Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1983 06 29

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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(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!

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