Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.- ~ . . . . . • • • . -.. ---- -- --- -- intake restrictor rule for 750cc twostro kes. Dale Singleton , who campaigned for th e removal of the restrictors, felt that withou t th em the bikes wo u ld pick up about o ne seco nd per lap . Richichi agreed. However, on the long four-mil e Ro ad America co urse, it appeared th e rem oval of the res tr ic to rs d idn't give the 750 's en o ug h added horsepower to be truly compe titive with the factory fourstrokes and 500cc GP bikes. The National was marred by a serio us accident on the th ird lap wh ich left Bruce Hammer with head, neck a nd spinal injuries, a nd Thad Wolff with internal chest injuries. T h e two went down on a very fast sweep ing turn in separate accident s with in seconds of one another. Both bikes were badly damaged. In ano the r incident earlier in the da y, Marty Roth had his throttle stick wide open as he came up th e rising back straight toward the grid at th e end of the warm -up lap for the first Formula One heat. Ro th locked up the brakes and went down with his slid ing bik e careen ing into the rear of the grid of riders intent on watching one-m in u te board. Ernie Kicklighter 's bike, an Eddie Lawson Replica Kawasaki , took the full brunt of th e im pact and was bad ly damaged. Kicklighter, thrown into the air, sustained a broken co ll a rbo ne. Roth's . bike glanced off several riders, but there were no other injuries. Th e National didn't shuffle a ro und the top spots in the Winston Pro Series point standings, but did move Wise up to l l th and Rainey to 13th . Mike Baldwin , aft er posting a win by over 20 seconds in his qualifying heat, sat on the pole. Baldwin, aboard the Honda FWS V-4 four-stroke, was the favorite of many --based on that performance. Lawson, riding Kawasaki's 500cc GP bike, copped the win in the other heat. Mark Homchick, on the EPM Yamaha TZ750, Nick R ich ich i, on the GS Performance TZ750 , and Kawasaki' s Wayne Rainey, on his fourstro ke Superbike, filled out th e front row. Starting on the back of the grid were Dal e Singleton, Dan Chivington and Steve Gervais, alo ng with Miles Baldwin. Singleton a nd Ch ivington were the victims of crashes wh i le Gervais and Baldwin had mechanical problems lead ing to their back of the grid start positions. The gray skies that had ho vered over the Road America course all weekend were still in attendance. with a light mist hanging in th e air. . Face shield fogging was a problem m ost hoped they wouldn 't have to con tend with. One non-starter was T eam Honda 's Roberto Pi etri. His bike had an apparent engine seizure a t speed a nd he left a good bit of his leathers -- on the backside po rt ion -- on the track. Baldwin was slow com ing off the starting line a nd less than one mile into the event had parked his mega buck factory machi ne with a broken transm issio n. Wes Cooley led the field at the end of lap o ne with H om ch ick , R ich ich i, La wso n , Steve Wise, Rainey, Hammer, Frank McTaggart, J ohn Bettencourt and T had Wolff in tow, follo we d by Harry Klinzmann a nd Doug Brauneck. Jimmy Adamo's Du cati was smoking badly as he crossed the finish line. Cooley cont in ued to lead through the second lap. Lawson had moved to th ird with Wise in tow , leav ing Ri chich i fourth. Singleton, way down in the pack, came by the pits sha king his head. His Yamaha was running on th ree cylinders. Cooley, with a three second lead beginning lap Iour, of the 18 lap•.72 , m ile event, wa s bef~g {oiio~ed by ~nintense battle between Lawson and Homchick. Richichi a nd Wise were also fight ing over fourth as Rainey waited for someone to make a mistake. By la p five La wso n had take n second away fro m H omch ick and the top five were equidistant. Among th ose mov ing u p were Miles Baldwin, wh o was breaking into the top 10, a nd Sin gleton wh o was now up to a bo ut 17th . Chiving ton was in the p its, whi le T eam Yamaha' s Jim Filice came into the p its and was quicklyout. The battle for the lead was heat ing up with Law son inching his way onto Cooley's tail. It was four-stro ke vs. two stro ke. 1,025cc vs. 50Occ. The race was on. Cooley and Lawson snaked past the finish line on lap seven nearly side-by-side. with Rich ichi moving up o n the front-runners. Wise was in fourth with Homchick fifth . Bett encourt had gotten th e better of Ra in ey for sixth with Miles Baldwin, Frank McTaggart, Brauneck, Rich Chambers, Steve Barron. Klinzmann, Singleton and Alan Ward tra iling. The race had settled into some order by lap eigh t with Cooley leading Lawson by a bo ut 10 bikelengths and Richichi holding off Wise and Homchick. Bettencourt waved to Rainey as th e two zipped past th e finish line. Richichi began closing on th e in tense battle between Cooley and Lawson while H omchick moved past Wise. COoley a veraged 97.363 mph for the first 10 laps. Mil es Baldwin was also pickin~ up ground on the Bettencourt/Rainey duel in sixth and had a good cu sh io n on Barron in ninth. Rich Ch a mbers rounded out th e top 10. Cooley and Lawson contin ued to run about 20 bike lengths apart. holding a margin on Richichi and his long wait for one of them to make a mistake. At the end of the 14th lap Lawson had moved in a little closer to Cooley as Richichi also inched his way up. Wise he ld his own over Homchick as Rainey was also getting an upper hand o n Bettencourt. Miles Baldwin, in eighth with ignition problems, was too far back to challenge, bu t also had a cushio n on Chambers and Ward. Cooley had picked up the pace and was averaging 97.788 mph at th e end of 15 laps. The margin of the top four was Ri chichi six seconds awa y from the front with Wise j ust four seconds back. It would all bo il down to th e fin al lap. Cooley, seeing th e white (Jag, pulled out th e stops and opened up a n add i ti o na l 20 bikel engths on Lawson with Rich ich i, sensing a chance to finis h second, also on the gas . Wise and H omchick kep t trucking with Rain ey leading Bettenco ur t. Cooley took the chec kered (Jag by a margi n of about 20 bikelengths. Lawson and Rich ich i .made up the rest of the celebration in winner 's circle with Wise and H omch ick rounding out the top five. _ Res ults FORMULA ONE: 1. We. Cooley (Suz): 2. Eddie Lawson (Kaw); 3. Nick Rich ich i (Yam); 4. Steve Wi .. (Hon); 5. Mark Homc hick (Yam); 6. Wayne Rainey (Kaw); 7. John Bettencourt (Yam); 8. Miles Baldwin (Yam); 9. Alan Ward (Yam); 10. Rich Chambers (Yam); 11. Dale Sing laton (Yam); 12. Harry Klinz· mann (Kaw); 13. Steve Baffon (Yam); 14. Henry OeGouw (Yam); 15 . Doug Brauneck (Yam); 16. Hap Eaton (Yam): 17. Craig Smryz (Yam): 18. Doug Umrysz (Yam); 19 . Uri 8ergbBum (Suz): 20 . Steve Gervais (Yam). TIME: 44 min.• 26 .96 8 sec. AVERAGE SPEED: 97 .18 9 mph . AMA GRA ND NATI ONAL CHAM PIONSHI PI WINST ON PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricky Graham (101): 2. Jay Springst een (7 1); 3. Scan Parker (6 5); 4 . Terry Pcc vev (61 ); 5. Al a. Jar· gensen (60); 6. Randy Go.. (55); 7. mElGary Scanl · Staye Eklund (43); 9. m E) M ike Kidd/Steve More· head (40) ; 11. Steve W ise (32); 12. Bubbe Shoben (29); ,13. .Eddie Lawson 12 6~ 14 . Mickev Fey 121); .--- Superbike winner Edd ie Lawson bra king in the rain after starting 33rd . rna running so I go t right back on and took off." Pietri set sail and led Baldwin, Cooley, Rainey and Lawson a t the AMA Superbllce Chamend of lap one. Lawson, from the pionship Series: Round four six th row, had found a hole in traffic and was cha rging hard to pull within striking distance. Cooley and Rainey were dueling for second as the pack hi t th e start! finish line to begi n lap three and Pietri had opened up so me brea thing room o n them. Lawson was reeling in the fight for second wh ile Baldwin , a distance back , held a huge lead ELKHART LAKE , WI , MAY 22 over Klinzmann. A short d istance back wa s a duel for seven th led by " I can 't beli eve I really won," Harry Vanderl inden with Ernie Kicksaid an elated Eddie Lawson lighter, Ri ch Chambers and Thad after his convincing victory in Wolff running in a pack. the Road America Superbike The start of the fifth lap saw Pietri round. " T he most I had hoped for come acro ss the start/finish line with wa s to finish a bout fourth." Lawson a fo ur second ad vantage. Lawson had cha rged from the 33rd grid position moved' up to challenge Coo ley for - after crashing in hi s heat-to po st second a nd the n moved ahead as the a 15 second ma rgin of victo ry over two charged into the fast sweeper a t Wes Cooley. It marked the third turn o ne. The front th ree were alstraigh t win for th e Team Kawasaki ready lappin~ traffic with Rainey rider and defending series cha m p and and Baldwin, 10 fourth and fifth , also moved him to a 20 point lead in the lapping slower riders. series over hi s teammate Wa yne RaiLawson cu t Pietri 's margin by ney, who fini sh ed third. three seconds on lap five. Pietri was Cooley's second pl ace marked th e ha ving problems with his face shield best fin ish of the seaso n for th e Yoshifogging up. Halfway thro ugh the mura Suzuki cam p. H onda teamma tes sixth lap Lawson moved by P ietri Robert o Pietri a nd Mi ke Baldwin and h it the afterburners. The tra ck rou nded o ut the top five. The top was dry ing a bi t, but not enough to non-factory fin isher was Ha rry Klinzcause excessive tire wear on the softe r ma nn on the Racecrafters Kawasaki rain tires. in sixth. Cooley moved past Pietri on the The original 15 lap, 60 m ile fin al eighth lap to secure second and set over Road America's four mile twistthe top two spots. Rainey was feeling ing course was shortened to 12 laps the pressure of Bald win in fourth. for safety reasons. Rain had been fall Klinzma nn , in sixth - where he ing off and on all day. The final would finish - was now clear of Wolff started o n a wet trac k with sta nding af ter Thad took an off-course excurwater, but no rain. Nearly all comsion in turn one and lost any chance petitors were running rain tires fro nt of taking sixth. and rear. Wise was on the m ove through It was a n all factory front ro w tra ffic and picking h is way into th e awa iti ng the start with H onda 's Steve top, 10, moving up to seventh befo re Wise hol ding the pole. Baldwin , Coo lthe checkered (Jag. ey, Pi etri and Ra iney fill ed out the Rain ey. bo th ered by a vision probfro nt five. On th e wa ve of th e green it lem in the m iddle laps, pu t on a was Pietri away firs t wi th th e rest of charge on lap 10 to move past Pietri the field foll owi ng in hi s tire spray. and grab hi s spot in winner's circle. Wise lost his chance for a win early Baldwin was slowed by an undiso n lap o ne with an off -track excurclosed engine problem, while Pietri sion that ended in an easy slide down lost his chance to grab back third due on the grass and into the haybales. " I to traffic. didn 't wait to warm up the tire," said Klinzmann was a safe sixth at the Wise afterwards. "The bike wasstill , finish, W~~PToPP¢WoV~toc;igr ~1}, 15. Wayne RaineylWes Cooley (20 ); 17. m E) Nicky Richichi /Ronnie Jane. (IB); 19. Freddie Spencer (16); 20 . mE) Ted Boody/Jim Filice (15 ). Lawson reels in victory 9

• Cover