. were dicing for seventh. 01 Romero 's brilliant da y-glo pink , m issle hauled into second on the I 'se"'e n t h lap with a slingshot off n Sing le to n at th e star t / fi n ish line . Baldwin, al ready with three seconds in shand . kept adding to hi s lead with ,., every lap. One lap la ter . Schlachter d du plica ted Rom ero's move on Mamola ,,ifor fourth. Cooley had regain ed his s ad vantage and now led Klinzm ann , Long . Emde , Cone . Ru p pel t and n: Hanes Gervais in a long tag team match . By lap 12, Baldwin had increased his lead to five seconds . The fortunes of Romero and S ingleton had flip flopped with the " Georgi a Pig Farmer" now leading "Burritto." A few rain drops started to fall , but were too spa rse to matter. Schlachter began to close on the second place duel. One lap later. Mamola pulled into the pits and called it a day with undiagnosed problems. On the same lap , Singleton began to open up some breathing space 'as Schlachter moved in to hound Romero. Klinzmann had taken over fifth with -Long dropping Cooley back to seventh and Emde lu rking in the shadows waiting for his chance. Schlachter made his move in the esses on lap 17 to drop Romero to fourth, But Romero wasn't shaken loose that easi ly and stayed glued to Sc hlacter 's rear tire as the two advanced stead ily forward after Singl eton. Once he had gotten some brea thing room, Sing let on stea d ily ba cked off on h is braking po in t for turn on e to conserve everyt hing for the la te lap' battl e he felt was coming. By la p 20 . the suspicion became rea lity when Schlachter slipped under Singleton for second as they entered Winner Baldwin and MS.,Camel Pro. Lynn Griffis. let the champagne fly. the infield with Romero just a breath behind. Schlachter was almost immediately out of action. "O ne minute he was there in front, " said Romero, "and the next he was down and out." Gene grabbed second. Meanwhile, Baldwin was ha ving a good time nipping his way through lapped traffic at a frantic pace that would carry him past so of the 40 entries. By lap 22 . his margin was over 10 seconds. Singleton moved back into second th rough the chicane on lap 22 with Rom er o doing his start/finish line pick off as the pair began the next go around. Heading into tum three th e slowest of the 12 turns on the course - Singleton tried to stuff a wheel inside Romero and touched an exhaust stinger with his front tire . Singleton did a two -step -sideways both-feet-off-the-pegs-magic-t rick to save it and grabbed a handful of throttle like nothing had happened. In less than a lap he was right back on Rom er o's rear tire. The final four lap run to the flag was a precision drill of drafting, b r ak in g a nd strategy . ' " You rea lly gotta trust a guy," sai d Singlet on , "to run in his draft just a foot awa y at 170 mph . T ha t's wha t racing is all about." "Dale definitely had th e edge in braking ," said Romero after the rac e. "But 1 had steam. and he knew it." Singleton had - pu lled out 10 bikelengths on the final lap by riding the wheels off through the infield . "I had the edge and second place wrapped up , but 1 followed Steve Morehead through the chicane. and that slowed me down. When 1 looked for Gene as we hit the b~nking he was right there. and 1 was boxed in for a second. It was all he needed ," Romero's secret for taking second place was simple. " I cheat a little, " he said with a big grin. Baldwin. with two National TOad race wins in a row , was all smiles in winner's circle. Still. he was a man of few words. "I 'm really proud of the fact that 1 own my bike and do all the work on it myself. 1 think that shows that a privateer can do it by himself and be come a winner. " • Results 27·LAP A NAL: 1. M ichael Baldwin IVam); 2. Gene Romero !Yaml; 3. Dale Sing leton !Yam); 4. John Long (Vaml ; 5. David Emde IVam); 6. Harry " M ike" Cone IVam); 7. Hanes S. GOMl is !Yam); 8. Wes Cooley (Yam); 9. Harry Klinzmann (Yam); 10. Bruce ·Hamm er (Yam); 11. Steve Morehead (Yam); 12. Paul M clachlan; 13. Robert Wakefield (Vaml; 14. Rich Chambers. AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/CAM EL PRO SERIES: 1. St eve Eklond (225); 2. Jay Spr ingstee n 1220); 3. Ted Boody 1134 1;4. Hank Scott 1122 ; 5. Garth 1 Brow 1 1021 6. Skip Aksland 1951; 6. Gary Scott 195; 8. ; 1 Alex Jorgensen 19 ; 9. Corky Keener (771 1) . Mike 11 ; Kidd 17 : 10. Steve Mor ehead 1731; 12. M ;ke Baldwin 31 4 ; (56); 13. Rand y Goss 1 ; 14. Terry POOI/OY 1 51 14. 461 Gene Romero 1 451; 16 . Scott Pearson (3'1); 17. Dale Singleton 1 ; 18. Oave Aldana 1 : 19. Eddie Lawson ' 361 341 132; 20. Don Bailey 1191. 1 1 1