I
!I
E
1980 Winston Pro Series Rookie of the Veer Nick Rlchlchl rode. smooth. trouble-free rlIC8 to tIIk. his first Netion8I win.
AMA Grand National
ChampionshiplWinston Pro
Series: Round 12
Richichi rolls at
Loudon
By Gary Van Voorhis
Photos by John Owens
LOUDON, NH,JUNEZI
"Everything worked just great and I didn't have
any problems. Hey, this is my first National
win. I really don't know what to say except I'm
12 happy. Boy, am I happy." Nick Richichi may
have been at a loss for words af·
ter winning the Accd Formula
One Laconia Classic Race, but
on the Bryar Motorsport Park
track he was in control aU the
time.
Dal~ Singleton. back &om racing in
Euro~ for ~ ~t. took ROOnd af~
a long du~1 with ~tUaI third place
finisher Rich Chamben. Singleton was
Yamaha TZSOO-moun~ wbil~ both
Ricbichi and Chamben ~ Yamaha
TZ7~.
"I probably should have ma~ my
move a· coupl~ of laps sooner," .said
Singl~ton aft~ards. ''The strat~
was to stay clOR until the 40th lap and
then char~. Traffic held me up. 1
could have gone fastfi, but thm 1
would have ~n riding on the ~
and the situation didn't ~ally call for
that. -It would·-have ~n foolish to
crash. Chambcn rod~ a helluva rac~.
It was fun dicing with him. "
For Cbamben, it was his fint top
t~ National finish. Aft~r the cham·
pagn~ spraying and showmng was
over, Chamben was probably the most
aci~. "It's hard to say just how
much this m~ans to me," said Cham·
ben. "A lot of peopl~ have stuck by me
for a long wbil~ and I ho~ this is just
~ fmt of many trips to the wi~'s
circl~."
Yamaha·moun~JohnBettmcoun
pi~ up founb place m~ w~
Honda's Mike Spmcer took fifth with
the first four·strok~ across the fiDUh
line.
The Winston Pro ~e National
was m~ up in the race program du~
to thrnlaling w~atbcr. Af~ having
to run two races in the rain on Saturday,
officials didn't want to taU any
chance. Fonunat~ly, the 47 laps on
the 1.6-mil~ circuit didn't get a drop.
Richicbi sat on the pol~ for the Na·
tional along with 49 ~ hopefu1a,
but it was Coo\q' winning the drag
rac~ to th~ fmt tum followm by
Honda's Ro~o Pi~tri and Richicbi.
Pi~ri's rac~ up front wouldn't last long
as his clutch went away on the first lap
and he nurRd his bike around for Z6
mo~ laps, slowly slipping back ~o~
pullingm.
CooIcy immediatdy etab~ him·
Rlf in the front ru~'s position. The
await~ du~1 with F~di~ Spmcer, on
