Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

was setting a steady pace in 22nd spot . Bald win maintained his over two second lead through lap nine over Cooley with Miles Bal dwin , McM urter an d Rich ich i filli ng in th e top five. Merkel , Robinso n . J ones, Greg Smrz an d Klin zm ann followed . Baldwin 's edge increased m easurably o n lap 10 as Cooley cras hed unhurt in th e tight swee pe r in turn eigh t. Mil es Baldwin, in secon d, was ne arly 15 secon ds behind. Merkel di spla ced Richi chi in third with McMurter in fifth. Richichi th en lo st fourth to McMurter on lap 14. Back in th e pack , Roberto Pietri a nd Springsteen were having a position swa p p in g battle over 18th . The two traded pl aces on just about every lap. Mik e Baldwin a n d Mil es Baldwin were well o u t front o n lap 17 as McMurter crept up on Merk el in th ird , whil e Ri chichi held fifth ah ead of a f igh t b etw e en Robbin s , And y Edward s, Sm rz a n d Klinzmann for six th. Merk el cra sh ed on lap 19, handing third to McMurter, but Rueben's m otor was puffing smoke and he looked down a t it as he crossed the start/ fi n ish lin e. Ri chi ch i bega n to close whi le Robbins held onto Ri ch ich i's sha do w. Smrz a nd Klin zmann were a lso close together a hea d of J ones. T he Pi etri/Spr in gsteen ba ttl e was now for 17th . Th e halfway flags saw Mik e Baldwi n wi th a co m fort a ble 23 seco nds on Mil es Baldwin. Th ird pl ace McMurter 's en gine wa s no longer sm o king. Robbins h ad passed Ri chichi for fourth . Baldwin had now lapped through th e II th place rider. , Mike Baldwin cuts through a Loudon corner on his way to the F-1 win. Baldwin also captured the Loudon Superbike victory. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 14 Loudon a Mike Baldwin runaway By Gary Van Voorhis Photos by John Owens LO UD O N. N H, J U N E 19 Honda's Mike Baldwin, in a superb display of track mastery, carved his way through the 55-rider field to lap all except second place finisher Miles Baldwin. The Accel Formula One Natio nal win in the Kawasa ki -sponsored 60th Anniversary Loudon C lass ic was a fitting end to a top-notch weekend for Baldwin , a Co n necticu t Yankee wh o spen t a good portion of h is ea rly career racing a t Bryar Mo torsport Park. Baldwin kicked off hi s doublehe ader with a win in Saturd ay's BelI Su perbike 100. Mil es Bal dw in, who was the winner in th e Road America Formula One National on June 5. had a superb ride also and wa s in second from th e 10th laponin the 47-lap. 75-mileNational Third place. after a good mid-race 10: , ~lJle,wjtP-.~~~~I.f~~pJi!<;e,~lh , isher Art Robbin s, went to Nick R ich ich i. T h is was a rep ea t o f Ri chichi 's showi ng at Road America. Ro bbin s, who co nfines most o f hi s racing to Ca nada . led fifth p lace H arry Klinzm an n hom e. T he Formula One point sta n dings cha nged arou n d a bit with Mik e Baldwin n ow o n top with a 40 po int tall y to Miles Baldwin 's 36. One name not abl y a bsent from th e actio n during the weekend wa s that of Steve Wise. In juries sus tai ned in a n acci de nt at Road America wilI keep Wise on th e sidelines for almost another month. He hopes to make his return at Laguna Seca in the midd~.of 141y. 1 • I ' • J ' . , J I .' Mik e Bal dwin . o n the three-cyli n de r, two-stro ke Honda RS500 GP bi ke. h eld th e pole on th e sta rti ng grid with Wes Cooley an d his Kaw asaki Kerker four-strok e alo ngsi de. The Yamaha TZ750's o f Ma r k J ones and Miles Baldwin were a lo ngside wi th Robbin s and his Kawasak i fou r-stro ke ro u nding o ut th e grid. J ay Spri ngsteen. on th e HarleyDavidson XRlOOO-based Formula One bike. sta rte d from th e 19th spot on th e gr id . Cooley an d Mike Baldwin swa pped the lead four times on th e o pening' lap with Cooley tak in g it across th e start / fin ish line with Robbins an d Miles Baldwin follow ing, Baldwin quickl y regained th e lead over Cooley an d pulIed o u t a two seco nd ga p . Miles Baldwin maneuvered his way to fourth past Rueben McMurter with Robbins leading Richichi, Jones. Fred Merkel. Klimmann and Rusty Sharp;.spnng'steen- On th e 28th lap, Baldwin set up Klin zmann a n d Smrz for a pass that would leave onl y fi ve riders on the same lap. Ba ldwin had a full 30 seco nds o n Mil es Baldwin. McMurter , Robbins an d Richich i filled o u t th e to p five. Pi etri , J ohn Betten court and Springsteen were battling wa y back in traffic on lap 32 while Baldwin co n ti n u ed h is relentless pace toward a vic tory to co m bi ne with h is Superbik e win th e day before. McMurter slid .down. restarted and headed to th e pits on lap 33 to rel inquish third to Robbins. Meanwhile, P ietri pulled o ff th e track a nd parked h is bike. T wo laps later, McMurterwa s back out on the track. So much traff ic had been lapped it was hard to tell any positi on o uts ide th e top five. Mike Baldwin 's lead was 37 seconds over Mil es Baldwin with Rich ich i taking over third from Robbins . Leader Baldwin was right beh ind Richichi. The Baldwin an d Baldwin Show, Mik e an d Mil es, cru ised th e fin al laps with nearl y a m inute separa ting th em with no co m p etition to cha lle n ge th em . Ri ch ichi wa s safe in third as was Robbins in fourth. The real battle, which would go right to th e flag . was for fifth between Klinzmann a nd Smrz. Mik e Baldwin , Miles Ba ldwin and Ri chich i eac h waved to th eir pit crews a nd th en to th e ch eer ing crowd as th ey took th e ch eckered flag. Robbins ca me by soon after and then most eyes focused on th e fin al turns which would decide fifth . Smrz had held th e upper hand startin g th e final lap over Klinzmann a n d co n tin ued to do so as the y passed pit ro ad headed for the final turn and th e finis h line: Smrz appeared to miss a sh ift ex iti n g the tu rn and swu ng , wide alIowing Klinzmann the only opening he needed. Of note were the rides of Jimmy Adamo and Springsteen. Adamo. aboard a Ducati Pantah TT600. • punched.our.to '?Oct..put .hiDJsclf

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