Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Randy Mamola. third in the Loudon 750cc National. leads runner-up Mike Baldwin. who led most of the National. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series - Round 24 Last lap thriller to Singleton By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Boyd Reynolds and Van Voorhis LOU DO N , NH, SEPT. 3 Dale "Pig Farmer" Singleton edged out Mike Baldwin in a last lap thriller to win the 75m ile Pentax Laconia Autumn Camel Pro Series road race at Bryar Motorsport Park. 6 Randy Mamola t?ok ~hi r~ to round ou t the winner 5 circle with David Emde and W es Cooley filling ou t the top five. Single ton . sponsored b y Tay lor White Construction , was ju bilant in Winner Dale Singleton 1301 chases Wes Cooley. Singleton. the "Georgia Pig Farmer." caught Baldwin three laps from the end and held on. the winner 's circle over his first National win. "W aal it's about time ," drawled Singleton alternately trying to get his arms around Ms. Camel and Ms. Pentax while getting ready to pop the top off a bottle of ch ampagne. "I knew I could do it in the final laps. We had a heck of a race going t here. Hey , winning is fun , a lot of fun . Tell everyone the Pig Farmer slopped the hogs today." Self-sponsored Mike Baldwin was not SO happy. " I'm disappointed, " he said after taking his helmet off. " I know I could ha ve won if I hadn't gotten boxed in by (H arry) Klinzmann " in the final two turns." Randy Mamola was rather quiet during the ceremonies until a you ng lad y came out of the crowd to splatter a pumpkin pie in his face . " My left hand hun pretty bad." said Mamola after he had cleaned up. "Yesterd ay's crash in the 250cc heat race ga ve m e a bad gash and the crash in the National didn't help it any. My engine slowed a bi t towa rd the end." A m id -race duel between Mel Dinisin -sponsored David Emde and W .S. Cooley-sponsored Wes Cooley end ed with Emde in fourth and Cooley a distance behind in fifth . The Bryar Motorsport Circuit, a 1.6 mile. 10 tum track , was run in the opposite direction of the June Na tiona l a nd me t with plenty of affirma tive rid er response. The only real problem to mar th e weekend, and on e that caused an alm ost two hour delay in t he Na tional, was oil or gas /oil spills that caused th ree sepa ra te accid ents in quick succession on lap 13. Included in those crashing were Baldwin and Mamola. At firs t, Jay Sp ringsteen 's fac tory Harley-Davidson of Cal Ra yborn su vintage was thought to be the culprit, but a check by the AMA revealed revealed some spray from the breather and a light coating on the rear wheel - not enough to be dangerous or bother Springer's riding. The bike ~as scra tched from the restart by H-D racing honcho Dick O'Brien. "T he engine was slowing and we didn't want to take any chances on Jay getting hun," said O 'Brien. "We had no oil problems." Steve Eklund , who was scored ninth' at the red flag , came out for the restart and rode one lap before pulling into the pits and parking his bike. "T aki ng the chance that I m ight hun myself just wasn 't wonh it ," said Eklund afterwards. " I' m playing it safe. Sure, I would have liked to add a few points to the standings, but I d idn't really feel that the track was safe ." The sparse crowd tum out seemed to confirm that Labor Day Weekend Nationals in th e northeast do not fare well . Also , running the event one week before a F750 World Championship round in Monterey, California ' held the rider entry down to a m inimum. The sorting ou t process"of choosing the right gea ring and learning to adjust lines around 'the track d idn't'" seem to bother many of the riders. Mike Baldwin got right down to busin ess in the fir st of two qualification heats by posting an easy win over Randy Mamola- and Mike Cone. The second hea t went to Dale Singleton with We s Cooley and David Emde following. Baldwin. based on th e qu icker heat ra ce win . held th e pole for the final. Randy Mamola burst from his middle of the front row starting position int o the lead with Cooley,

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