Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Expert Lightweigh t winner Miles Baldwin Singleton, Baldwin, Erode and Cone following. By lap three Singleton had moved in on and passed Cooley. Baldwin then dropped C ooley to fourth. On the same lap Cooley slowed dramatically. "I got it sideways in the fma l tum a nd scared the h eck out of myself. I backed way off to get my concentration back ," said Cooley later. Two laps m ore and Baldwin had closed the gap on Singleton. He moved to second with a low line pass through tum six , an uphill sweeper. Singleton stayed close behind and the pair closed on Mamola while Cooley, Emde , Cone, Klinzmann, Long and Schlachter played tag for fourth through ninth spots. By lap eight Baldwin h ad caught Mamola . He spent two la ps p robing Mamola's defenses before ta king over the lead. In q uick succession Mamola crashed spectacularly in the bowl after the start/finish line , John Long and Henry DeGouw went down in tu m six and Baldwin too found himself inspecting th e pa vern e n t. The red flag came out and the corner crews set . about to dry out the slip pery corners . In all , the' delay lasted almost two hours before the single file resta rt took place. The four riders who had crashed checked for and repaired damage; others checked and and dou bl e checked their bikes; Springsteen rolled his bike into th e pits. The restart began with lap 12 leaving 35 laps left to do battle in . Baldwin seized ' the ad van tage im m e di a t ely with S ingleton and Mamola in tow . Erode grabbed fou rt h foll owed by Cone, Coo ley . Schlachter, gru~ts m ightily before letting t he bubbly fly. Runner-up Dave Emde is on the right. third-place Dan Wa rren, left. Klinzmann . Hammer. Ron Mass , Steve Gervais and John Long. O n the next go around Eklund called it a day. The battle was on between Singleton a nd Mamola while Erode and Cooley prepared for an al most r ace long duel for fourth . The top five positions were set from lap 15 although Singleton would lead Ba ldwin to the checkers. For 18 laps Baldwin an d Singleton played rubberband with Baldwin ho lding as much as a five second lead. In traffic Baldwin appeared to be the superior, wea ving in and out of slower riders. using them as blockers to slow Singleton's charge. Once out of traffic however, Singleton appeared to have the edge especially in the critical department of exiting comers: In the final eight laps . Singleton wiped ou t a five second defici t to set . h imself squarely on Bal dwin 's rear tire. With three laps to go Singleton powered by on the back straight and the duo set off on a sprint to the flag. The white flag lap: Singleton held a slim two bike length advantage as. t he pair crossed the st art fin ish line ; Ba ldwin went wide in turn one a nd Singleton opened up 10 lengths and just as quickl y lost them when b alked by a slower rider in tum six . Baldwin crept closer as the pair swep t over the hill , through the fast left-bander and onto the back straight. Singleton dove inside while Baldwin attempted to go hig h and was slowed; Ba ld win tried again and was slowed once more. Singleton never looked back. Results NATIONA L: 1. Dale Singleton !Yaml; 2. Mike Baldwin IYaml; 3. Randy Mamala (Yaml ; 4 . David Emde IYam); 5. Wes Cooley (Yam ); 6. Mike Cone (Yam); 7. Steve Gervais lYam); 8. Harry Klinzmann IYam); 9. Ron Mass lVaml ; 10. Rich Schlachl e< IYam); 11. S l..... Mor ehead CYam l; 12. Bruce Ham mer (Yam); 13. Henry DeGouw IYam); 14. Robert W akef ield (Yam); 15. Avr um Gudelski !Yeml ; 16. Kurt Leibmann (Yam); 17. Gary Collins !Yem ); 18. Kurt Lentz !Yam); 19. Mi les Baldwin !Yem); 20. FritzVan De

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