Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Aldana, Mamola , John Long and McLaughlin followed . . As he had done in the first leg , King Kenny passed Baldwin on the second lap . Romero passed Baldwin on lap three, but Mike stuc k it to " Bu rri tt o" comi ng out of tu rn n in e on the next go . r ou nd . W ith the rea r end of the bike at a proper a ngle, Baker was holding his own against th e Roberts" onsla ught. Often Ken ny woul d close as they raced up the hill for turns three a nd four , but as th ey ca me into view again in turn seven, Bak er would have a bo ut the sa me lead th ere as the lap before. Aksla nd pulled int o th e pi ts very early in th e ra ce. The bi ke went on three cylinders and, after one m or e . lap, Skip parked it with a b urn t ign itio n coil. . By lap 10 , Bak er still led and Roberts wasn 't really shaking loose of Baldwin . Romero had gone about 15 seconds back a nd was leading Cooley, Mamola, Aldana , McLaughlin , Long and Ron Pierce. Eight laps lat er , Roberts finally ob ta ined th e lead in a quick move in the infam ou s Laguna Seca "Corkscrew." Rob erts continued on in the lead wit h no problems, event ua lly bu ild in g a five-second margin . ' Cooley a nd Mam ola got a good contest goi ng for fifth . Ba ld win Jed, never by much more tha n 100 feet until la p 19, when Mamola took th e pos ition. . Ron Pierce , after dropping back a little bi t , turned th e wick back on and took ca re ofJohn Long for ninth at th e 23-lap mark and McLaughlin for eight h two laps after that. At the co m pletion of lap 32 , Roberts took " Bou nci n' Bob" Malley's chec ke red fla g for his fourth F750 win 1978 . Rob e rts" Yamaha of International -sponsored mach ine had held together perfectly, all day, due to the efforts of Kel Carruthers, Nobby Clark and Trevor Tilbury. Baker took the flag for second , ahead of Baldwin, who 'd never let up the press ure on Baker, despite the obvious pain from his fee t. "T od ay I learned more about ridi ng those twowheeled things than in my whole life, " said Bal dwin in the win ner 's circle. R o m e r o fin ished fou rt h b ut Mamo la was robbed of fifth , apparent ly due to mec hanical problems la te in the race. R an dy dropped to seventh and might have dropped even further had not Rober ts lapped eighth place Ron Pierce and then taken the checkered flag before he could lap Mamola . David Aldana was sixth . . ' Under the Olympic points scoring system, there was a three-wa y tie for fifth between Cooley , Aldana and Mamola , whi ch was broken by the order of finish in thesecond heat and was resolved in the aforementioned order. Mc Laughlin , Pierce and Long completed the top lOin the overall results. Results F750 FIRST LEG: 1. Kenny Roberts IYaml; 2. Skip Aksland (Varni; 3. Steve Baker (Yaml: 4. Gene Romero (Yam); 5. Mike Baldwin (Yam); 6. Randy Mamola (Yaml: 7. Dave Aldana (Varni; 8. Wes Cooley (Yam); 9. Patrick Pons (Yam); 10. Stove Mclaughlin !Yam l. Time: 37 min., 59.415 sec. Average Speed: GG.025 m ph. SECOND LEG: 1. Kenny Roberts (Yam); 2. Steve Baker (Yam); 3. Mike Baldwin (Yam); 4. Gene Romero (Yaml; 5. Wf!IS Cooley (Yaml: 6. Dave Aldana (Yam); 7. Randy Mamols (Yam); 8 . Aon Pierce (Yam); 9. Steve Mclaughlin (Yam); 10. John Long (Yaml. Time: 37:57.389. Average Speed: GG.114 mp h. OVERALL: 1. Kenny Roberts (Yaml ; 2. Stove Baker (Yam): 3. Mike Baldwin (Yam); 4. Gene Romero (Yaml; 5. Wes Cooley (Yaml; 6. Dave Aldana (Yam); 7. Randy Mamols (Yam); 8. Steve Mclaughlin (Yaml; 9. Ron P; erce (Yam); 10. John Long (Yeml ; 11. Cory Rup pelt !Yam); 12. Richard Schlacl1ter (Yaml; 13. Skip Aksla nd (Yam); 14. Gill Mart;n (Yam); 15. Harry Cone (Yam); 16. Bruce Hammer (Yaml; 17. Robert Wakefield (Yam); 18. Avrum Gud~sky (Yam); 19. Mike Baader CYaml; 20. Mike Clark CYam). Lightweight Expert: Mamolawins easily after Baldwin retires (Above) First leg runner-up Skip Aksland leads John Long (36) and M ike Baeder . (Below) Dave Aldana (10) in front of Steve Mclaughlin (83) and Randy Mamola By Jack Mangus Photos by Felix Adamo MONTEREY, CA, SE PT. 9 The record books will show that Yamaha-mounted Randy Mamola easily won the 20-lap Lightweight Expert race at Laguna Seca Raceway Saturday a fternoon , finishing n earl y a half-minute ahead of runnerup John Long. Bu t what the recor ds won 't show is the fierce battle th a t took place between Mamola and Kawasaki -mounted Mi ke Ba ld win . .Baldwin, aboard a works Kawasaki , led the first 10 la ps of the race wit h Mamola either right be hind, beside or at tim es a bit ahead . Bu t Bal d win's Kaw su ffered ignition fai lure and he coaste d int o the pits on the leader's 18th la p . Whi le Mamola and Bald win dueled , a three-wa y fight for thi rd ( wit h Baldwin ' s retirement , for seco nd) was wag ed between Floridian J ohn Lon g and Cal ifornia's Gennady Liu bimsky and Glen Sh op her . At th e checkered flag it was J oh n Lon g a hea d of Liubimsky a nd Sho ph er. 7

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