Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1980 04 30

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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o 00 0') .... '"' 0.- < 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

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