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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126646
(A bove left) Hond. S upport riders J ohn Bettencourt (6 0) . nd Fred Merkel
di ce during the Superbike f in . l. (A bove) J im m y Ad. mo w.s the e.sy
w inner in the bi g twin cl .... (Below left) Rhy s How.rd put s knee to ground
en rou t e to t he F-2 w in.
led Merk el in a tight duel for fourth a
cras h. McDonald ra n over Ada mo's
di stance back. McDonald a n d Jimmy
bik e, but staye d up.
Adamo were debating six th. Mark
Cooley began to hold th e upper
Jones; Dan Nol an and Dal e Quarterley
hand by lap 22 wi th Baldwin seemrounded out th e top ten .
ingly co ntent to sta y within ten or 15
Baldwin an d Cooley str etched out
bike lengths an d wait. Rainey, stuc k
th eir di stance on Rainey by effectively
in much slower traffic, was h aving a
working through traffic whil e Rai ha rd time keeping up th e pace a s th e
n ey had good distance on the four
front running two were pulling away.
rider duel of Merkel /Beuen court/
Baldwin was back in th e lead on
McDonald/Adamo for fourth . Quarlap 26 with Cooley right behind.
terl ey, in itia lly in the running, was
Rainey was now 12 seco nds adrift.
McDonald filled out the top five and
slip p in g back . H e was running a
stock engine after blowing his good
wa s a good distance behind Merkel.
Baldw in was lappin g riders into the
one in practice. Quarterley shook his
fist at hi s p it as h e passed.
top ten .
Baldwin continued to use traffic to
The strategy game began on lap 30
hi s ad va n tage, but couldn't shake
of th e 37 with Cooley now playing
Cooley and maintained about a ten
th e wait-and-see game j ust off Ba ldbike length advantage. Rainey was
win's rea r tire . Rainey, in laird , cast a
gl ance over h is shoulder as he passed
running a d istance back and easing
th e start/finish line to see how clear
hi s way through traffic. The bailie
for fourth, with th e same pl ayers ,
h e was of slower traffi c.
Baldwin now began to pu t a bit of
co nt in ued as th e field finished lap I I.
distance on Cooley as th e fin al laps
The cro wd began to cheer as C0owo re down . H e h ad lapped hi s way
ley nipped past Baldwin to tak e th e
lead on lap 14. Ra in ey, m eanwh ile,
up through sixth place. Cooley, Rain ey, Merk el an d McDonal d were th e
was beginning to close on th e leaders.
The Cooley/Baldwin or Baldwin /
o n ly rid ers still on the same lap.
Cooley bailie intensified as the two
With two laps to go , Baldw in held
ticked off th e laps to th e halfway flag.
a on e-second plus advantage a n d
Ra in ey in ched closer and waited .
didn 't ap pear to want to gi ve it up.
The crowd ch eered their favorites a ll
Cooley wa s trying, but not succeedaro und th e track.
ing in cutting the advantage down .
By th e halfway flags , Baldwin had
On th e wh it e flag lap. Baldwin had
la p ped through th e top 13. Po siti ons
in crea sed his margin a bit and wa s
one through five - Baldwin/Cooley/
smooth ly h eading for the checkered
Rain ey/Merk el/McDonald - reflag.
mained th e same.
Baldwin cru ised home wi th about
Adamo 's ride ca me to a n end on
three secon ds in h and over Cool ey.
lap 20 in a n off-course excu rsion in
Rai n ey. Merkel an d McDonald finhe went down . H e was quickl y up
ish ed o n th e sa m e lap as th e winner.
a nd OK. Adamo, in his fir st ride on
T he ride of th e race probably went
th e Du caci Pantah TT600 since it
unnoticed by most. Robert o P ietri
h ad been a p p ro ved for Superbike
start ed in the 44th grid posit ion a nd
co m peti tio n just three! weeks ago,
put in a lightning sta rt to catch th e
lime of his - • - tail end o f.lhe-UJ:Sl :wave by lap lV/O• •
.: wa s- sunning.sixrh a t
12
" I cooled it a bit ea rly o n," sa id
P iet ri, " beca use 1 didn 't want an yo ne
to m ake a m istak e near me. While 1
was thinking th at , a rider cras h ed
right in front of m e. 1 th en settled
into a pace a nd sta rt ed working my
way forw ard , trying to stay smooth.
Everything worked and 1 took seventh. 1 wonder wh at 1 co u ld have
done if 1 hadn ' t had p roblem s in m y
h eat race wh ich put m e wa y back on
the gri d?"
" It's been a long ti me since 1 had
the fans cheeri ng me th is much at
Loudon," sai d an ela ted Baldwin , " I
used traffic to my adva ntage once 1
got by Cool ey for good a n d kept up a
cu shion. 1 took it easy a number o f
tim es si nce 1d idn 't want any th ing to
happen in traff ic."
" I really had qu ite a scare when th e
back wh eel got loose in th e turn
before th e fin ish lin e and 1 a lmost
cras hed," sa id Cooley. " Mike got by
me in traffic nea r the en d o f th e ra ce
and got a o ne -seco nd margin in th at
move w hic h 1 just couldn 't make up.
1 backed off a bit in th e last two laps
to be su re a nd not have a ny problems."
" I would have lik ed to h ave mad e it
a three rider ra ce," said Rainey, " bu t
the transmission started to pop out of
gear and 1 lost an y advantage 1 had."
Merkel traced his slowing in the
middle laps to a tire compound choice
and, later, an oil leak. " I was running
hard until th e rear tire began to get
slippery and began to slide around. "
McDonald, in fifth , lost a good bit
of time when Adamo crashed in front
of him and h e ran over the bike. " Yo u
can' t afford to let anyone you 're dicing with get away at all on this track
because it's very h ard to make up lost
time."
Result s
SUPERBIKE: 1. Mike Baldwin (Han); 2. Was C0oley (Kaw ): 3. Wayne Rainey (Kaw ); 4 . Fred Merkel
(Han): 5. Sam McDonald (Han); 6. John Battencoun
(Hon); 7. Robeno Pietr i (Han); B. Ru_n McMunlr
(KIWI: 9.Mar!