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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126467
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Cooley exhibits
pnHaC8
confidence.
Freddie Spence, looked good and led the final until he was pitched off on lap seven.
AMA Superbike Championship Road Race Series: Round three
Cooley up, Spencer down,
Lawson tops point standings
By Gary Van Voorhis
Photos by Ron and Mary Grothe
HARRISBURG, NC, APR. 19·20
Wes Cooley, taking advantage of a horrendous
crash by leader Freddie Spencer, cruised home,
the winner in the third round of the AMA NationaI Championship Superbike Series held at
Charlotte Motor Speedway. Lap
seven of the WBTV Motorcycle
Classic to Benefit the Shriners'
Hospital for Cripple Children
10.
.
saw Spencer go down hard coming out
of. the turn, two oval portion of the 2.5
mIle combmed oval/road course. AI·
though his motorcycle sustained heavy
damage, Spencer was only shaken up
and ha.d a bloody nose and road rash,
accordmg to T~am Honda ma~ager
Steve M~Laughhn. He .too~ a tnp to
the hospital for an examlnatlon.
Eddie Lawson, winner of last week's
Talladega, Alabama round, followed
Cooley to winner's circle and in doing
so vaulted himself into the points ·Iead.
David Aldana. Lawson's newly signed
teammate at Kawasaki, overcame a
problem on the starting line to charge
through t.raffic and co~e up third. A
superb nde earned JImmy Adamo
fourth place with Ron Pierce finishing
fifth after late lap problems..
Both l:Ionda and KawasakI had spent
a day e~cb in private test ~ions ~t
C:MS. pnor to the ~ent to dIal their
bikes In. Cooley and his Vetter·sponsored
Yoshimura Suzuki couldn't afford that
luxury, so he a~d his crew s~~t time
working on their bIke and walUng for
Saturday's practice session.
The cat·and·mouse game saw Cooley,
Spencer, Pierce and Lawson show just
enough to record respectable practice
t-illlea-~5 .littPY>g
heir. handa..
Aldana didn't get a lap in due to a
balky igni,tion.
.
.
Sundays Superbike program COnsISt·
ed of twe;> money:paying ,heats and one
non· paYing semI to whittle the field
down to 20 for the final. Since there
were only 25 entries, it was decided all
would race although qualifying ran as
sCheduled.
Heat one broke cleanly into a Spencer/
Aldana duel with Spencer leading the
way. Honda's Pierce. finishing third.
found an unexpected early challenge
from the strong running Berliner
Motors/Reno Leoni Ducati of Jimmy
Adamo. Mechanical problems ended
that ride.
The second heat saw Cooley take his
Yoshimura mount to the win over Law·
son and McLaughlin cutting almost
identical lap times to Spencer.
The semi was a Jimmy Adamo show
as he lea Reuben McMurter and his
Kawasaki by eight seconds at the finish.
Less tha.n half a bike length separated
the Kawasakis of David Hoyle and
Berry Earle. The nod went to Hoyle.
Twenty·one bikes made the grid for
the points· paying final with Spencer,
Cooley, Lawson, Aldana and Pierce
filling the front row. At the drop of the
. green flag it was Spencer with Cooley
quickly coming on followed by Lawson,
Pierce, and Roberto Piet';. Aldana
was probably cursing himself as be sped
away some 10 seconds after the field
-haG staned, J.. _...
•.... .
"We put in a new clutch and it was
dragging," said Aldana afterward. "I
couldn't find neutral and then the
engine died., went to the back of the
grid, but it was hard starting."
"1 kept hollering to David to tickle
his carbs as I pushed and tried to do
the same to those on my side," added
Kawasaki's Randy Hall. "He finally
heard me. 1 looked over my shoulder
and the field was leaving. Probably we
should have held David at the back of
the grid from the beginning. We
wouldn't have lost but a second or two
advantage that way."
By lap five, Spencer was holding
breathing space over Cooley with Law·
son and Pierce farther back. Chuck
Parme, aboard the Kal·Gard/GSM
Kawasaki, had broken out of a duel
for fifth while Aldana was setting up
McLaughlin to drop him from sixth.
The end of lap six saw Aldana move to
fifth.
It is unclear as to what caused Speno
cer's accident. The Honda people
favor the blown tire theory. However,
it is also possible that the engine let go.
Cooley was right behind Spencer
when he went down. "I saw a puff of
smoke from his bike as we began to
exit the second turn, and then I saw
Freddie tumbling," said Cooley. "I got
oil on my fairing and visor. The bike
had slammed into the guardrail and I
was lucky to make it through without
getting hit by it."
Steve McLaughlin unselfishly pulled
off to help Spencer. "I had to stop,"
said McLaughlin. "There was nobody
there to help. Freddie and the bike were
lying right in the middle of the track.
We were lucky, because it could have
been much worse."
"I just turned the gas on a little
more after Freddie crashed to make
sure Lawson didn't get close," said
.cool~. "My strategy was to stay as
close to Freddie as I could and hope he
got slowed by traffic. 1 was only three
or so seconds back when he had the
accident."
Lawson was safe in second and knew
it. ''I'll take the points," he said later.
Aldana had closed on Pierce when
Pierce slowed and pointed to his bike.
Aldana zoomed by and third was his.
"The rear end felt loose and 1 wanted
David to check my tire for me.
Instead, he started looking at his
bike, " said Pierce.
Soon after, Jimmy Adamo was setting his sights on Pierce. "I waited
until the last possible moment so Ron
couldn't get around me at the line,"
Adamo said after his drafting slingshot
pass earned him fourth. "I did a lot of
~ra.fting throughout the race and it
paid off," he smiled later.
"How do you like that?" tuner Reno
Leoni added,"Did you see the way that
two-cylinder (Ducati) stayed up with
the four·cylinder machines. Jimmy is a
good rider. He tries very hard." At
Talledega, Adamo broke the chai,n on
the starting line. The fourth perked up
his spirits.
•
"Pops and Fujio will be glad to hear
about this," said Cooley as he was
loading up his equipment. "We've got
to drive straight on through to L.A.
and then get ready for this coming
weekend's six hour endurance at On·
tario. 1 w~nt to win that, too."
•
Results
SUPt:RBIKE: 1. W"" Cool.... ISuz); 2. Eddle Lawson
IKaw); 3. David Aldana IKawI; 4. Jimmy Adamo 100c);
5. Ron Pie