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/126631
(Above) Kawa~aki 's Wayne Rainey finished in fourth. (Right) Spencer on his Interceptor-based Superbike. (Bottom right) Joey Mills' Ducati was sixth . (Bottom left) Dave Aldana took th ird. (Below ) All smiles for Team Honda . . I away. After Rainey put his green machine in' front o f Aldana, things were stable for the sixth and seventh laps, although Merkel and Pietri were beginning to have their own fight over fifth. At th e end of the seventh lap, Pietri and Merkel went by the finish line side by side . Bu t when they hit the firs t corner, disaster struck. . "We passed a lap ped rider, and he tried to pass me back. It took both of us do wn ," said Merkel. P ietr i explained, " Alda na made it through, but when the rider saw Merkel's front wheel , he shut the door like I couldn 't believe. Fred did the bes t he could, but we both ended up in th e bushes. " Neit her Merke l or Pietri was seriously injured , but bo th were out of the race. .\ On the ninth lap, Aldana retu rn ed to the top th ree, putting Ra iney dow n to fourth on the front straight. At the h alfway point, Ba ldwin and Spencer were well clear of Aldana and Rainey , who in turn, had a huge margin on fifth-place Betten court. Bettenco urt was th e last rider on th e same lap with the leaders. ' J oe y Mills, who, moments before the race, had won the Expert Modified class of the Battle of the Twins, was holding down sixth on his Du cati with a fine ride. A few laps after the crossed flags came the pit stops. .Rain ey was the first of the leaders to pit, and he did so without losing a position . Spencer was the next in , and he was out before Aldana could catch up. In a very quick pit on the next lap, Baldwin took on fue l and took off before Spencer made it around th e first turn . Sudden ly, however, Spencer was in the lead and opening it up. Baldwin , although not o bviousl y slowed, wa s having troubl es. "The fuel coupling broke d uring the pi t sto p ," h e explained la ter. " So when I would co me into a co rn er, gas would go all over th e pl ace. I had to back o ff just to conserv e fuel and finish th e race." Spencer cracked open a 14-second lead on Baldwin by lap 20 o f th e 26lap even t. Ald ana and Rainey were the on ly ot he r ri ders on th e same la p . a n d they were closing up to lap Bettencourt. Little happened in the final six laps and Spencer took the checkered flag with 15 seconds on Baldwin. Aldana and Rain ey followed , with Bettencourt and Mills rounding out the top six . " J u s t like la st year, " grinned Spencer in the winner's circle. "AImost a ca rbo n copy. For some reason th e throttle started sticking with a bo u t six laps to go, so I had to pull the clutch in and coastthrough th e corners. With two laps to go , it stopped. Tha t's the only scare I had." While Baldwin was so m ew ha t reserved , Aldana was showing a Iaceful o f teeth. " I kn ew Rainey was go in g through the infield a little quicker, but I had th e horsepower on him. Ilet h im go th rough th e in field a nd wear h im self a nd the tir es down, knowing I co u ld catch up." Rainey was ph ilosophical. " T hey had th e horsepow er o n us a nd we had to ride a littl e ha rder o n the in field . Da ve rode very well and co nsistently; I kn ew he could jus t foll ow me arou nd the infield and pas s me on the straight- away. With his kind of power, I'd do the same thing. I would like to thank Steve and Mark Johnson, who worked on m y bikes every night until 12:30 to make sure th ey'd run." ' Following Betten co u rt, Mills fin ished as the first twin-cylinder machine. Following Jimmy Adamo's retirement from the ra ce on th e sixth lap with a blown engine, Mills had th e on ly Du cati among th e front runners and he held on well. Seventh went to Colorado's Rick Or larido on a Suzuki , and h e wa s trailed by Honda rider Lynn Miller, Kawasaki pilot R ueben McMuner and Honda-mounted Gl enn Berry. P laces seven through 10 co m p leted 24 laps. Cash purse for th e event was $40,000. • Results 26· LAP FINAL: 1. Freddie Spencer (Honl; 2. M ike Baldw in (Hen); 3. David Aldana (Hon); 4 . Wayne Rainey (Kaw) ; 5. John Bettencourt (Hon); 6 . Joey Mills III (D ue); 7 . Rick Orla ndo (Suz); 8 . Lynn Miller (Hon); 9. Ruben M cM un ef (Kaw); 10'. Glenn Berry (Han); 11 . Philipe Kostezer (Hen); 12 . Kerry Bryant (Kaw); 13. Larry Shan . (HanI; 14 . Ben Colema n (Han); 15. Yashuiko Gomibchi (Han); 16. James Knipp (Han); 17. Brian Sunon (Han); 18 . R.J. Gam· ble Jr . (Han); 19 . Dan Nolan (Suzl; 20 . Bernd Koegler (HOn). - II .