Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) They're off with Steve Wise (38), Roberto Pietri (88), Eddie Lawson (21) and Thad Wolff (37) leading the way. (Inset) Jimmy Adamo leads the Battle of the Twins. . AMA Superbike Championship Series : Round 2 lawson flies at Talladega By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Tom Mueller TAL LADEGA, AL , MAR . 14 " I accomplished what I came to Talladega for ," said Kawasaki 's Eddie Lawson after his easy win in the Superbike portion of the Honda sponsored Talladega Pro-Am at Alaba ma Int ern ati on al Motor Spee dway. .. I wanted to win . I a lso wa nted to p ut m yself back o n top of the series sta ndings." Lawso n, the defe nding series champ, held a n earl y 30 seco nd margin of victo ry over seco nd pl ace fi nishe r Ste ve Wise. with Wayne Rain ey a d istance back in thi rd . T he race p roved to be very un eventfu l for La wso n a nd h is T eam Kaw a sa ki/ Kerker mount. He took over less tha n o ne lap into the 12 lap even t on the n earl y four mil e co m bined oval! in field co urse and lo gged a 111.487 mph ave rage spee d o n th e way to hi s Win. 10 T he same cou ld not be sai d for H on da 's Ro berto Pi etri a nd Mik e Ba ld win . Pi etri crashe d in the in field o n th e ope n ing lap. exp loding haybales and sending his bi ke cartwhee l- in g alongs ide th e track . Bal d win was next. H e a lso cras hed in th e in fie ld as th e field sta rted th e seco nd la p. H e was u nceremonious ly sp it o ff hi s bike wh en he h it a pa tch o f d irt , went off th e track and h it a ru t. H is bik e passed o ne ride r on th e track minus Baldwin. One lap of racing and twothirds of th e H onda team were spectators. La wso n had given th e good-sized crowd on hand a p review of wh at to expect in his he at race . Far from being a p pa rent ly down o n power a s he was at Da ytona, Lawson jett ed a way a t th e start of th e heat from Baldwin a nd Wise an d never looked back . " Yo u co u ld say we found a few horsepow er,' said La wso n with a sm ile. Baldwin 's first lap ride a lmos t ended three times. " I go t into three reall y bad slides beca use th e rea rtir e was slow ly going flat. Apparentl y the rim had a m inute cra ck or defect. Once th e tire heated up it seem ed a lrig h t, so I kept charging. " In that heat Wes Cooley's ride on h is new Katana based Yoshimura Suzuki ca me to an end in a puff of smo ke a fter one lap. " I broke a valve," said a dejected Cooley. Roberto Pietri won the second heat, but Lawson 's win wa s the fastest giving him th e pole for the ~n a l. Mother Nature clouded over the skies and th e threat of rain brought a speeded-u p program. The front row of th e g rid for the final should have been Lawson, Pietri, Baldwin, Rainey a nd Wi se. Neither Rainey nor Baldwin were in their proper grid positions wh en th e two minute board went up and th ey were sen t to th e back o f th e grid to join Cooley o n th e last starting row. Pi etri bl itzed th e sta rt, led into th e in field and th en crashed. Lawson took over th e lead and that wa s that for th e rest of th e race. Tea m Honda 's Wis e quickly moved into seco nd as Baldwin was rapidl y slici ng th rough traffic to th ird a t th e en d o f th e fir st lap. Baldwin was wi thin striking di stance o f Wise as they ent ered the infield a nd th en , h e too, became a spec ta to r. Efforts to restart th e bik e were futil e. Neither Pi etri nor Baldwin were hurt. Rainey, who said aft er wards he had learned a lesson because he didn't know you had to be in position at the two minute sig n , wa s also on a quick trip through th e infield o n his Team Kawasaki/Kerker mount. From II th on lap one, he moved to eigh th on lap two and to fifth o n lap three. From fifth , he set his sigh ts on Team Escargot Suzuki rider T had Wolff a n d, two laps later, moved into fourth. Wes Cooley's ride in third ca me to a n end o n the sixth lap wh en he broke an othe r valv e. " We cha nged en gines a fter th e heat race," sai d Cooley. "I even back ed it down 500 rpm to see if th at wou ld help. One m inute it 's cookin g along and the next, it blows. The past two weeks have reall y been discouraging." With Coo ley out, Rainey moved into third a n d th e top three were set. Wolff wa s a lso secure in fourth . The battle for fifth was a four rider duel in th e closing laps between Ru sty Sharp and hi s Flower Company Honda, the Sure-Fire Kawasaki of Harry Vanderlinden , Harry Klinzmann 's Racecrafters Kawasaki and th e White' s Truck Stop Kawa saki of Rich Chambers. Sh arp seemed to have the edge untillap 10 when Klinzmann asserte d h imself and took fifth -- movin g from th e back of th e four rider fight to th e front. Vanderlinden di splaced Sh arp for sixth and Chambers dropped sligh tly off the pace-to fini sh eig h th. La wso n sai d afterwards th at he kn ew h e had a n edge wh en he looked a t the rea r tir es of Baldwin and Pi etr i o n the grid a nd saw th ey were running fresh rubber. Lawson had mounted a tire he had scu ffed in Saturday 's practice. • Results SUPER8IKE: 1. Edcfi.lowson (lo wl2. St... Wise(H 3. onl W.yne llIinoy(lo w); 4. Th.d Wolff ISOlI; 5. Hony l(Ii........ (Kawl 6. HIny Vllldirtind.n (Sozl; 7 Rusty SIl ... IHon); 8. Iidl . CII.mb.n (Kawl 9. Om.. Nonon (SOli; 10. Ronald Miller ISozI; 11. Jimmy Ad.mo(Oue); 12. EmilKiddighter llaw); 13. w1ll.. Wilk. (Hon): 14. Jo. 1Som (SozlI5. Joseph Mill.(Due l; 16. idl lorryShort. (Hon); 17. Bry.nK ....y(Sozl; 18. Vinc. Hili lKowl 19. Kin Bo tlllm (Honl 20. C11I"" Tuck ISozI. Time: 25 min.. 49.95 SICS. A ..rag. Spud: 111.4B7 mplt. . SUPERB IKE CHAMP IONSHIP SERIES POINT STANOINGS: 1. Eddi.lJwaon(29l2. (TIEl WIIyIl.llIinoy/S.... Wise (231: 4. Fraddi.Splnetr (201; 5. ThldWolff 119; 8. Mike 1 Boidwin (161: 7. (TIE) Rob.no Piolri/Rusty SIl ... 113); 9. (TIE) . ; Wes Comly/Rich Dl.mblrs 11'1: 11. H.ny lOinzmann (101 12. Hlrry Vlndorlind.n (91; 13. (TIEl Omer Nortonl Art Kowitz (BI; 15. Ronald Miller (51; 16. Jimmy Adlmo (4); 17. (TIEl Emi. Kicklighter/NormMurphy 13); 19. (TIElluth,rWilki,1 JoePi non (21· AMA Battle of the Twins: Round 2 Adamo ' does it • a aln

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