Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126612
Hammer pitted and turned th e. bike over to Ulrich without losin g position. but as th ey neared th e ha lfwa y point. Wolff and Klinzmann ad a lead of a m inute and five secon ds. Humble and Del Mon ico lost time ' when two ignition wires beca m e loose and Benny ended up push ing th e bike down River side's back stra igh t . C\I and through turn nine. 00 Wolff ca me into pit, a n d as the pit 0') sto p was nearin g a n end, U lrich ca me ..-4 into view iri turn nine. Kl inzmann . go t back , but as th ey bumpstarted the 00 ' bike. overflow gas ca ugh t on Tire! C\I "T he quick-fill we were u sing wasn 't made for that tank." exp lai n ed Kli nzmann lat er . " an d th ere wa s a lot o f , 0. .gas spilled. All it took was a tiny spark a n d th e ta n k was en g u lfed in flames. My mech an ic and I got it ou t, but some guy ca me running up with a fire ex ti n gu ishe r. We took off in a hurry j us t to get away from him." Ul ric h flashed by during th e Iracas; but an uncer ta in encou nter wi th , .(Above) Eddie Lawson (21) outbraked Roberto Pietri (88) for the lead on the first lap. Runner-up Mike Baldwin (43) lapped rider s ca use d him to foul two and Wes Cooley (340 follow. (Below) Wayne Rainey got away from traffic for third .. .. plugs and run . for two laps w ith a mi ssing en gi ne . Klinzmann seized on th e opportunity to ca tch up. and soon took th e lead aft er d icing. wi th th e Suzuki for two laps. The di cing co n tin ued until th e :.. halfway p o int, when a pass o f a lapped rid er threw U lric h off h is line through a sweep in gIeft hander Defore turn nine. U lrich wentup th e esca pe road an d lost 20 seco n ds. Sh ortly a fte rwa rd, Smith pi tted with a rear tire going flat. They had n o ' spare. an d were forced io use a stock wh eel a n d Dunlop Sport Elite for .the rem ainder o f the race. " Since the beginning , th e Yamahamounted mounted tea m of Jo hn La s, sak , J r. and Tracy DeMuro had been leading th e 600cc class a nd runn in g , well up in th e overa ll order. That was to end wh en the machine seized going through tu rn one. . ' Both U lric h an d Klinzmann p it .ted .. wit h Team H amm er doing so first. a nd .H am m er took over to the fini sh . Wolf£ got back o n th e Kawa sa ki, but th ey wou ld ha ve to make one more pi t stop before the finish. With th e race starti ng to wear down a nd th e fiel d reduced to 17 still runn in g , Hammer sta rte d 10 make .hi s , '; Laswon waited a lon g tim e,grabbed m ove. H e began cu tti ng two to seven a big ha ndf ul of brakes and swept past seco nds a lap o ff Wol£f's lead. H e had Pi et ri in tu rn seven on the first lap. the Kawa sak i in sig ht when he coas ted H am pered by a tender sh ifter Ioo t. . off turn n ine, a nd in to the pits. T he the resu lt of a Mo nd ay prac tice crash, eng ine ex pired ina clo u d o f smoke. .Pi et ri slipped back to fift h as Ba ld. " Nobody has any idea what hap-: wi n, Cooley a nd R a in ey a lso got by pened." said Ulrich lat er. " Fro m th e o n th e first lap. Wise wasa close sixt h description of th e noise .tha t . Bruce followed . by Team Escargot Suzu ki ga ve, it m ak es m e th ink it was the ' rider T had Wol ff, Ra cecra fters Kawacam chain ten sioner ." . sa ki -mounted H arry Klinzm an n a nd With Ham m er a n d U lrich out , . Jon Woo o n a Kawasaki , . Ra cecrafters' Klinzmann and T eam Afte r th e fir st few laps, it seemed as Escargot 's Wo1£f were home free: th o ug h La wson - o ne of Sa tu rday's Nobody wa s certain as to who was heat wi n ners -: would ru n away with running second. Th e lik ely ca ndith e race, ba rring unforeseen troubles. dat es were the Ma rk So ttile-tuned, "From th e line. it was just full tilt a ll IBCO/SBS/M.A.C.-sponsored Kawath e w a y. vwide open, as hard as she sa ki of Mit ch ell and Sowden , a n d the ' cou ld ru n ," Lawson said lat er . Pal o Alt o Yamaha of \' all erga and By Mark Kariya Du ring th e last hal f c'> f th e race, Bu sby. As i t turned o ut , they would however. " The ti re got real g reasy," . Photos by Patrick Behar both fini sh on th e sa me lap, five laps a n d Baldwin "was realjy riding th e' RIVERSIDE, CA, APR. 18 behind th e w in n ers, and three laps wheels o ff th a t thi ng'· to close to a hea d of th e rest of th e pack. " with in a 'few bike lengths of La wso n . " We played th e tortoi se to th e hare; Baldw in had to ride h arder in corners , and th e hare just happened to break a . due to a sli gh t h orsepower deficit . leg. We got a head an d we kept on " We had to pu t a spa re engi ne in a t go ing . That's what en d u ra nce racing th e last mi n ute," Baldw in revea led is a ll , a bo u t," grin n ed Kl inzmann ' lat er ; "because in o ur good engi ne , .wh en it was a ll over. th e.valve seat ca me loose yesterday in 'Result s th e heal (which he got Iourth in ). We of th e Budweiser Grand Prix. p icked up th ird pl ace early in the race 75 1-1200cc: 1. Harry KlirizmannlThad Wolff ' cha nged th e ingn ition and ca rb ureLawson averaged 106.293 miles a nd held it ove r Yoshimura Suzu ki IKaw); 2. Rick M itchaU/Steve Sowden (Kaw): 3'tion .a n d ever ything, but th en this louis LakeylWendy Eptsein IKaw) ; 4 . Er ic Palo· • per hour during his 59A-mile mounted Wes Cool~y ~ nd Honda heimo/Dennis Pegelow (Suz); 5. Denn is Smith / morn in g it did th e sa me th ing. ' d he Ri . ' teamsters Roberto Pi etri a nd Steve Chris Steward (Suz): 6. Wade Boyd/Richard Bas18-1ap hi uz arou n t e rverWi se. "So 'we had to put in a spare ford (Kaw); 7. Randy Frietas/Kent Thomas (Kaw): 8. engi ne, a n d th e n ew engine we p u t in P ietri got th e h o lesh o t - " Yeah, side ' Ra c<:way lo ng course for h is Benny Del Monico/Hugh Humble IKaw) : 9. Chuck Pace/Richard Chambers (Due). . was a little down on power. It d idn't se~n d wm .m th e seri es. (Teamed I'm prett y good a t that, I g uess." h e 601 -75Dcc: 1. Raben Whelan/Richard Jagoe sh rugged lat er. " I go wa tch th e sta rw ith Ron Pi erce; Lawson .also won have th e smoke down th e stra ig h tIKaw~ 2. Paul Fuerst /Gordon Hedemar (Suz); 3. Sta"" Dwyer/ Oa.. Behrendt (Hon): 4. Rick Orlarih~re la st yea r in th e AFM /Budwei ser ter, and th ey'r e prett y predi ctable." a way . do/Bruca Gibson (Kaw ). Six-Ho ur.! .• ;' My !aptimes wi th th eorher engi ne La ~ son , Baldwi n a nd COol ey fell in 35D-600cc: 1. LouisVaUerga/Oava Busby IYam): . ~ ...... ..... ..... . < 'AMA Superbike Championship series: Round three .' .. Lawson makes it two'in a row .Kawasaki's Eddie Lawson took a big step toward retaining his AMA Superbike title by holding off Honda's Mike Baldwin and winning the Bell Helmet Superbike portion