Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.e-r 00 ~ ...... (Above) Eddie Lawson (21) gets the jump off the line. Winner Mike Baldwin. Steve Wise (38), Wayne Rainey (60) and Roberto Pietri (88) are alongside. (Below) Baldwin sprays the camera. (Bottom) Lawson and Baldwin. Laconia Road Racing Classic at Bryar Motorsport Park . Baldwin led Team Kawasaki's Eddie Lawson to th e checkered AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series: Round 12 Baldwin over Lawson in classic Loudon duel By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by Rick Corwine and Marc Lachapelle L/?U DON, NH , J UNE 20 Mike Baldwin, aboard the Honda FWS V-4' fo u r-stroke, .gave Team Honda its first For-mula One win of the season before a huge sun 10 drenched crowd in the Accel Formula One 0 flag in a du el that raged the entire 47 lap, 76 mile event. Wa yne Rainey, Lawso n's Kaw asak i/Kerk er teammat e. took th ird. Honda's Steve Wi se, th e o nly other rider o n the same lap as th e top three. placed fourth wit h John Bettencourt i n fifth a boa rd h is Betten court 's H onda-Suzuki spo nsored Yamaha TZ750, th e first non-factory and twostroke rider. " I never felt as relieved as wh en I saw th e checkered fla g," said Bald wi n. " I needed th e wi n . H onda has had a lot o f co nfi dence in me a nd I hope I'v e repa id th em a bit. The race, asi de from so me slowe r riders, was basicall y problem free. I did hav e to ride a bi t conserva tively and exercise th rottle control so th at the rear tir e wo uld las t th e race." " T he on ly real problem I had." said Eddie Lawson, "was wh en th e bik e's engine sp u ttered a co u p le of times as we began th e final lap. I im media tely back ed o ff because I didn ' t want to run o u t of gas af ter coming th at far. My stra tegy was to p ush a nd pressure Mik e into wearin g o ut his rear ti re. It didn 't work. he rode a super race ." Rain ey was so exci ted in wi n ner's circl e that he was nearly at a loss fo r words. " T h is is my best fini sh ever in a Nat ional. I don 't thi n k I'll forget this weekend for a lo ng time after winni ng the Superbike event yesterda y and now fin ish in g third in on ly m y seco nd Formula One rid e. My feet a ren't going to touch the ground fo r a week. I'm pumped!" Scott Pea rso n, the Team Honda rider who wo n the Louisville H alf Mile National a few weeks bac k, was impressive in hi s debut ride. H e was running up as high as eig h th befo re dropping out wi th front brake problems . . The rider making th e biggest j ump in the Winston Pro Series po int sta ndings was Wise, wh o now ho lds a jo in t 10th wit h Steve Ekl und. In the U.S. Road Racing Ch ampions hi p Formula One standings, Law son, Baldwin and Wise are 1-2-3 at 32, 31 a nd 30 points respectivel y. Lawson held th e pole for th e start of the Formula Onefinal on the serpentin e 1.6 mile Bryar track by virtue of winning the fastest of two heats run Sunday morning. Lawson opted for his Kawasaki Su perbike rather than th e KR500 GP bik e he rod e at Ro ad America to second place. Additionall y, Lawson and teammate Rainey had switched frornlfi to 18 inch front wheels, feeling th ere was a better tire compound selection in the larger rim size. " I felt a bit cra m ped on th e KR," said La wson. "The Superbike is easier to ride a nd, I hope. th e right choice." Fi lli ng out the fro nt row were hea t race winner Ba ld win, Wise (o n last year's Honda Form ula One bike), Rainev and Honda 's Robert o Pietr i. Notably absent from the gr id was Road America Formula One win ner Wes Cooley, who cra shed in his heat race a nd suffered cu ts, bruises and some pulled muscles in his legs. Lawson led the two wave, 46 rider grid a way and arou nd fo r th e first lap u nder constant pressure by Bal dwin. Bettenco urt, Rainey, Wise, Pietri, Dale Singleton, Nick Rich ich i, Miles Baldwin. Harry Klin zmann , T had Wolff and th e rest of th e field ra n behind. Lawson and Baldwin remained no more than 10 bikelen gths apart through th e first five laps with Baldwin slip p ing by Lawson o nce in a slow turn a nd Lawson retaking the point quickly. Rainey followed a distance back with a fight for fourth brewing between Bett encourt and Wise . Baldwin used the power of the Honda to zap Lawson for th e lead on lap six and then opened up a two second lead almost immediatel y as the front ru n ners were in traffic. Richichi moved up to cha llenge Bettencourt for fifth while Singleton was als o on th e mo ve in seventh. Miles Baldwin, Mark Homchick a nd Pearson made up the top 10. Richichi got past Wise for fourth o n lap 10 a nd Mile s Baldwin took over seventh from Singleton. Pearson , wh o cras hed in practice Friday and spe nt Sa tu rday waiting fo r pa rt s to come from Honda to repair his bik e. was not riding a cautious race like he had sa id he wou ld before th e event. H e was in ninth and pressuring. At th e o ne-third ma rk, lap 16. Lawson began [ 0 wh ittle a way a t Baldwin 's lead wh ile Ri chichi, fourth and challen ging, crashed in turn two, ending the da y for last year's winner. The order th en read Mike Baldwin, Lawson , Rainey, Wise. Bettencourt, Mil es Baldwin , Single to n, Pear son, Frank McT ag gart and J eff Umrysz. Baldw in co ntin ued to use tra ffic to slow Law son , but La wso n ap pea red to have a six th.se nse as to wh ere and wh en to pass. The ga p was closi ng. Bald win and Lawson had gi ven th e fans th eir mo ney 's wo rth to the halfway flags. At that poi n t Ba ldw in was 30 yards ah ead a nd counting the feet. Ra in ey, in third was a bou t 10 seco nds bac k, followed by Wise. Bettencourt , Miles Baldw in. McTaggart, Singleton. Umrysz and Pearson. By la p 32, the two-thi rd s mark, Ba ld win an d Lawson had lapped all bur Ra iney, Wise and Bettencourt. Bal d win sti ll held th e advantage with La wson no w about 50 yards beh ind. Mc'Tagga rt, Mil es Bal dwin. Singleto n, Pearson and Um rysz were still battling over sixth. On la p 4 1 Uri Bergba urn , on one of two Suzuki RG 500s in th e ra ce, cras hed at the start/finish line, almost tak ing Ba ldw in a nd Lawson with h i m. T he tw o ha d been sorti ng th ro ugh slower traffic when Bergbaum went down . T ha t momentary interru p tio n in '"' their hi gh speed ballet di srupted the perfect choreogra p hy fo r on ly an instant and then it was back to work. Baldwin began th e fin al lap with a one second lead as La wso n had been balked by Bett en court wh en Baldwin moved around him. Baldwin cranked it up to tak e th e flag three seconds in front of Lawson followed by Rainey, Wise and Bettencourt. • o (Continued to page 20)

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