Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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! Loudon E freddie Spencer rockets off the line in the Expert lightweight final as Mike Baldwin 1431. David Garautte 1191. Nick Richlchi 1631 follow. ~rt LIghtweIght Spencer flashes home with ease By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Mary Grothe and Van Voorhis LOUDON. NH,JUNE 16 Freddie Spencer commanded the entire 32 lap Expert Lightweight event at Loudon, New Hampshire's Bryar Motorsport 16 Park despite a concentration breaking restart on lap eight when a downed rider on the. start/finish line brought out the red flag. Spencer. on the Howard Racing/ Arai ponsored Erv Kannemoto tuned Yamaha, cruised home with a 20 second margin over Kawasaki's Mike Baldwin, riding a . Uni·Trak Version of Kawasaki's 250cc road racer, and the Mt. Sutton Ski Area sponsored Yamaha of Pierre' Buellac. Only 31 riders were on hand for the race. Spencer gave the fans an idea of what was to come in the single qualifying heat. He put in a lightning start and quickly opened up a three second lead by the end of the first lap as Baldwin and Buellac were discussing second place. Baldwin forged his way past on lap four of the five lap event to take second and that was that. However, on the cool·off lap both Spencer and Baldwin went down. "I had already killed the engine for a plug check and was coasting around with the clutch in when the next thing I knew I was down," said Spencer. Baldwin, .riding right behind. had no escape route and rode into the fallen bike and rider and went down. In addition to' fractured egos. Spencer pulled a muscle in his left thigh and battered an ankle. Baldwin was OK. Another rocketship start at the beginning of the final put Spencer in command with Baldwin, a little slow off the line, working his way from about 12th to second by the end of lap one. The second lap found Baldwin settled into second ahead of John Bet· tencourt and Robert Genereux with a good scramble going on behind. Generoux moved in to hassle Bettencourt while Buellac was being pressured by David Garautte who had sliced his way through traffic in killer fashion. The tight racing continued for third \ Expert Lightweight winner Spencer congratulates Erv Kanemoto. the man behind the machinery. place and behind while Spencer and Baldwin moved on. But on the seventh 'Iap, Genereux slid out coming out of the bowl before the start/fmish line and exploded the haybales lining the outside wall. The race was red· flagged to allow the ambulance to reach the rider_ He was shaken. but alright although he did not return to the race. The riders were gridded in the position they held on lap seven· rather than a single file restart·and given the green flag. In a carbon copy of the fir· st start, Spencer was gone. Baldwin was quicker this time and had moved into second before the end of the lap. Bettencourt had his familiar third in hand with a lot of shuffling behind. Garautte sliced his way through traffic to move into a three way dice for fourth with Jimmy Adamo and Buellac. Adamo was riding with a brace on his hand which he' had injured in practice earlier in the day. Baldwin managed to hold Spencer within four seconds as the laps worked their way toward the 20th go-around. However, Baldwin hit a patch of gas dumped by a fallen rider in one of the slow turns on the course and went down. He was up quickly, but had broken the shift lever. battered the fairing and lost over 20 seconds to Spencer. He had dropped to fourth as well. A pass on the uphill portion of the winding 1.6 mile course on lap 22 put Baldwin back into second and set the top tWo spots in the winner's circle. Third was still a scrap and would remain so until the final tum on the last lap. Bettencourt, using a total loss ignition, had left his switch on during the re-start period and drained the battery. By lap 27 the effects of this began to show as he started a trip backwards to a ninth place finish, his engine sputtering all the way. Buellac, Adamo and Garautte were battling wheel to wheel going into the final laps with Adamo coming out in third on lap 30 as the result of the trio going around a slower rider. Garautte moved into third on the start of the final lap with Buellac close behind. Buellac shadowed Garautte through nine of the ten turns and made his move on the final one going low as Garautte took a high line. What had worked for Garautte so many times before was his downfall and he slid out to drop to seventh. "I raced my race and hung in there." said Buellac displaying a gaping hole in his left shoe. ''I'm happy." Spencer said he had no problems while Baldwin declined to attend the winner's circle ceremony. "The heat," said Spencer. "was really bad, but you