Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

deal slo wer, as th e tra ck contin ued to dry a lt h o ug h dark clouds hung o verh ead. T he rain began 10 fall on lap 27 with th e lead ad va n tage still to Baldwin over Coo ley. It di d n' t stay tha t way long as Cooley took o ver. Fate then stepped in a nd Cooley crashed in tu rn two, tu rn ing th e lead ba ck to Ba ldwin wit h j us t over three la p s rema in ing. Wi se. now in secon d , wa s the o n ly rider o n th e sa me la p a nd h e wa s a lmos t half a lap down. Coo ley's crash m oved Ada m o into a winner's circle position w it h third pl ace. H eino a nd West fo llowed . T h e rain began 10 fa ll hard er as Baldwi n took the whit e flag with a n insurmountab le lead. Adamo ro lled to" a stop, hand in g third 10 H eino with less than a la p a nd a ha lf to run . Ba ld wi n sh ook his fist a t his pits as he to o k th e checkered flag. Wi se wa s i more th an sa fe second, a lt houg h h e wa s just 25 seco nds a way from be ing lapped wh en Baldwin took th e flag. H eino popped a sm all wheelie as he took th ird . Ad am o wa s . va lia n tly p u shing h is bike to ward th e finish a nd wa s cheered bv a ll for his effo rt. West took fourth with Brauneck fifth . " T he re was o n e th in g which I wasn't goi ng to do in th e N ational and that wa s' get into a sit uat io n wh er e I would jeopardize m y fin ish," said Ba ld w in . " I di d n 't want to ge t o vera n xio us a nd do a n yth ing wrong. If I had to ta ke second , th a t' s wha t I was goi ng 10 do. Wes was going a bi t too h ard for the way o u r tires were wea rin g an d I th ink th at's why h e crashed. For tunatel y, h e went down in a grassy section where you could j ust ride things out." . : " I wasn 't going to ra ce for th e lead nomat ter what," sa id Wise. " I se t m y o wn ca ref u l pace a nd just waited for th e laps to run down . Th e bik e was good en o ugh where I didn 't worry a bou t anybody behind me ca tch in g up. Second isn 't too bad si nc e it gives me a nine point cus h io n in th e point standings lead. I've had a really good week end. If so me o ne had told me five weeks ago, just a fter I broke m y co lla rbone, that I was going to do this good at Mid-Ohio, I would have told them t~ey were cra zy." . A relieved Heino said, ' 'I' m just glad the race is over. I've never worked so hard for a fini sh before, in any race. I had so many little problems. The throttle began to stick early in tlie race and th en th e engine wanted to seize at least twice. I think the time I spent in California ea rlier in th e year, training and ridin g, helped me to get in condition fo r a hard rac e like this wa s. I want to thank m y spons o r, th e Heino Brothers Ra cing T eam, for getting the bike into th e top-top condition it was in. I co u ld n' t race without th e close teamwork a n d h elp th ey give me. " 'l O n e p er son who wasn 't reall y smiling was tuner Ren o Leoni. " We ll, now we know we hav e to work on gas co n su m p tio n on th e Pan tah ," said Le oni afte r Jimm y Adamo ran o u t o f gas with two laps to go . " T he bike ha s shown its strength so I think we ' ll be s trong a t a number of other Na tionals. I sure wish we cou ld hav e ma de winner 's circle, th at would really ha ve made th e week end. Results FORM ULA ONE: 1. Mike Baldwin (Han I: 2. Steve Wise (Han); 3. Jeff Hein (Sull; 4 . M arvin West (Kawl; 5. Doug Br au neck (Yam); 6. J ohn Ashmead ( Han); 7. Mark Jones (Vam); B. Greg Smr z (Vam); 9. Kurt Lentz (Vam); 10. Larry Shorts (Honl ; 11 . Rick Or la ndo (Honl; 12. David Reed (Vaml ; 13. Jimy Adamo (Ouc); 14 . Ed M ull in eaux (Kaw ); 15. Dave Busby (Vaml; 16. Hap Ealon(Vam); 17. Wes Cooley IKaw); 18. Steve Baron (Yam); 19.. David Kieffer IKaw); 20 . Martin Morrison (Yam). Time : 59 min.. 04 .851 secs. Average speed: 75 .557 mph . FORMULA ONE CHA MPI ONSHIP SERIES POINT STAND INGS: 1. Ste ve Wise (29); 2. (TIE) M ike Baldwin/ Kenny Roberts (20 ); 4. (TIEl Doug Bra uneck/Kurt Lentz (15); 6. Jeff Heino (13); 7. (TIE) Steve Gerv.i ~Marvin West (11); 9: David Al dana (101; 10. John Ashmead (9). B B ~ ...... Tea m Hond a's Steve W ise is int erviewed foll owing his first-ev er S uperbike ro ad race w in : AMA Superbike Championship Series: Round 4 Wise wins as Baldwin crashes By Gary Van Voorhis LEXINGTON, OH, MAY 21 Honda's Steve Wise took advantage of teammate Mike Baldwin 's untimely crash, while leading on lap 15 of 25, to take the victory in the Wiseoo Superbike 100. The win was the first for Wise since he changed ca reers from MX er ' to road racer. Fred Merkel.jiding on th e. Honda support program, coll ected secon d with . Jimmy Adamo o n th e Sure-FirelTeam Leoni Ducati rounding out the top three. The point standings shuffled a bit with Baldwin a n d Rainev still holding onto th e top two spots a nd Merkel a nd Wise moving into th ird and fourth with th e se para t io n being 56/43/39/ 33. " I settled into a good early rhythm ," sa id Wis e. " My plan wa s to stay behind Mike a nd see what happen ed . When Mike crashed I was in p o sit ion 10 tak e advantage. Th e slo wer rider s wer e a problem, but since I had a good lead I cou ld a ffo rd 10 back off and take it easy in th e final laps." " Every th ing felt co m for ta ble o u t th ere'," said Merkel. " J immy a n d I had a good dice going. Then I picked up th e pace to get away from him toward th e ha lfw av mark ." " Yo u won 't believe thi s," sa id Adamo . " but I rode th e fin al 10 or so laps with th e transmissi on stuck in third gear. The sh ift lever fell o ff on about lap IS and there wasn 't an ything I co u ld do about it exce p t hope there wasn 't an yone close eno ug h 10 pick me ofL " . . Steve Wi se,' wi th ' 3' strong start, h eld th e adva ntage at th e en d o f th e first la p wi th Kawasak i 's Wa yn e Rainey, H onda 's Mike Baldwin a nd Kaw asaki tea m m ate Wes Cooley in tow. Baldwin moved to second on lap ' two , dropping Rainey back to fight o ff th e cha llen ges of Cool ey. A strong battle was taking p lace in fifth with Honda Support riders Sam McDon a ld , Fr ed Merkel a nd th en Jimmy Adamo, following. Cooley was the first rider out of th e fray , re tirin g o n the third lap wi th engine problems. Ba ld win , after waiting for his tires to warm up, moved past Wis e and began to open up a . small advantage. Rainey also m et with a streak of bad luck and crashed out on the fifth lap leaving the front four an a ll H onda parade with Ba ld win leading Wis e by a short distance as McDonald, Merkel and Ducati rider Adamo , held forth in a battle for third. Baldwin , who had led teammate Wise home in th e fastest qualifying h eat, wa s now showi ng him th e way around Mid-Ohio's 2.4 mile. 15 turn track. Baldwin, using traffic to his a d va ntage. began 10 o pe n up a lead o ver Wi se o n th e seventh lap. Adamo got by Merkel o n the start/finish st ra ig h t, but just as quickly was back in third. McD onald p assed th e pits with a p parent p roblems, h is bike strai n in g 10 sh ift. By the n inth lap, Bald win h ad opened up a nearly n in e seco nd advantage o n W ise. T he baul e fo r th ir d betw een M erkel a nd Ad a m o was a nothe r 15 seco nds ad rift. McD onald , a ppare nt ly h a ving o ve rco me h is undiscl osed problems, was ba ck runn ing stron gl y i n fi fth. Th e closest battle of the day was between Betten co urt a nd Pi etr i for sixth . Th e 10th lap sa w Bett en court o u t of ac tio n and Pietri runn in g a ll alo ne . Betten court was sha ke n in his cras h . Three laps lat er , th e sprea d between Baldwin and Wi se was just over 15 seconds. Merk el had so me breathin g room on Adamo with McDonald, Pietri, Dale Quarterly, Bobby Goodin, J eff Hein o and J dey Mil1s rbiJhlling o u t th e top 10. All were circu lat ing thro ugh tr affi c. T he co m p lexio n of th e race changed o n lap 15 as lead er Bal dwin crashe d i n turn nine and wa s o u t o f the race. Wi se took ove r th e lead bu t Merk el was on the gas and seek in g to close th e gap. Adamo took advantage o f th e situ a tion a nd m oved into third. McDonald , in fourth, wa s h av ing h is on-again /off-again probl ems, but seem ed 10 be abl e to keep a big enough m argin to hold off th e ch a llenges of Pietri. Wise continued to lap up through the fie ld as the ra ce wore down, and held a 12 second ad va n tage o n Merkel with Adamo a good di sta n ce back in third. By lap 20, Wis e had lapped through th e sixth pl ace rider. Pietri was given th e bl ack flag for a smoking en gi ne as he ca me past th e start/fin ish line o n th e beg inn in g o f lap 22. H e immediatel y p itted. T h is mo ved Quarterl y up into fift h . Wi se ra n th e fin al th ree laps a t a reduced p ace, co n fide nt tha i nobody co u ld reel him in. The rest o f the top fi ve wer e in no position 10 challenge eac h o ther, so mechanical problems o r cr as h es were a ll th at wo uld cha nge th e final top five.' There were no cha nges. J eff H eino , by virtue o f co ns istent riding , g ra bbed si xth, leading Ricky Orlando , J oey Mills, Dan Nol an a nd Larr y Shorts home . Wise raised h is fis t in victory as he took th e checker ed flag a nd wa ved to h is H onda cre w w ho were cheering h im from a long p it road. His tuner, Mi ke Velasco, was just as jubilant. e Results SUPERBIKE: 1. Steve Wise (Han); 2. Fred Merkel (Han ); 3. Jimmy A dam o (Due); 4 . Sam M cDonal d (Hon ); 5. Dale Ou an erly (Kaw): 6 . Jeff He ino (Suz); 7. Ricky Or la ndo (Han); 8. Joey Mills (Due); 9. Dan Nolan (SulI: 10 . Larr y Sho rt s (Han); 1 1. Dan Chi vington (Honl; 12 . Devid Reed (Han); 13. J ohn Ashmead (Hon): 14 . J im Knipp (Han); 15 . Kurt Lie bman n (Han); 16 . Oew ayn e Wassberg (Kaw); 17 . R.T. Hampton (Han); 18. Glen 9 arr y (Hon ); 19 . Mike Landrum (Han); 20. Greg Boucher (SUl ). Time : 42 min .• 45 .20 2 secs. AVE RAGE SPEED: 84 .204 mph . SU PERBIK E CHA MPIONSHIP SERIES POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Mike Baldin (56); 2. W ayne Rainey (43 1; 3. Fred Merkel (39); 4 . Steve Wise (33); 5. David A ldana (31 ); 6. Sam Mc Donald (28): 7. John Bert encouet (25t 8.. RieJ< Orlando .(24 1 9. Freddie ; Spencer (201: JO. Roberto Pietr i (191. 11-

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