Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Top) Winner Mike Baldwin (43) is flanked by Roberto Pietri (88) and Wes Cooley. (Above) Steve Wise swam to a second-place f inish. (Above right) Consistent Jeff Heino finished third. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 9 Baldwin hangs tough in Mid· Ohio National By Gary Van Voorhis . Photos by Bert Shepard/Silver Shutter LEXINGTON, OH, MAY 22 Mike Baldwin p ut in a strong ride in the Mid-Ohio Supercycle Weekend Camel Pro Series National, to come away with h is first Formula One victory of the year. Baldwin got 1.0 a pi t signal from the Honda pits on the final lap which read Number One . and: an , arrow meaning to slow down and take it-easy. Baldwin had a full o ne minute and a few seco nds lead o n teammate Steve Wise . . .. .. , - - -' - . _.-. . - ... ... . Wise. also with a steady, cont ro lled rid e, had moved into second o n th e mi sfortune of Wes Cool ey, who had cras hed hi s factory Kawasaki only a short distan ce after retaking the lead on lap 28 of th e 3 1 lap, 75 m ile Nation al. . J eff H ein o earn ed hi s way into winner's circle via being persistent. Heino, alt houg h bothered with a number of little problem s with his Suzu ki RG500 throughout the race, cont in ued to press on and took advantage of everyone else's problem s while adj usting to hi s own. H eino inherited third when the Du cati of Jimmy Adamo ran out of gas just within sig h t of the fini sh line with two laps to go. Wise holds command of th e Formula One point standings with 29 points after two rounds. Baldwin, lied with Kenny Roberts a t 20, is a joint second. The Mid- Ohio facility is a new stop on the Camel Pro Seri es circuit a nd was weII worth it. The tra ck rises a nd dips, twi sts a nd turns through the rolling countryside. " Because of th e asphalt sealant used in so me of the turns, it 's a bit of a one line track ," said Baldwin . " You have to think at all times. There's a bi t of a problem passing, but when it's repaved , as the track people say it will be, then it should be one of the best tracks we race on ." In addition to repaving, construction is underway on enclosed garages and a new pit area as well as a five story tower for scoring/ press/ officials. Cloudy skies and a brisk wind greeted th e stagi ng of the Formula One final. All riders were on slicks, although those who had been going better in the wet were obviousl y wish ing there was rain. " I would much ra ther be racing in th e rain, " said Cooley. The front row featured a variety of mach inery beginning with 'the product ion GP racer of pole sitter Baldwin , th e Honda NS500 two-stroke. Alongside was Wes Cooley. Cooley was using last year 's four-stroke I,OOOcc Superbike. Honda 's Steve Wise had opted to rid e his 750cc V45 Intercep tor Superbike because of the rainy conditions during th e qualifying heats. Jimmy Adamo, fourth on the front row, had the T eam Leoni/SureFire Du cati Pantah TT600 (punched up to 706cc) as hi s mount. Dale Q uarterly, on another Kawasaki Superbike, filled the fifth slot. Also among the machi nery was David Busby, on his 350cc air-cooled Yamaha, plus the Suzuki RG500 G P bikes of Uri Bergba um and Heino. Dave Emde had the H-D XRIOOO BOTT bike also on the grid. A two lap warm-up to check water trickling across th e track was given prior to the five minute sign. Most rid ers topped up with gas after those laps. ~!\ the five minute sign ~il~pis- p la yed , a few sca tte red raindrops began 10 fall. Cool ey go t h is wish. A sho rt way in to th e first lap it sta rted to rain hard a nd th e red £lag came o ut allo wing rid ers 10 cha nge to rain tires. AMA rules allo w 30 minu tes for suc h a procedure. After 40 minutes of torrential down -" pour, th e skies clea red a nd th e sun ca me o u t. All bik es gridded with rain tires o n th e now soa ked track. Wi se put a good d rag racing start o n everyone to lead th e field into turn one and th e first of th eir 31 laps on th e 2.4 mile, 15 turn tra ck. Cooley led a t th e end of turn one . Mil es Baldwin was a lready out in a crash and Hap Ea ton was in th e pits, but soon back o u t- Ni ck Richichi pushed hi s bikeslick shod - int o th e pits after th e warm-up lap. • ) Cooley's adva nt age on the second lap was a lrea dy five seconds over Wis e. Cooley wanted to put as much ground betw een himself and the rest on th e o pen ing la ps as he co uld . Baldwin followed Wise, with Adamo, Q uarterly, Marvin West and Greg Smrz behi nd. On lap four , Cooley had 10seconds on second place and that was Baldwin over Wise by th e slimmest of margins. Adam o was also right there . Ri ch Ch ambers rode into the pits and out of th e race. Quarterl y and West were having a good battle for fifth as were Mark Jones a nd J eff Heino for seventh. The track was drying, but there was still standing water in spots. The battle for third heated up on lap seven with Adamo getting past Wise , but not being able to pull away. Greg Smrz held fourth 'a head of Quarterly and West with Heino. Mark Jones and John Ashmead filling in the top 10. At the one-third mark, lap 10. Ba ldwin had closed to within six seconds of leader Cooley. Wise had broken away from Adamo. as Smrz buzzed along in fifth with Heino rapidly closing. West , with a sputteringengi ne, was in seventh. Quarterly was in the pits, having called it a day . By the 14th lap, Baldwin had nibbled Cooley's lead to only four seconds and had th e rider in the dayglow lime green rainsuit in sight. Wise was well clear of Ada mo as was Adamo over the ba tt le of Heino a nd Srnrz over fifth . West led Jones, Doug Bra uneck a nd Ashmead in 10th. Baldwin was visibly trying to run through the water puddles on the track to cool the soft compound tires he was using. Cooley and most other riders were doing the same. The race hadn't reached the halfway point yet. Two laps later, as th e halfway flags came out, Cooley led Baldwin by a scant 20 bikelengths. On th e next go around, th e margin was down to lOat the start/finish, but Baldwin was in ching clos er all the time. Baldwin took over th e lead in the esses section on th e back portion of the track and. for th e first time , Cooley was .now follow ing. Srnrz pitted a t the end of lap 19 with his crew checking his engine. Smrz went back out. With 20 laps into the books, Cooley rem ained within 10 lengths of Bal dwin . Wise was a lonely third as was Adamo in fourth, and Heino in fifth. Baldwin allowed himself a q uick glance over his shoulder on the start/ finish line to check on Cooley. The two had lapped through seventh p lace by now. Bal dwin . balked by slower traffic. had Cooley close righ t up on him as the two started lap 23. By the end of that lap, th ey had worked their way past all but the top five ridres and Heino was the next in sight. Ba ldwin and Cooley were wagi ng a classic duel using their experience to weave through traffic. some a good 'I -t ~ 0.1 , • ... - • • "" •

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